MTN Ghana Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Telecommunication Company MTN Ghana as part of its commitment to improve education has provided learning materials to over 300 school children.

The items which include, exercise books, reading materials, Pens, Pencils, School bags and other relevant educational materials was donated to the Awukugua Methodist Primary and Abiriw SDA Basic Schools in the Okere District of the Eastern Region.

The donation formed part of activities dubbed “Headstart, Back to School supply drive’’ and it’s an initiative of MTN Ghana Foundation in collaboration with TopDog Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

The Executive Secretary of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mr. Robert Kuzoe said, the donation formed part of activities by MTN Foundation to improve education in the country and to commemorate the International literacy day marked every 8th September by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He said MTN wants to improve the literacy rate which currently stands at 76 percent, by the statistics gathered by UNESCO.

“Literacy is at the heart of basic education, essential for reducing child mortality, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development’’, he emphasized.

Mr Kuzoe said the materials presented to the pupils will give them opportunity to engage themselves in "Play and learn" activities and that will help improve their Literacy skills.

He indicated that, he was hopeful the initiative will excite the children and get them to be punctual in school which will awaken their interest in reading and writing and improve their academic performance.

He then advised the pupils to continue studying hard to be more beneficial to their society and country in the near future.

Source: brytfmonline

A $10.1 billion fine by Nigerian authorities will make an upcoming MTN Nigeria IPO difficult, but the operator will press on, its group CFO said.

Ralph Mupita told CNBC the process will become “pretty challenging and awkward, but we have got to explore other options of continuing to meet the listing requirements” adding “we are not sitting here saying the listing is off. The listing is to remain on track”.
The Central Bank of Nigeria last month ordered the South Africa-based company to refund $8.1 billion which it said was repatriated illegally from the country, followed by the government slapping MTN with a $2 billion tax bill related to the import of non-domestic equipment and payments to suppliers over the past decade.
Mupita stated the operator is committed to staying in the country and finding a solution to these issues, which makes sense given Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market.

MTN has been preparing to list a stake in its Nigeria business since it struck an agreement with regulators to do so in 2016. However, since then, speculation has been rife on the dates, value and process, and formal details have failed to materialise.

source: Mobile World Live

Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said bridging Ghana’s wide digital divide is crucial to the country’s socio-economic development of the country.

As a result, she noted, government is embarking on a deliberate agenda to digitize Ghana, which is an ambitious technological programme of infrastructural development with national broadband infrastructure and connectivity with the unserved and underserved at the heart of the agenda.

The government of Ghana in recognition of the “importance of connectivity for socio-economic development”, she told the ongoing International Telecommunications Union (ITU) world conference in Durban, South Africa, believes “it’s imperative that all citizens benefit from the opportunities presented by digitization and it is crucial that we close the digital divide which threatens to further marginalize the most vulnerable in our communities.”

She said as government of Ghana scales up its digitization effort, the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) — which is mandated by law to provide financial resources for the establishment of universal service and universal access to all communities and to facilitate the provision of access to basic telephony, internet services, multimedia broadband and broadcasting services — is playing an increasingly “critical role” in the digital transformation “our countryside.”

She said the growth in teledensity in urban areas fueled by mobile technological uptake has resulted in a “widening digital gap between rural and urban areas” and because the extension of connection to the rural areas is not considered commercially viable, they continue to be left behind.

She said there are almost 2000 communities in Ghana without mobile signals and through GIFEC, the government is working in collaboration with the network operators to achieve 100% coverage by 2020 and telephone subscription to as many citizens as possible.

“We are making significant stride on this journey,” she stated adding from the year 2006 to 2017, 117 rural telephony sites were constructed and that the Akufo-Addo led government has significantly scaled up these operations and 2017 alone 100 rural telephony sites were constructed and activated to over 500 communities where access to mobile signals was not previously available.

She further noted “as at now in 2018, we have 80 sites already completed and we are on course to complete 200 sites this year with our partners MTN and Huawei for the second phase of this project which involves the deployment of voice and data connectivity.

Source: Ghanaian Times

Vodafone Ghana has embarked on a move to entrench its reputation as the digital telco of the future by empowering SMEs in the month of September this year.

According to Angela Mensah-Poku, Director at Vodafone Business Solutions (VBS), who made this known, a number of initiatives had already been lined up, including SME Clinics across the regions, a master plan to register 1,000 SMEs online, as well as a Masterclass programme, in partnership with CEIBS to build the capacity of these businesses.

The SME Masterclass programme will also train senior managers of selected SMEs on key modules, including corporate governance, innovation and entrepreneurship growth, financial management and social media.

“We are excited about the comprehensive activities we have put together for our customers. Our support for SMEs in Ghana over the years has seen tremendous results; first for our customers and then for us as a business. This year will be no different as we continue to empower SMEs to embrace the exciting future. We know how critical mobile financial services are to SMEs. For most companies, it’s an integral part of their operations. In view of this, we have also created a unique Vodafone Cash offer to enable SMEs conduct unlimited transactions on the platform at GH¢3 per month throughout the month of September,” she said.

She revealed that SMEs played a very crucial role in Ghana’s economy, demonstrating the capacity to contribute enormously to the general economic growth, hence the decision to assist them.

“With the world at an advanced stage of digitisation, Vodafone wants to be at the forefront of the drive to make these businesses relevant and competitive.”

The highlight of the SME month will be the Annual SMEGA Awards during which thriving companies in the country would be rewarded and acknowledged for a good job done.

Source: dailyguideafrica.com