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MTN Group is pleased to announce the resumption of its Y’ello Care employee volunteering programme after two years of Covid-19. The annual event aims to secure high participation levels of MTN staff in high impact social projects to uplift and empower the local communities in which the company operates. 

The programme, kicking off on 1 June until the 21st, is themed “Empowering Communities to Drive Economic Recovery”. The aim is to inspire MTNers to heed the call to upskill local communities in order to drive economic activity and participation through focusing on digital skills training and digital job creation. This is linked to MTN’s strategic priority to build digital skills for digital jobs aligned to the company’s Ambition 2025 Strategy. 

“As MTNers it is imperative that we continue to contribute to our societies and ensure that the communities in which we operate see the value of the business in their lives,” MTN Group Chief Sustainability & Corporate Affairs Officer Nompilo Morafo said. 

MTN is committed to adding economic value by contributing to society through its programmes focused on digital education, digital skills and digital skills training. The company believes that reducing the digital skills gap will help address issues of digital and social inequalities while at the same time ensuring the sustainability of the business. 

“With a new strategic focus on digital skills for digital jobs, kicking off our Y’ello Care initiatives by focusing on empowering communities to drive economic recovery after Covid-19 through training, upskilling, and knowledge sharing will create lasting and sustainable change. Working with women, youth, disadvantaged populations, and people at risk will help uplift our communities and will add value to the work done in 2019, while pathing the way for new opportunities under this new strategic direction,” Morafo added. 

At MTN, we believe that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connect life and by resuming our Y’ello Care campaign, we strive to ensure that we continue to strengthen and uplift all of our community members in their pursual of economic development within each community.

IHS Holding Limited (NYSE: IHS) (“IHS Towers”), one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count, has completed the acquisition of 5,701 towers in South Africa from Mobile Telephone Networks Proprietary Limited (“MTN SA”), one of the leading mobile telecommunications operators in South Africa (the “Transaction”). Under the agreement, IHS Towers is also providing Power Management Services to MTN SA on approximately 13,000 sites, including the acquisition portfolio, across South Africa.

Cash consideration for the Transaction is ZAR6.4 billion[1]. The acquired assets as well as the provision of Power Management Services across MTN SA’s portfolio are expected to deliver Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately US$192 million and US$85 million, respectively, in the first full year of operations.[2] This transaction has received the necessary regulatory approval from the South African Competition Commission.

The Power Management Services component of the transaction is aligned to IHS Towers’ existing service offering in other African markets – this service will be delivered to the acquired sites, as well as to other third-party sites on which MTN SA is present. This service will primarily involve power systems and security at sites.

IHS Towers will own 70% of the South African Towers business with the remaining 30% to be owned by a B-BBEE consortium.

With this acquisition, IHS now has an operational footprint in eleven emerging markets with seven in Africa, in addition to four in Latin America and the Middle East, with a global tower count of nearly 39,000 towers.

Sam Darwish, IHS Towers Chairman and CEO, commented “The closure of this acquisition is an important milestone in IHS’ growth story. IHS was founded in Africa and the region continues to be a key anchor for our company. Through this transaction, IHS has now entered the most industrialised economy in Africa as South Africa’s largest independent tower operator. MTN Group have been a long-term partner of IHS, and I am delighted that we will expand that collaboration and facilitate mobile connectivity in South Africa. We will leverage our deep operational excellence and engineering expertise, honed across our other African markets, to meet South Africa’s increasingly sophisticated data demands and expedite the roll-out of new technologies.”

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO commented “With the regulatory approvals and all conditions precedent to the deal finalised, we are pleased to have IHS bring global capabilities to our South Africa network. Additionally, with this deal, we continue to deliver on our Asset Realisation Programme, strengthening the balance sheet and improving returns.”

“Over the years, MTN SA has built and maintained the best network in the country, and we believe that in IHS, we have found a partner with the necessary experience and expertise to maintain and enhance this critical part of the business. This international partnership also brings foreign investment into the market to create greater competition,” added Charles Molapisi, MTN SA CEO.

[1] On a cash and debt free basis, excludes IFRS 16 lease liabilities estimated to be ZAR4.6 billion.

[2] 12-month Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA annualized for FY 2022 outlook. Revenue includes power pass through on acquired sites that will take time to materialise in our revenue. Note that revenue has been adjusted down when compared to our initial announcement last November as we will only be providing power pass through on the towers being acquired, and not on those owned by third parties.

MTN Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Tumi Chamayou as Group Executive:  Enterprise Business Unit (GEBU), effective 1 June 2022.

Tumi joined the GEBU team in 2018, as General Manager for Large Enterprise Sales, and has been Acting Executive for the function since July 2020, until now. During this time, she has added immense value, overseeing client segment teams as well as the overall strategy and operational alignment with EBU teams in MTN’s Opcos.

