[caption id="attachment_5430" align="alignnone" width="300"] Cross-section of participants[/caption]

MTN Ghana has underscored the need for appreciating the tremendous role being played by women towards the development of the country.

MTN recognizes the important role women play in nurturing, enhancing and developing people, communities and nations around the world.

As organizations observe this day around the world, MTN Ghana would like to use this opportunity to thank all women in MTN for the pivotal role they continue to play in business and in national development.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh commended the efforts of women in MTN.

He said, “we are committed to the development and welfare of women. MTN’s market leadership will not have been a reality without the contribution of women in the organization.”

Commenting on the celebration, the Human Resource Executive of MTN, Mrs Amma Benneh-Amponsah said, “we continue to celebrate women for their diversity.

MTN has about 40% of its workforce being women spread across varying levels both operational and strategic.”

As part of activities to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, the CEO of African Women’s Development fund, Theo Sowa had a talk with MTN staff on the theme #BalanceforBetter. In her presentation, she said, “the narratives of the African woman has to change for good and there is the need to have a society that rewards everyone especially women all year round.

“Diversity opens many opportunities and therefore women should look beyond how we are investing in our country now and go beyond the easy things. We need to recognize that we have been privileged to be in the workplace that encourages continuous transformation and innovation” she added.

MTN has made a lot of interventions to make the workplace conducive and more enjoyable for women. The company has a crèche facility in-house for nursing mothers to take care of their babies while at work.

To create awareness of women’s health and wellness, MTN periodically organizes breast and cervical screening for its female staff among others. MTN’s flexi hours also gives staff including women an opportunity to choose convenient work schedules.

MTN through its Foundation has undertaken various projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of women. Through its health and economic empowerment portfolios, MTN has undertaken projects such as the provision of a Maternity Block for the Tema General Hospital, the refurbishment of the 2nd floor labor unit of Korle-Bu Maternity Ward, Construction of Neonatal unit for Tamale Teaching Hospital, Construction of Girls Dormitory Block for Apam SHS, and the Construction of a 15 Bed Children Ward for Twifo Praso. Every Christmas, MTN staff volunteers distribute hampers to mothers of babies born on Christmas Day.

There are many more projects across the country aimed at empowering women economically. MTN undertook the Girl Code Project aimed at training women in Apps development and provided support aimed at increasing access to ICT education for girls.

The International Women’s Day which is celebrated on 8th March every year is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. The theme for this year’s celebration is #BalanceforBetter.

Source: Newsghana.com

[caption id="attachment_5112" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mitwa Kaemba N'gambi, AirtelTigo CEO[/caption]

The eve of March 8th has me reflecting on the reason for the United Nation’s establishment of an official International Women’s Day, back in 1975. Prior to this, several countries had in some shape or form commemorated a Women’s day, with March 8th, 1975 being the first International Women’s Day as formally established by the UN.

The intention was to create a rally point where everyone across the globe could celebrate women and stop to assess how well we are doing in supporting women’s participation in political and economic activity.

So, how well are we actually doing? According to the World Economic Forum 2018 Global Gender Gap Index, it will take more than a century to close the gap between men and women in sub-Saharan Africa.

This may seem disheartening, But, I do think society has made several deliberate steps and has come a long way in affording and exposing women to similar opportunities as men.

Years ago, studying Computer Science in University, the ratio of my male to female classmates was staggering but I’m encouraged to see how the number of female students graduating from these previously male dominated disciplines has grown substantially since then.

Further still, my first Chief Executive role had me as the only female on my executive team. Today however, leading AirtelTigo, it’s exciting to see that 40 per cent of my executive team is female. Even more humbling is the fact that having become AirtelTigo CEO just over 8 months ago, two of my predecessors were women. This is progress.

I believe in gender equality and its importance to socio-economic development. I believe in inclusion and diversity in the working environment to allow people to grow and succeed, regardless of their gender or race.

Some have said that the empowerment of a woman is the empowerment of generations to come.

Some facts and figures from unwomen.org show that when more women work, economies grow. When there are increased leadership opportunities for women, organizations’ effectiveness and growth is accelerated.

Many companies in Africa, like AirtelTigo will embark on different initiatives to help create “Balance for Better”, as inspired by the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. AirtelTigo will for instance over the next few days shine a light on all the fabulous female talent we have in the organization, in the hope that this will inspire other females to rise to their potential too.

Achieving gender equality is a shared responsibility. In partnership with the private sector, our governments should also continue with deliberate policies and programmes to ensure equal access to education, healthcare, economic and leadership opportunities.

There is also a responsibility on us as women to rise up and relentlessly go after the opportunities we desire. The opportunities that we know if afforded we could make significant impact in and through. Relentlessness knows no gender, nor does hard work nor ambition.

As we celebrate ourselves as women, I encourage us all to make good use of our skills and talents and support each other as women and sisters of Africa -- to help transform our economies and societies. Women are an important voice in the governance of our communities and nations. Together, let’s build a gender-balanced continent, better for our children, communities, businesses and governments.

Source: Ghanaweb

Vodafone Ghana Foundation, on the eve of Ghana’s 62nd Independence Anniversary, settled debts of 108 detained patients, totaling GH¢250,000.00, at health facilities across the country.

