MTN Ghana has held one of its business series, the MTN Executive Business Breakfast, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

The event, held under the theme, “Bridging The Skills Gap, ” was aimed at strengthening MTN’s partnerships with businessmen and women.

The event was used to discuss possible ways to find solutions to the skills gap that threatens Ghana’s global competitiveness.

It brought together industry leaders, members of academia, government officials and young business executives to discuss critical issues of workforce development in Ghana, particularly in the tech industry.

This edition featured top business personalities such as the Acting Chief Human Resources Officer of the MTN, Mr Abdellah Ibrahim, Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, Chris Wulff-Caesar and the Executive Director of the Centre for Leadership at Ashesi University, Dr Esi Ansah as panelists.

The panelists discussed the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises in driving economic growth.

Source: David Andoh ( My JoyOnline)

Chief Executive of Telecel Ghana, Ing. Patricia Obo-Nai, has called for an integration of purpose-driven strategies and sustainable practices in businesses to make more socio-economic impact.

Speaking during a panel at the 7^th annual Leaders on Purpose CEO Summit in New York on the theme, ‘Shared Planet, Shared Future, Shared Purpose – Building Future-Fit Economies for Generations to Come,’ Ing. Obo-Nai advised business leaders to prioritise purpose and social impact in their operations.

“A purpose-driven culture is essential for organisational success. Viewing purpose as a waste of investment is a risk to business sustainability. We must invest in developing our host communities, up-skilling the people we work with, be interested in how we grow technological resources in our communities and how we engage local people in employment,” she said.

Highlighting the role of technology in sustainable development, she articulated the critical need for expanding connectivity infrastructure through collaboration to bridge the digital divide.

“Expanding infrastructure and making it future proof is critical. We believe participating in infrastructure sharing and co-investment programmes are some of the most effective ways to close the existing digital gap,” she said.

As Telecel seeks to lead Africa’s digital transformation, Ing. Obo-Nai said improving access to digital connectivity has a much broader impact.

“Our belief is that we can empower people to use digital products and services to better their lives and businesses. So, it’s not just about how we connect businesses or digitalise business processes, but how we empower people’s lives through digital solutions.”

Source: Daily Guide Network

Mauritanian mobile phone company Mattel announced last week the completion of a two-year telecom network expansion campaign. The initiative allows the telecom operator to improve its network coverage in a country that has a network coverage score of 43.3 out of 100, according to the Global Mobile Connectivity Index 2023 of the Global Association of Mobile Phone Operators (GSMA).

The project was carried out in two phases. The first, completed in November 2023, focused on strengthening the network in 266 sites. The second, finalized in September 2024, expanded the network to 217 additional sites, covering all regional capitals and districts in the country. In addition, Mattel strengthened the coverage of five major road axes in Mauritania.

“  Mattel has also actively contributed to the implementation of the national universal access strategy, by ensuring the operation of the network dedicated to covering the southern border area of ​​the country with telephone and Internet services, ranging from the Ndiago region to Ould Yengé  ,” the company added in a statement.

According to the GSMA, 96.7% of Mauritania’s 4.93 million inhabitants are covered by the 2G network. The 3G and 4G networks cover 72% and 12% of the Mauritanian population respectively. In terms of usage, Mauritania had 5.4 million subscribers for a penetration rate of 124% according to the latest available statistics from the Regulatory Authority (ARE). However, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) indicates that the rate of people owning a mobile phone in the country is 61.3%.

By expanding its network coverage, Mattel is positioning itself to capture a share of the Mauritanian population still deprived of telecom services. This potential clientele could strengthen its competitiveness in a market where Mauritel, a subsidiary of Maroc Telecom, dominated with a 52% market share as of September 30, 2023. Although current figures for Mattel and its other competitor, Chinguitel, are not available, the latest data from the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Administrative Reform dating from 2019 give them 21% and 27% market shares, respectively. Mauritel’s market share has remained stable since then.

Source: Agency EcoFin

MTN Group’s president and CEO, Ralph Mupita, has been elected to the GSMA board of directors for the 2025-2026 period.

The GSM Association is a non-profit industry organisation representing the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.

Africa’s largest telecom operator announced Mupita’s appointment today, saying it demonstrates MTN’s commitment to being an integral participant in connecting the continent while also furthering Africa’s economic, social, and digital transformation aspirations.