Jens Schulte-Bockum, Group Chief Operating Executive said, “Tumi has the expertise and track record to assist in bolstering the leadership capability of MTN Group. Critical to the realisation of our strategic imperatives is an integrated, synergistic, and collaborative leadership team whose core values and mindset are aligned with the company’s strategy. We look forward to working with Tumi in her new role”.

Tumi is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in technology, telecommunications, and management consulting. Prior to joining MTN, she held various senior leadership roles at Ericsson, Egon Zehnder, Accenture and Decipher.

Tumi holds an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

MTN Group, with operations in 17 countries across Africa, has been ranked the number one African brand and among the top 10 brands on the continent in the annual Brand Africa 100 survey.

At a ceremony in Lagos to mark Africa Day on Wednesday 25 May 2022, Brand Africa said that MTN was the #1 African brand in both the spontaneous recall (where respondents are asked to name a brand across any category and region) and prompted recall (where respondents are guided to recall an African brand) rankings. This is the first time MTN has scooped both awards.

MTN was also named the highest-ranking telecoms brand on the continent.

“We are humbled by the recognition and remain focused on playing a leading role in building a more digitally inclusive society across Africa,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “Using our brand power, distribution footprint and best-in-class connectivity infrastructure, we are working to facilitate a real change in the continent’s digital and financial inclusion.”

“Sincere thanks to our customers, MTNers, and all other important stakeholders for your ongoing support, ” he added.

The Brand Africa awards came at the same time as the release of Brand Finance’ Africa 150 2022 report, which showed that MTN had retained its position as the most valuable African brand. Assigning MTN a brand value of US$4.0 billion, up 49%, it said: “Apart from telecommunications, the leading brand has diversified its services into fintech and mobile money across Africa. MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) application is performing exceedingly well and overtook its competition.”

As part of MTN’s refreshed strategy – Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress – early in 2022 MTN overhauled its brand. It has a new visual identity, which is modern, simple, bold and digitally dynamic, challenging consumers to act today to enjoy the benefits of progress tomorrow with its “what are we doing today campaign”.

MTN Group Executive for Marketing Bernice Samuels said it was pleasing to see the resurgence that African brands had made in the rankings in 2022 and called the MTN awards heartening: “They encourage us to work harder to deliver on our purpose of enabling the benefits of a modern connected life to everyone.”

Mupita concurred, thanking MTN’s many stakeholders across the continent for their support: “In particular, I would like to thank our 276 million subscribers and 16 390 employees for ensuring that MTN remains the top African brand.”

MTN Group is pleased to announce that we have joined the Global Network Initiative (GNI), signalling our commitment to strengthen and innovate our digital human rights efforts.

The GNI is a multi-stakeholder organisation whose mission is to protect and advance freedom of expression, privacy, and other key digital human rights by setting a global standard for responsible decision-making for companies across the information and telecommunications sector.

“Our commitment to digital human rights is an integral part of our business strategy and sustainability framework and is embedded in the highest levels of our governance structures. This membership is one example of our commitment to continuously evolve and innovate our approach in addressing human rights risk and the way we conduct our business,” says MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer Nompilo Morafo.

“We believe that digital and financial inclusion cannot be achieved without deliberate efforts to respect the rights of all. MTN’s GNI membership allows us to explore new ways of safeguarding the rights of our customers and other stakeholders using the power of collective learning and collaboration with multiple stakeholders,” she adds.

GNI members commit to implementing the GNI Principles, which are based on internationally recognised laws and standards for human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The GNI Principles, along with the GNI and Implementation Guidelines, provide a framework for responsible company decision-making in support of freedom of expression and privacy rights.

“GNI and its 90 members will greatly benefit from MTN’s perspective, and we are particularly pleased to be continuing to expand into new geographies. We look forward to working with MTN to help protect the human rights of its customers and stakeholders,” said GNI Executive Director Jason Pielemeier.

The GNI regularly facilitates opportunities for members to contribute to shared learning and provides a forum for collective advocacy with governments and other key stakeholders in support of laws and policies that promote and protect freedom of expression and privacy.

MTN’s digital human rights framework adopts a pragmatic approach to systematically entrench digital human rights across the Group. Implementing the GNI Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy will further strengthen our approach.

As MTN Group, we have reached a major milestone in our work to create shared value by achieving, for the first time, Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Contributor Status in South Africa.

The rating is for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 and is an improvement on the Level 2 Contributor Status for 2020. It is contained in the Group’s annual B-BBEE compliance report, released today, in which major subsidiary MTN South Africa (MTN SA) retained its Level 1 B-BBEE Contributor Status for the third year running.

The B-BBEE Contributor Status for MTN Group considers both the South African operating entities as well as the South African Group function.

