MTN Ghana, as part of its shared value strategy, has organised an enterprise support programme for some Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The event took place in Accra and saw three categories of beneficiaries – youth, women and persons with disability. In all, the programme aims to support 500 enterprises in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western Regions over the next 5 years, with each beneficiary receiving GH¢10,000, along with capacity building workshops.
The Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Adwoa Wiafe, revealed that the support programme’s purpose is to ensure MTN Ghana grows with its stakeholders. “The enterprise support programme is one that MTN Ghana launched in March this year to support small and medium-sized businesses with financial assistance, training and some technical support to be able to grow their businesses.
“As part of MTN’s strategy, we have something we call shared value – and the whole point of shared value is to ensure that as we are doing our business, we carry our stakeholders along. We support our stakeholders in the communities around us to be enabled in improving their lives and livelihoods,” she added.
The support programme, according to the Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, is one pillar of the MTN Foundation’s economic empowerment policy – the other two pillars being health and education.
She acknowledged the challenges facing the country’s SMEs and micro-businesses, especially in their quest to access finance in support of their expansion.
The just-ended launch was also an opportunity to announce the 68 beneficiaries in Accra from all three categories; youths, women and persons with disabilities. The Western and Ashanti Regions, she revealed, were the places which selected enterprises within this year.
On behalf of the persons with disability category, Alexander – a beneficiary – expressed his sincere gratitude to MTN by saying: “Thank you MTN Ghana. We are excited, we are joyful for you making us part of the MTN family”.
He also congratulated all beneficiaries for making it through the process.