MTN Group offers voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale, and API services to 288 million people across 18 markets.

Regarding the appointment of its chief executive officer, MTN states: “As an advocate for leveraging technology to drive economic growth and inclusion, Ralph’s focus on the board will be on driving the African agenda, particularly in relation to the G6 commitments of closing the usage and coverage gaps; increasing investments; and securing a climate-smart future.”

It adds that his presence on the board will be instrumental in harnessing the potential of mobile technology to support sustainable development and economic growth.

Mupita comments: “I am honoured to join the GSMA board at a time of rapid developments in technology and increasing digital adoption across Africa

“Mobile technology will play a critical role to address the pressing challenges facing our communities and unlock the full potential of Africa, and ensuring that no one is left behind in this journey toward a more connected future.”

Source: IT Web

Huawei Technologies has launched its latest OpenLab in Egypt as part of its effort to engage with partners and help to build an “ICT ecosystem” in Northern Africa “in response to industry digital transformation.”

The aim of Huawei’s OpenLab strategy is to attract customers and partners that are ready to collaborate in the development of new applications, services and technology. The new facility, based in Cairo, is the eighth OpenLab in total and the second in Africa, following the opening of a facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, earlier this year. (See Joburg In Line to Host OpenLab.)

Huawei held a ceremony to launch the Cairo OpenLab during the Cairo ICT 2017 conference.

The other six are located in Suzhou (near Shanghai), Munich, Mexico City, Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok. According to Huawei, the OpenLabs have become “centers for joint innovation, development, verification, and expertise for customers and partners, including collaborative development with more than 400 solution partners.”

The Cairo OpenLab is situated in the city’s Smart Village and has been operating as a research and development (R&D) facility for the past year. It is currently 400 square meters in size and is set to expand to more than 1,000 square meters during the next two years.

It is focused on developments related to public safety, smart grid, smart city, smart government and smart education, and operates through four functional centers: partner development center; solution joint innovation center; talent training and certification center; and industry experience center.

“We established the OpenLab in Cairo so that we can make full use of the advantages of Egypt and serve all of Northern Africa,” said Ni Zheng, president of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, Northern Africa Region. The advantages of Egypt’s capital are that “the ICT industry market in Cairo is relatively mature and its marketing capabilities influence surrounding countries,” and that “Egypt recognizes the significance of industrial digital transformation, and the local industry chain ecosystem supports this transition for a number of industry enterprises,” said Zheng, who added that the education system in Egypt is “relatively well developed.”

Huawei held a ceremony to launch the Cairo OpenLab during the recent Cairo ICT 2017 conference.

Source: www.connectingafrica.com

Takoradi, Oct. 19, GNA – The MTN Ghana says it is taking steps to transition to eco-friendly and sustainable energy systems to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve net zero by 2040.

Madam Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe, Chief Corporate Service and Sustainability Officer at MTN, said the company gave priority to the sustainability of the environment in which it operated, thus, working towards reducing its carbon emissions as part of its climate actions.

She said this, in Takoradi, during a media and stakeholder forum, organised for Editors in the Western Region by MTN Ghana.

The forum was to brief participants on the corporate services of the Company,

successes and challenges as well as seek feedback on how to better improve their services and products.

Madam Wiafe stated that MTN’s sustainability framework was anchored on four pillars namely: “Doing for planet”, “Doing for society”, governance, and socio-economic development.

“So when it comes to the reduction of our carbon footprint, we are looking at our data centres. We are converting our energy sources to solar, and in cases where we are not able to immediately transition to solar, we are replacing them with more energy efficient equipment,” she said.

She continued: “In our offices as well, we

are converting to energy-efficient appliances to reduce our carbon footprint. Our ambition at MTN is to achieve net zero by 2040 and that is what we are working towards.”

On the social side of the Company’s sustainability strategies, Madam Wiafe noted that MTN Ghana aimed to have 50

per cent of its workforce being women as means of promoting diversity and inclusion.

The trends of Gov Data Source Bank

On some of their achievements over the years, she said the firm through the MTN Ghana Foundation had invested some GHC106.5 million into 166 social projects that had impacted about 4.5 million lives directly and indirectly.