“We are very pleased by the progress we are making as the MTN Group in driving broad-based transformation. The achievement of the Level 1 Contributor Status for both our Group and our South African operation is a truly major milestone,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “As MTN Group, we see broad-based transformation and making socio-economic contributions to the markets we operate in as key to our sustainability and creating shared value.”

Notable improvements for the Group were 4.5-point increase in our Management Control score. This resulted from our consistent alignment to the targets based on the Economically Active Population as well as from changes in the composition of the Board of Directors, with the appointment of more women. Our Equity Ownership score improved by 0.94 points as we maximised the Designated Group sub-indicator.

Mupita said MTN would continue to work to contribute meaningfully to South Africa’s socio-economic transformation, prioritising Enterprise and Supplier Development and Skills Development in 2022. This includes supporting several learnership programmes, which he said was particularly critical at a time of rising unemployment.

MTN SA CEO Charles Molapisi concurred: “In an environment of mounting economic challenges, we are pleased to be able to help create meaningful opportunities for South Africans. In 2022 we will work harder to provide a world-class Enterprise and Supplier Development Programme to deliver more sustainable solutions that are aligned to government’s efforts to speed up the inclusion of Black-Owned Business in the mainstream economy.”

MTN Group has linked the remuneration of senior executives with the Group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets. This supports the delivery of our Ambition 2025 strategy, and in particular the strategic priority to ‘create shared value’, with ‘ESG at the core’.

The variable elements of executive compensation – both short-term incentives (STIs) and long-term incentives (LTIs) – now depend on progress on three ESG goals: reaching Net Zero; enhancing diversity and inclusion; and extending rural broadband.

“Effectively managing our environmental, social and governance impacts is critical to reaching Ambition 2025,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita in the Group’s recently released Sustainability Report.

“We have made great progress overall and continually strive to meet the increasingly high standards our stakeholders demand regarding our ESG impact. To this end, we have linked 2022 executive renumeration for STIs and LTIs to ESG.”

In March, MTN Group’s 2021 results showed a 16% reduction in scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions; an increase in the representation of women across the Group to 39%; and an increase to 83% in rural broadband coverage.

MTN is committed to reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 47% by 2030 and reaching Net Zero by 2040; achieving workforce gender equality by 2030; and extending rural broadband coverage to 95% by 2025.

MTN’s strategic intent is ‘Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress’. In 2021, we took a step change in our approach to ESG, placing it at the core of our strategy. This aligns with our work to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through our business activities and our support of governments, communities and customers. We are committed to bridging the digital divide and furthering financial inclusion to advance the attainment of the goals.

Six of the world’s leading telcos announced today, the creation of Alaian, an alliance to connect the open innovation ecosystems of these leading global telcos to reach 50 countries and 700 million customers.

The members of Alaian are Bouygues Telecom, Cellnex, KPN, MTN, Telefónica and WINDTRE. With this alliance they seek to join forces to share best practices on innovation and generate different use cases on the latest market developments and technologies they are implementing, in their ambition to constantly innovate.

The alliance is also committed to global open calls to attract companies that are aligned with its strategic innovation priorities. In this context, they are taking the opportunity to announce a global call for start-ups, which opens today. Interested companies can participate via this link.

Alaian will be looking for start-ups with 5G-based use cases in Communications & infrastructure, Industry, manufacturing & logistics, Mobility, Utilities & Energy, Metaverse & Web3, Media, Entertainment & Gaming and Retail.

The selected companies will be able to access the best 5G connectivity and edge computing resources of the alliance’s member telcos, as well as carry out tests in the 5G LABs with the intention of integrating them into the solutions of the different telcos.

In addition, the companies will also be able to exchange knowledge with specialists and network teams with whom to co-develop and solve problems together, taking advantage of the technical, commercial and product support of the alliance members’ network of experts, mentors, and trainers.

The start-ups selected by the alliance will be able to benefit from the resources available to the telecoms such as knowledge of the markets they are in, access to their network of contacts, design and build pilots with customers around the world. Apart from this, there is the opportunity to help start-ups additionally with fundraising, training for entrepreneurs, visibility and exposure at the alliance partners’ headquarters, flagship shops, demo centres, labs, and hubs to showcase their product to the network of customers and partners.  In addition, equity investment will be possible from any of Alaian’s member investment vehicles, as well as exposure to its global network of venture capital firms.

“We are very proud to participate in the Alaian program. For a long time, we have decided to get closer to those who have the ideas, those who innovate and create. With Start-ups and Open Innovation, we can invent the future together. This new alliance gives us the chance to meet new start-ups from different backgrounds, to discover and share opportunities with companies that share the same challenges as us (5G development, customer experience, sustainable development, metaverse…)”, Stéphane Allaire, Chief Innovation Officer of Bouygues Telecom.

