Industry News

MTN Ghana has organized a young CEO’s summit as part of the commemoration of the 21 Days of Y’ello Care initiative, an annual employee volunteer initiative launched by MTN Group in 2007.
The summit was dubbed: “The Bright Young CEOs Digital Summit and Coaching Initiative.”

A statement by Mr Samuel Koranteng, Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana and copied the Ghana News Agency said the summit was put together in line with the theme for this year’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care, “Creating a Brighter Future for our Youth.”

The session, which was led by Mr Dario Bianchi, MTN’s Digital Consultant, gave the participants an insight into Digital Sales and Marketing skills and how they could leverage technology to drive their business.

Mr Bianchi emphasized in his presentation the need for young entrepreneurs to incorporate digital marketing into their strategy in order to reach out to larger audiences.

He also urged the participants to make time to assess customers’ opinions about their products online as often as possible.

“Do not be afraid of getting feedback from customers online, it is the most important thing to do,” he said.

In addition, the Senior Management had a “One on One” mentoring session with the 50 young entrepreneurs who took part in the summit.

Some of the young entrepreneurs who participated in the summit included young CEOs in the digital space, agro-business, beauty and cosmetics, fashion, tourism and education.

The statement said throughout the year, MTN Ghana employee volunteers across the country had since June 1, implemented projects aimed at youth empowerment and development.

Some of the projects included training of unemployed youth in skills such as bead making, leather works and computer programming.

MTN staff volunteers are also training the beneficiaries in Digital Marketing, Financial Management, Project Management and Customer Service management.

They would also visit the Borstal home in Accra and some selected prisons to interact and motivate young inmates.

Since the inception of the 21 days of Y’ello Care challenge in 2007, MTN Ghana has won the 2008 WECA Regional Awards and the overall Y’ello Care Challenge for 2010 and 2011.

MTN Ghana also won the Y’ello Care ICT Project for 2013 and Y’ello Care Innovation Project award for 2014.

The “21 Days of Y’ello Care” is a competition amongst MTN operations to secure the highest number of staff involved in volunteerism and initiating projects with remarkable impact.

The country with the highest staff participation wins the prize money of $100,000 to be reinvested in community projects.

It is to encourage MTN staff to commit their time and resources to community service for 21 days in June.

MTN Ghana is the market leader in the increasingly competitive mobile telecommunications industry in Ghana, offering subscribers a range of exciting options under Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go Services and Mobile Financial Services.

The company has committed itself to delivering reliable and innovative services that provide value for subscribers in Ghana’s telecommunications market.

Since its entry into Ghana in 2006, MTN has continuously invested in expanding and modernizing its network in order to offer superior services to a broad expanse of the nation.

Source: GNA

Mobile telecommunication network, Vodafone Ghana, has introduced Vodafone Bossu, a new offer which is already empowering its customers to remain connected to their friends and families without worrying about the cost.

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Mobile telecommunication network, Vodafone Ghana, has introduced Vodafone Bossu, a new offer which is already empowering its customers to remain connected to their friends and families without worrying about the cost.

The product relies on the concept that customers deserve more out of their day and weekends.

The offer, which has exciting daily and weekend bundles, gives customers matchless data and voice minutes at unbelievable prices. For just Ghc2, customers get to enjoy 100 minutes for calls across networks and 100MB data by subscribing to ‘Bossu Daily’. ‘Bossu Data’ offers 3.5GB at 10Ghc and 10GB at 40Ghc for heavy data users. “Bossu Weekend” offers customers, 5GB of data and 300 minutes for calls across networks at just Ghc5.

Commenting on the new product, Pushpinder Gujral, Director for Consumer Business at Vodafone Ghana said:

“Convenience and the right packages matter if our customers are to enjoy their lives on a consistent basis. We undertook to study our customers’ behaviour and trends and decided that the “Vodafone Bossu” offer was timely and a stroke of inspiration. We are giving our customers more data and call minutes to connect to the things that matter to them the most. Now go on and be the Bossu that you truly are.’’

The offer, which was launched over a week ago, is already causing a stir within the telecommunications industry. To enjoy the product, customers are required to simply dial *5588# to sign on to the package.

Source: Ghanaweb

Vodafone Ghana has assured Ghanaians of adequate security and excellent mobile money services as it ups campaign to move the more than five million subscribers onto the Vodafone cash wallet.

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The Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) would be establishing a standard forensic laboratory for the Ghana Police Service to enhance investigations, evidence collection and authentication as the country dream of controlling crime and other related social vices.

The Company would also train 100 physically challenged in the MoMo Business and set them up to economically empower them.

Mr. Eli Hini, the General Manager for Mobile Money Transactions of the MTN said building the laboratory “Is our way of saying thank you to the Service for their massive support in curbing crimes and fraudulence that has become a major challenge in the Momo sector”.
Though fraudsters continued to scheme to outwit, dupe and make the Momo industry unattractive to some members of society, arrest of these miscreant, continuous education on safe keeping of pin numbers by subscribers and the support of the Ghana Police have largely contributed to its successes over the last ten years.