The projects are 90 education, 55 health, 15 economic empowerment interventions, and six community support initiatives, she said.

She said customer experience was important to MTN, and gave the assurance that they would continue to invest in the best technological infrastructure to enhance services to customers.

Mr Teddy Hayford-Acquah, South West Technical Manager of MTN Ghana, noted that one of the company’s major challenge was fibre cut which intermittently disrupted services connectivity.

He mentioned that the issue was mainly due to activities of road contractors, private developers, and small-scale miners

among others which cost the company millions of cedis to fix.

He said: “Within this year, we have repaired about 40 kilometres of fibre due to cuts from road construction and other activities in the Western Region. When fibre is taken out, you can see the pressure that comes into the system.”

Mr Hayford-Acquah, therefore, appealed to journalists to advocate against destroying fibre cables, saying, the country’s digitalisation agenda could only thrive when fibre optic cables were protected from damages.

GNA

Fibre cuts on Kasoa-Winneba road expansion affecting our network

The MTN Ghana Technical Manager for South West, Mr. Teddy Hayford Acquah has announced that the redesigning and expansion of the Kasoa-Winneba Highway is impacting negatively on MTN Fibre, as the Company has experienced several fibre cuts in the area.

The situation according to him, has resulted in network challenges, affecting especially MTN clients in Kasoa.

According to him, 80% of Kasoa MTN network problems have to do with the fibre cuts due to the Kasoa-Winneba heavy road expansion”.

“Our fibre infrastructure along the Kasoa-Winneba corridor has been encroached on and we are actually recording in total of about 62 kilometres of fibre damage. As a result, we have spent more than about 5million cedis already”, Mr Hayford Acquah revealed

He stated that MTN company continues to fight the menace of fibre cuts and as such, employs more engineers on the ground.

At the 2024 media and stakeholders forum held in Cape Coast, Mr. Hayford Acquah also pointed out another emerging concern that caused Fibre cuts which included private property developers, galamsey activities and vandalism which had always ended up impacting the fibre infrastructure.

“These are areas by law acquired permit to lay our cables and our infrastructure but unfortunately sometimes these developers do not actually consider these rights of ways that we have acquired and expect them to protect our infrastructure but they go in there and damage our infrastructure” he fumed.

He, therefore, appealed to the general public to use their various platforms to assist MTN and ” to protect this national asset because a lot of people now depend on the fibre infrastructure”.

The MTN Ghana Technical Manager for South West, Mr. Teddy Hayford Acquah has announced that the redesigning and expansion of the Kasoa-Winneba Highway is impacting negatively on MTN Fibre, as the Company has experienced several fibre cuts in the area.

The situation according to him, has resulted in network challenges, affecting especially MTN clients in Kasoa.

According to him, 80% of Kasoa MTN network problems have to do with the fibre cuts due to the Kasoa-Winneba heavy road expansion”.

“Our fibre infrastructure along the Kasoa-Winneba corridor has been encroached on and we are actually recording in total of about 62 kilometres of fibre damage. As a result, we have spent more than about 5million cedis already”, Mr Hayford Acquah revealed

He stated that MTN company continues to fight the menace of fibre cuts and as such, employs more engineers on the ground.

At the 2024 media and stakeholders forum held in Cape Coast, Mr. Hayford Acquah also pointed out another emerging concern that caused Fibre cuts which included private property developers, galamsey activities and vandalism which had always ended up impacting the fibre infrastructure.

“These are areas by law acquired permit to lay our cables and our infrastructure but unfortunately sometimes these developers do not actually consider these rights of ways that we have acquired and expect them to protect our infrastructure but they go in there and damage our infrastructure” he fumed.

He, therefore, appealed to the general public to use their various platforms to assist MTN and ” to protect this national asset because a lot of people now depend on the fibre infrastructure”.

The media and stakeholders forum brought together journalists, stakeholders, and MTN officials.

It was to map out the future of digital transformation, particularly how MTN envisions itself over the next five years.

On her part, MTN Ghana’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Adwoa Wiafe said MTN was in the process of addressing the issue of the communities that could not access the  MTN network as soon as possible.

She said MTN Mobile Money fraud was affecting their customers and the company was very concerned, citing that, “MTN is working with all stakeholders to ensure that the company is able to deal with the issues that arise out of the MoMo fraud”.