The initiative was part of Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s way of celebrating the independence with the citizenry.

Detained patients at various regional hospitals including the maternity and surgery departments benefitted from the package.

Patients supported included pregnant women who had delivered for months and were detained due to their inability to settle their bills and accident victims who had undergone intensive and costly surgery but were not able to pay their bills.

[caption id="attachment_5093" align="alignnone" width="300"] Gayheart Mensah; Director of External Affairs[/caption]

Mr Gayheart Mensah, the Director of External Affairs and Corporate Security at Vodafone Ghana, said the company was not only concerned with yielding profits but sensitive to the needs, anxiety and aspirations of the citizenry.

He said it was for this reason that it allocated GH¢250,000.00 to put smiles on the faces of the detained patients to give them back their freedom, as the nation celebrates her 62nd Independence.

“Independence is all about enjoying freedom,” he said.

Mr Mensah noted that the gesture was also to support the Government in the efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of providing universal access to basic health.

Mrs Gladys Addo, a Principal Nursing Officer (PNO) and the In-Charge of the first floor of the Maternity Ward at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, expressed gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for the kind gesture.

She said the inability of many patients to settle their bills after receiving medical care had been a big challenge to the Hospital, as it lost huge sums of money.

She added that it was also disadvantageous to new patients who were admitted in terms of accommodation.

Other beneficiary patients, she said, were those who had sustained brain injury, and had undergone spinal and other fractured bone surgeries.

Ms Emelia Okai, a PNO of the Department of Surgery at the KBTH, said: “Vodafone has taught us that they don’t only take our money but extend their hands to make sure patients get well.”

She urged other institutions that undertake benevolent activities to consider the health sector and go to their aid.

Ms Lydia Tiwaa, a 20-year-old nursing mother and a beneficiary of the support, thanked Vodafone for releasing them as life at the Hospital was challenging.

She said she suffered from obstetric fistula after delivery, bringing her bill to GH¢4,700.00 including drugs, which her family could not pay.

Source: GNA

MTN Group increased its subscriber base by 16 million in 2018 to 233 million customers across 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East. The number of active data users increased by 10 million to 79 million, and the active mobile money subscriber base rose to 27 million. This strong commercial momentum drove a 10.7 percent constant currency increase in service revenue to ZAR 125.4 billion, the company said. The group said it met all its medium-term targets, reducing its holding company leverage and accelerating service revenue growth, driven by the implementation of its BRIGHT strategy. It also announced plans for asset disposals and raised its target for service revenue growth in the coming years.

EBITDA rose more than 15 percent, and the margin improved to 35.9 percent from 35.4 percent, thanks to underlying improvement in South Africa and Nigeria. Reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased to 337 cents from 182 cents in 2017. Adjusting for one-off items, HEPS would have been ZAR 5.65 per share. A final dividend of ZAR 3.25 was declared, down from ZAR 4.50 a year earlier, as expected.

Asset sales
MTN said it conducted an extensive review of its portfolio to reduce risk, improve returns and simplify MTN. This review covered not only its subsidiary companies but also its associates and its investments in e-commerce investments and tower companies. The group has ZAR 40 billion tied up in the value of the e-commerce and tower company investments and announced that they are not viewed as long-term strategic assets of the group and will be monetised over time. The group has committed in the portfolio review to realise more than ZAR 15 billion over the next three years, excluding any proceeds from its ZAR 23 billion position in towers group IHS.

The operator also announced that it would be disposing of its 53 percent stake in Botswana operator Mascom for USD 300 million, equal to 6.1x EBITDA. The other shareholder in Mascom, Econet Wireless will acquire the stake. The lack of control of the operator and MTN branding meant that the group is not able to execute on its BRIGHT strategy there.

MTN also confirmed plans to list MTN Nigeria on the stock market in the first half of the year. This will first be a listing by introduction followed later by a public offering. Over time, local ownership of the company is expected to grow to 35 percent.

Improved targets
MTN's leverage came down to 2.3 times at end-2018 from 2.9 times in June and within the target range of 2.0-2.5x. The group’s overall gearing moderated to 1.3x.

MTN said it overcame several regulatory headwinds in 2018, the most material of which was the Central Bank of Nigeria dispute on historical dividend repatriations. This was resolved and MTN announced in December 2018 that an agreement to implement a notional reversal of the 2008 private placement and consequently made a resolution payment of USD 53 million.

The group said it is committed to further enhancing its risk management and stakeholder management processes. Considering the improved performance in 2018 and its growth plans, MTN revised its mid-term guidance upwards, targeting double-digit growth in service revenue at constant currencies rather than upper-single-digit growth. This is driven by double-digit growth from MTN Nigeria and mid-single-digit. MTN also aims to continue to expand the EBITDA margin in the next 3-5 years.

The improving revenue growth, margins and capex intensity are anticipated to drive significant improvements in group returns. MTN expects the adjusted ROE to improve from 11.5 percent in 2018 to over 20 percent over the medium term. While the board remains committed to growth of 10-20 percent in the dividend going forward, MTN said this is likely to be towards the lower end of the range in 2019.

Source: Telecompaper.com