“It’s an honour to participate and contribute our expertise in this powerful initiative with these partners which will bring the best of both worlds, corporate and start-up, to drive Open Innovation around the most relevant topics for the telcos nowadays”, Jose A. Aranda, Global Innovation director of Cellnex.

“Strong cooperation in opening our doors and resources for start-ups with these global telco’s, will increase all our innovation capacities and add value in terms of potential market reach, funding etc for start-ups. We highly value this initiative. KPN is a strong believer of Open Innovation, as is also shown in winning the Open Innovation Challenger by the International Chamber of Commerce for the 4th year in a row. So, let’s make impact together”, Jacob Groote, Innovation and Partnership manager at KPN.

“We are proud to form part of the Alaian alliance which will give us an opportunity to work with and share best practices with globally competitive telcos. Innovative digital solutions are a huge part of our strategy and our involvement in the alliance will further expose us to partnering with start-ups that are a strong fit with our Ambition 2025 strategy of leading digital solutions to Africa’s progress”, Chika Ekeji, Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of MTN Group.

“We are proud to bring together Alaian the synergies of six of the world’s most prestigious telcos to collaborate and drive open innovation at Telefónica, and to enrich entrepreneurial ecosystems in the countries where we are present”, Irene Gómez, Open Innovation Director of Telefónica.

“We are excited to join Alaian together with other global telco leaders that are all facing a common challenge: expanding beyond the core business, creating, and capturing value through new processes, products, services and business models. We are confident that this alliance will help us drive our overall innovation agenda and generate an optimal combination of core business development whilst also pursuing new solutions”, Luca Monti, WINDTRE 5G & IoT Project Director.

More information in the following video.

MTN Group (MTN) is pleased to announce further progress in its efforts to drive gender equality by partnering with United Nations (UN) Women and joining the HeForShe Alliance in a drive to enhance its gender efforts.

The HeForShe Alliance aims to develop the largest set of scalable and shareable solutions for gender equality’s most pressing challenges. Convening global trailblazers from across sectors, these HeForShe Alliance members will spearhead transformative change across countries, companies, campuses, and communities, inspiring many other to follow suit and demonstrating the value of allyship in accelerating progress.

“At MTN, we are clear that a diverse and inclusive culture will be critical to our success and sustainability. Partnering with the HeForShe Alliance will help us accelerate our efforts to create an environment where women thrive and have a deep sense of belonging within MTN,” says MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.

“We have three priorities that we are focused on. Firstly, to achieve gender equity by no later than 2030, with a target of 50% women in the workforce, from a 2021 base of 39%. Our efforts on gender equity extend to the executive leadership groups and the boards within our governance structures. Secondly, higher representation of women within technology roles, with a goal of at least 30% by 2030, off an existing base of 17%. Thirdly, to close the gender pay gaps we have across our businesses,” he added.

The partnership, a $1.6 million commitment over a period of five years, will see the Group accelerate its efforts to advance gender equality. MTN’s approach to gender equality is not only about the women in the business but about the girls and women in broader society. Working with UN Women, MTN will develop and upskill women and girls to ensure they can actively participate in the Digital Economy.

The HeForShe Alliance stems from the global HeForShe solidarity movement, a flagship initiative of UN Women, the United Nations entity for Gender Equality, that invites men and boys as allies for a more equal world. This international movement engages men and boys through programs and partnerships with the aim of accelerating women’s economic empowerment, supporting women’s role in peace and security processes, advancing women’s leadership and eliminating gender-based violence.  Since its inception in 2014, the movement has led to over 1.3 billion conversations across the globe.

Hazel Gooding PhD, Representative ad interim, reiterates that “the UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) is constantly innovating its approach with respect to strategic partnerships that can strongly amplify Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. UN Women looks forward to closely collaborating with MTN on the identified areas of Digital Economy and Ending Violence against Women and Girls to make a positive and sustainable impact on the lives of women and girls.”

Edward Wageni, Global Head of HeForShe, said “MTN’s commitment to fortify access, skills, and leaders to achieve gender equality in the workforce and increase the representation of women in leadership is an aspirational beacon for the telecommunications industry at large. We are proud to be partnering with such a connected organisation in advancing the shared vision of an equal and supportive workplace for all.”

For MTN, gender equality is not only a moral imperative, but a business imperative too and that is why the company recognises that it cannot reach a sustainable future without the empowerment of women and girls and the commitment of all stakeholders, including men and boys, to achieving this goal. The Group is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and Women Empowerment Principles, MTN is committed to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals – including Goal 5 for Gender Equality.

MTN Group has published its 2021 suite of reports including Integrated, Sustainability, Transparency and Tax Reports. MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita unpacks the purpose of the suite of the reports, their highlights including MTN’s progress against Ambition 2025 and our strategic priorities. The reports emphasise the MTN of tomorrow, and how we’re leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. Link to the suite of reports https://www.mtn.com/annual-reports/

Watch below