MTN Employees shave been commended for volunteering time and resources to train the youth. As part of the 2022 edition of 21 Days of Y’ello Care program, MTN staff and their partners organised a Youth Upskill Programme for job seekers, graduates, and undergraduates in Accra.
The event held at the Accra Technical University brought together private recruitment agencies, business partners and other stakeholders to host CV clinics for the youth. The session also provided upskilling opportunities for people who had lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing them with employable skills needed for the evolving job market. This year’s Y’ello Care was organized under the theme “Empowering communities to drive economic recovery.”
Through the organisation of the Y’ello Market Gig, traders and market women at the Makola, Ho, and Kwesimintsim Markets were provided with financial literacy and digital skills training. The participants were also taken through basic mobile apps on budgeting, revenue and expense tracking to enable them be more efficient in running their businesses. They were also introduced to apps that will help them reach more prospective buyers. Many of the beneficiaries commended MTN for spending time with them to share knowledge.
Commenting on the activities, the acting Chief Corporate Services Officer, Nana Kofi Asare said “I believe our activities for Y’ello Care are in the right direction. We believe that these initiatives will empower Ghanaians with skills that will enable them positively impact their communities, after the distress suffered from the pandemic in the past two years.”
The 21 Days of Y’ello Care Challenge is an annual employee volunteer initiative launched by MTN Group in 2007 to encourage MTN staff to commit their time and resources to community services for 21 days in June. 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 prize money of US$100,000 to be re-invested in community projects.
Since its inception in 2007, MTN Ghana has won the 2008 WECA (West and Central Africa) Regional award and overall Y’ello Care Challenge winners for years 2010 & 2011. Additionally, MTN Ghana won the Y’ello Care ICT Project for 2013, Y’ello Care Innovation Project award for 2014 and Y’ello Care Integrity Award for 2015.
The MTN Ghana Foundation was established in November 2007 as the vehicle to select and implement MTN’s Corporate Social Investments. MTN Ghana Foundation has three areas of focus -Health, Education and Economic Empowerment. From its inception to date, the Foundation has undertaken 158 major projects across the country.
Notable health projects include construction of a Neonatal Care Center for Tamale Teaching Hospital, refurbishment of the 2nd floor maternity block of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, construction of a maternity block for Ejisu Government Hospital, and construction of an Emergency Center for Atua Government Hospital.
Education projects undertaken include construction of a boys dormitory for Akropong School for the Blind, construction of a six-unit classroom block for Kodjonya Millennium School, establishment of 10 MTN ICT Learning Centers in each of Ghana’s then 10 regions and the institution of an Innovation Hub at KNUST to promote Telecoms Engineering and Research.
Key projects undertaken in Economic Empowerment include: the construction of shea butter processing centers, provision of seed capital and skill training for Women of Tizaa Dini Association of Yendi and the Sung Suma Women Association of Wa.