Mr. Hini at the launch of the 10th anniversary in Takoradi, under the theme: “MoMo @10, Making life Simple” said it was to celebrate a decade of innovation and most transformational technological innovations that had been introduced in country.

“Mobile Money, MoMo, as we all call now, has come to make life simple and comfortable for most people. It is not an exaggeration when I say that MoMo has impacted the lives of millions of Ghanaians across the country”, he added.

He expressed gratitude to key stakeholders, customers and regulators especially, the Bank of Ghana for working with the company to grow the Mobile Money service into a buoyant financial sector.

Mr Hini noted that MoMo service begun with MTN’s desire to get the Mobile phone to go beyond the ordinary, “we officially launched the service on July 21st 2009 with the Governor. The beginning was very slow and extremely difficult because what we had introduced was not just a breakthrough in technology – it was also going to break the sociology of how money is used and exchanged.”

He mentioned that decade down the line; MoMo had become the foremost payment system in the country with 14 million subscribers and 18 partner banks.

Currently, MoMo run transactions from international partners and have forged partnerships with Visa, Google, Western Union, and Mastercard.

Beyond financial inclusion, the introduction of Mobile Money into the Ghanaian payment system had created employment for thousands of people.

The Manager said as of the end of May this year, the number of active Mobile Money agents in the Western Region stood at 24,500.

MTN MoMo set a world record – during the launch of MTN’s Initial Public Offer, which allowed people to buy shares using MoMo.

“While we celebrate the achievements made over the past decade, we do not lose sight of the challenges that face us in the Mobile Money sector…there are still concerns about fraud activities. We continue to call on everyone to constantly educate friends and families to be extra vigilant in protecting their Mobile Money wallets.” he added.

DSP Olivia Adiku, Regional Police PRO advised the market women to endeavour to memorize their pin code and never to make it public to any third party as it had become the only means for fraudsters to thrive.

Source: GNA

MTN Ghana, as part of its “Y’ello Care” Staff Volunteering programme, on Thursday trained young entrepreneurs on how to use digitisation and social networks to grow their businesses.

The training programme aimed at enlightening start-ups to know the advantages of using social networks such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and LinkedIn to communicate and serve customers.

Mr Dario Bianchi, a Digital Consultant with MTN Ghana, who made a presentation on Digital Marketing, said digitisation helped businessmen and women to talk to their customers whenever necessary.

Utilising digital tools in businesses, he said, helped business actors to know exactly how much was the return on market investment, test an idea, and get feedback from hundreds of customers in less than 48 hours.

He noted that it could also help businesses to measure any step of the customer’s journey such as his or her loyalty, awareness and consideration of a product, and how much he or she was willing to advocate for a brand.

“All companies’ goal is to make their customers advocate or recommend their products to others and it doesn’t matter what you do or how much your budget is, you need to know who your customer is,” he said.

“If you know your customers, it is easier to find sustainable ways to drive growth.”

Currently the country has 10.32 million active internet users making 35 per cent of the entire population, he said.

The total number of active mobile internet users in the country is 9.37 million, which constituted a percentage of 31 per cent of the total population, and that explained why businesses needed to reach many of their customers through the internet to drive growth, Mr Bianchi said.

He advised companies to conduct simple surveys to know how customers felt about their products as well as the uniqueness of their services, which other companies lacked.

The Digital Consultant advised businesses to always satisfy the customer, welcome change, deliver frequently, work together, trust and support each other in the organisation to drive growth.

Usually businesses focused on introducing new products, thereby, ignoring the quality of existing products, which was a threat to the growth of the organization, he said.

He, therefore, called on the entrepreneurs to pay attention to improving their existing products in order not to lose their loyal customers.

“You can’t ignore complaints from your customers. You need to manage negative comments well to get positive feedback.”

Source: GNA

Nokia and the Finnish National Committee for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNICEF Kenya have launched a shared-value partnership during this year’s Nairobi Innovation Week, to increase equitable access to digital literacy for some of the most disadvantaged children in Kenya. This includes girls and children with disabilities in urban informal settlements and some of the most remote areas of Kenya.

“Children are the leaders of the future, so we are excited to work with UNICEF and the Government to connect schools in remote areas to inspire tomorrow’s leaders in Kenya. We are committed to using our technologies to meet the goals of sustainable development worldwide,” said Joachim Wuilmet, Nokia’s head of Marketing and Communications, Middle East and Africa.

The partnership between Nokia and UNICEF Kenya brings together stakeholders from the Government of Kenya’s Ministries of Education and ICT, as well as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), children, teachers, content providers and mobile network operators in Kenya, to address challenges and unlock opportunities for digital learning and literacy.