Madam Wiafe said last year the company paid about 5.9 billion Ghana cedis on taxes and “continues to do so to be able to support and contribute to  Ghana’s development”.

Source: MyNewsGh.com

Telecel Ghana has hosted its inaugural Women 100 Power Connect, a gathering of accomplished and influential women across the country, to climax its Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Month celebration.

The telecommunications giant organised the exclusive evening event to serve as a platform for igniting insights, inspiration, connection and collaboration among the women present from various backgrounds – business executives, entrepreneurs, media practitioners, artists, activists and influencers.

Held under the theme ‘Imperfect Courage’ in Accra, the interactive event featured resilient and inspiring life stories from speakers, engaging poetry and comedy performances and ample opportunities for networking.

Opening the event, Chief Executive of Telecel Ghana, Ing. Patricia Obo-Nai shared her challenges in the first year as the first Ghanaian woman to lead Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited (GTCL) and the strategies she embraced to help the telco stay afloat despite opposition from sceptics.

“I decided to be bold, brave and resolute; irrespective of naysayers. The worst you can do is to self-doubt. It’s in difficult moments that you must summon the imperfect courage by believing in yourself and having confidence in your abilities, even when you feel you are not ready. You just have to keep going,” Ing. Obo-Nai said.

The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi, who was the special guest of honour, shared her story of the difficult transition from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to serve as a Deputy Governor of BoG because she believed that the call of national duty was stronger. As the second female central bank governor in Ghana’s history, she said the experience gained over two decades in international finance was of immense help to Ghana’s fiscal stability.

“Despite the banking sector crisis and pandemic, I had to work through it to restore confidence and ensure our banks were liquid and well-financed,” Mrs. Awadzi said. “I let courage lead even in circumstances that look imperfect. More women must take up public positions because too many generational decisions are being taken that do not have women at the table.”

Two additional business leaders who shared their stories on imperfect courage were Valerie Larbi, a sustainable transport entrepreneur who is co-founder and CEO of Wahu Mobilty; and Mrs. Esther Aidoo Dwamena, CEO of Witties Ghana, a sanitation and hygiene business.

In closing the Women 100 Power Connect, Director of Enterprise Business and Wholesale at Telecel Ghana, Tawa Bolarin, reminded the audience of the Telecel Women in Business initiative – a comprehensive suite of tailored resources that address the unique needs of women-led SMEs, including free website development, access to grants and loans, health and life insurance package and e-commerce support, among others.

Source: B&FT Online

A total of 150 business owners are set to benefit from this year’s MTN Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Support Programme.

The programme seeks to lend financial and business development support to micro and small businesses led by Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), women, and the youth.

Speaking at the launch of the second edition of the MTN Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) Support Programme in Cape Coast, chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Mrs Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe, announced that MTN Ghana would commit GHS 2 million to the initiative, with up to GHS 20,000 allocated per business based on need.

In addition to financial assistance, the programme will focus on capacity building and digital marketing to help participants strengthen their businesses.

“Last year, we committed GHS 1 million; this year, we are doubling that to GHS 2 million. The support goes beyond cash—it involves training, streamlining businesses, and formalizing their operations, allowing them to grow, employ more people, and make a lasting impact,” she added.

She acknowledged the challenges SMEs face in accessing capital, training, and opportunities for growth.

She explained that the programme aims to help beneficiaries leverage digital platforms to expand their businesses and market their products online. “The support will enable beneficiaries to adopt new business practices, scale their businesses, and access formal finance if necessary,” Mrs Wiafe added.

This year’s initiative is a collaboration between the MTN Ghana Foundation and Innohub Foundation, which will initially roll out in the Central Region before expanding to other regions across the country.

Nelson Amo, Executive Director of Innohub Foundation, outlined Innohub’s role in the programme, which includes identifying businesses, screening and training beneficiaries, and managing the disbursement of funds.

He expressed hope that the programme would help participants grow their businesses, increase their customer base, and utilize digital marketing platforms like MTN’s mobile markets.

“We expect these businesses to grow, increase revenues, and maintain financial discipline, which will help them sustain long-term growth. Many of them are in the food sector, contributing to food security in the country,” Mr Amo emphasized.

Some of the beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to MTN for the support provided through the programme.

Source: Myjoyonline.com