Vodafone Ghana’s latest enterprising package is leading a change among the youth to become entrepreneurial, as it gave away some exciting consolation prices, educational support packages and working tools to first of its beneficiary customers.
The pioneering initiative, dubbed Vodafone VIM, launched early this year, seeks to equip customers with knowledge, shape their skills, connect them to the things that matters most to them while also rewarding their loyalty.
The initiative has three focus areas; education, product and loyalty programme. It equips customers with knowledge and motivation to enhance their skills through a series of educational and self-development videos and voice clips on seven main courses including shirt printing, soap making, beauty and baking.
It also offers subscribers minutes for calls to Vodafone and other networks, in addition to data for browsing the internet, and a unique loyalty programme that delivers to customers training in various vocational courses, award certificates to participants and provide essential working tools to enable them to succeed.
The first batch of over 100 loyal customers were rewarded with certificates and working tools having successfully finished viewing all tutorial videos for a continuous period of 12 weeks.
Seven ultimate winners are expected to be enrolled in partner institutions for proper certification, while 20 others received various working tools including gas cookers, soap cutters, shooting boxes, sewing machine, cocktail set among others to enable them setup and start a business.
“The young men and women who are filled with entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. The youth, who mostly involved in small scale trading, buying and selling and sometimes are looking for opportunities to put their energies to good use,” an official communication said.
It also said “Vodafone VIM has been designed to meet the specific needs of these youth and satisfy their passion. These groups need VIM to become what they want to be – and we want to be the platform that gives them this VIM to go all out and succeed.”
The Marketing Manager, Segment, Vodafone Ghana, Regina Ofori, explained that inspired by the commitment to help improve the lives of its cherished customers, Vodafone discovered that many people desirous of doing something for themselves but lack help.
She said this among others informed Vodafone to step in to be the help for these willing customers and individuals to come out with a product that can drive entrepreneurship development, in the country.
“This is an innovation yet to be seen in this country, where we are not just being a technological company or selling airtime but through the power of technology we are helping our customers to learn a trade and skill so that they can also be their own bosses and earn some living.”
According to the Marketing Manager, the Vodafone VIM is a proposition that has come to stay in as long as customers continue to show their willingness to learn, and added that the platform has been subscribed by over 100,000 Ghanaians who are learning from the tutorial videos sent to them weekly.
She said the entry opens in the next three months where other customers who are successful with their videos will be selected and also attractively rewarded and seven of them selected to be enrolled in school for proper certification.
An award winner from Accra, Grace Doku, shared her excitement and hoped that the opportunity will put her on the path to fulfil her dream of become a business owner.
As she envisages to become a professional food processor, in the production of juice, Grace counts on the opportunity to be able to teach others to also succeed in this endeavor.
By Kizito Cudjoe l thebftonline.com l Ghana