“We are proud to have contributed to the development of the first Accessible Digital Textbook with support from the UNICEF Innovation Fund and Nokia. This is a major step in furthering inclusive education through innovative technology for children in Kenya and beyond,” Maniza Zaman, Representative of UNICEF in Kenya said.

As an initial step, the Accessible Digital Textbook with special features for children, with hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities, has successfully been piloted in schools during the first quarter of 2019 and will be launched by the Government of Kenya later this month.

“With technical and financial support provided by UNICEF and active participation of children with disabilities, KICD has successfully produced the first accessible digital textbook for children in Grade 1, contributing to equitable access to digital literacy. This textbook provides quality digital content for children with disabilities on the Digital Literacy Project devices,” Dr. Julius Jwan, CEO of KICD said.

Scaling-up of internet connectivity in schools is planned to allow students to access quality digital learning materials that are aligned to the new competency-based curriculum and approved by the Government of Kenya.

Source: Telecompaper.com

Vodafone Spain has confirmed that it will be launching the country’s first commercial 5G network in 15 cities on 15 June.

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The Chief Business Officer of AirtelTigo Business, Ms Ethel Anamoo has urged manufacturing companies in the country to invest in new technology now to drive innovation that will shape the future of manufacturing and avoid falling behind global competitors.

According to her, the use of new technology will create efficiency in operational processes and drives cost-effectiveness in business activities to meet the demands and sustain growth.

Ms Anamoo made this known while speaking at the maiden edition of the Ghana Manufacturers Business Summit in Accra, under the theme: “Achieving Growth Turnaround in Manufacturing: The Role of Government.”

The summit brought together stakeholders in the sector to deliberate on issues of business growth, investments challenges confronting the sector and ways to achieve progressive productivity. “In a globalized world, staying at the sharp end has never been more important. I believe that investing in technology will drive innovation in the industry. It also sustains growth and meets demand,” she said.

She explained that AirtelTigo Business recognises the positive value and impact of technology on businesses and is focused on providing connectivity solutions for all industries, including the manufacturing sector to enable them to achieve profitability.

“Our connectivity solutions cover not only Ghana but span across Africa as we also leverage the infrastructure of our two parent companies – Bharti Airtel and Millicom,” adding that AirtelTigo has developed a wide range of solutions such as mobile solutions, fixed lines, internet connectivity and hosting services among others.

She emphasized that as a total communications provider, AirtelTigo partners’ businesses at every stage while providing tailored solutions for their specific needs to grow and remain profitable considering the changing trends.

Source: AirtelTigo

MTN Ghana has announced plans to grow its customers on the MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) platform from the current 14 million users to 20 million users by 2021.

Consequently, the telecommunications company indicated that it had already started nationwide educational campaigns and promotions to encourage more people to register on the platform. “We will continue to promote the MoMo platform and make it available to everybody.

Once the service is available, customers will use it,” the General Manager (GM) of MTN Mobile Financial Services, Mr Eli Hini, told the media at the launch of the 10th anniversary celebrations of MTN MoMo at Madina, a suburb of Accra, at the weekend.

“MoMo has come to make life simple and comfortable for most people. It is not an exaggeration when I say that MoMo has impacted the lives of millions of Ghanaians across the country.”

Mr Hini said the MoMo service was officially launched on July 21, 2009 with Bruno Akpaka as its first General Manager.

“We hit the ground running with the catchy commercial which caught the attention of most people and the phrase ‘Minsa aka’ became associated with the service,” he said.

According to him, the beginning was very slow and extremely difficult because what we had introduced was not just a breakthrough in technology – it was also going to break the sociology of how money is used and exchanged.

Explaining further, he indicated that most people were not familiar with the process and so management of the telecommunication company had to use different approaches to get users and potential users to first understand the service, be confident about it and begin to use it.

A decade down the line, the MD said MoMo has become the foremost payment system in the country and management were proud of this achievement.

He said the MoMo service was launched with the money transfer and the purchase of airtime and over the years a host of services was added on the mobile money platform.

“As we speak now there are six major categories of financial transactions on the MoMo platform under which there are various other services.

“We are not only forging local partnerships, we receive transactions from international partners and have forged partnerships with Visa, Google, Western Union and Mastercard,” he said.

Going forward, Mr Hini said a decade in operations gave the company an opportunity to reflect and ponder over how far it had come and to plan and prepare for the future.

“As we are constantly working to improve our services, we are confident that the future will be brighter with more opportunities on our MoMo platform.

“We are looking forward to a future where MoMo will be an acceptable mode of receipt and payment of all government transactions and every form of financial transaction,” he said.

He added that the company launched the 10th anniversary of MoMo in the market because it wanted all traders to know that mobile money made life very simple so it should not be difficult for the vegetables, tubers, grains and the charcoal sellers to accept MoMo as the mode of receiving payments from their patrons.