Doing for Tomorrow, Today: A Holistic X-ray of How MTN Foundation is Catalysing Sustainable Change

The overarching objective of the MTN Nigeria Foundation, MTNF, is premised on driving meaningful, measurable and sustainable change through social interventions that helps disadvantaged and rural communities and individuals to become self-sufficient. From providing solutions in healthcare, education, technology and economic empowerment either through the National Priority or Youth Development Portfolios, Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that against all odds, in ‘Doing for Tomorrow, Today’, the foundation is holistically catalysing solutions, thus contributing significantly to quality of lives and livelihoods

For MTN, an ICT and Telecommunications giant, its

commitment to harnessing Africa’s potential and supporting her progress by unlocking its full benefits, has remained sacrosanct, especially through its Sustainability Strategy and Ambition 2025, which seeks to bridge the digital and financial divide, further inclusion and advance the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their core business activities and their support to governments, communities and customers.

Either through the MTN Foundation (MTNF); driving online safety of children primarily, and of all customers through awareness campaigns and digital solutions through  

ChildSafetyOnline.africa; MTN Sustainability Strategy of Doing for Tomorrow, Today; or even through the Media Innovation Programme (MIP), a six month-long intensive training birthed three years ago to foster innovation, transform and empower media practitioners to take advantage of technology and innovation to do their jobs better and tell stories that needed to be told,- the telecommunications and ICT company, which operates in 19 African countries and the Middle East, is playing its part in Africa’s transformation to improve people’s quality of life and dignity and stimulate growth that is economically empowering and environmentally sustainable.

According to MTNGroup Executive on Sustainability & Shared Value, Marina Madale, it is premised on “Doing for Tomorrow, Today”, which boils down to “Doing it right” as committed partners to stakeholders to create and protect value; “Doing for the planet” as a commitment to protecting our planet and achieving net zero emissions by 2040; “Doing for people” as commitment to driving digital and financial inclusion and diverse society and finally, in “Doing for growth”, they are committed to boosting inclusive economic growth on the continent. 

MTN Foundation as Vehicle for Catalysing Change 

For the telecoms group, the best vehicle to convey these visions of creating shared value was through the MTN Foundation (MTNF), where MTN Nigeria committed up to one per cent of its Profit after Tax (PAT) as its main source of funding for projects.

Established in 2004 and launched in May 2005, it was purposed to manage the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives for MTN Nigeria,  undoubtedly making it one of the first corporates in Nigeria to launch such an initiative. 

At the foundation, humanity comes first as is shown by the quality and passion at which they touch lives across different spectrums. For them, the all important work they do is beyond corporate obligation given that the foundation’s “purpose is to bring about meaningful measurable and sustainable change that helps disadvantaged and rural communities to become self-sufficient through innovative technology”. 

Clear-cut Objectives 

According to Executive Director, MTN Foundation,

Mrs. Odunayo Sanya, at the foundation, they stand as one voice with their stakeholders to lead Corporate Social Investments in Nigeria measured by impactful and sustainable projects.

She added that guided by their vision that everyone should live an improved quality of life, they mapped out clear objectives to increase their pool of shared meaning through stakeholder engagement and ecosystem partnerships; contribute significantly to the quality of lives and livelihoods through social interventions; strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation methods to deliver value to their communities and deepen impact; and continue to serve as the reference point for Corporate Social Investment in Nigeria. 

Impact

In line with its vision “To be a leader in Corporate Social Investment initiatives in Nigeria measured by the impact and sustainability of our projects on our host communities as well as high perception rating of MTN’s brand” and the mission “to improve on the quality of life through Health, Education, Youth Development and National Priority initiatives on a sustainable basis in such a way as to impact positively on the MTN brand, the MTN Foundation has invested over NGN24.73 Billion in the 36 states of the federation and FCT.

Essentially, from inception to date, the impact of the foundation has been far-reaching in 3,323 communities for 31.2million people across the 36 states and the FCT in Nigeria through the 50 unique projects in 1,023 project sites at a cost of N24.73billion. 

Portfolios and Alignment with the SDGs

In order to ensure the derivables are in alignment with the SDGs, the foundation streamlined its portfolios into 

National Priority and Youth Development.

Under these portfolio are projects like the MTN Scholarships, MTN-MUSON Scholar Program, MTN Science and Technology Laboratory Project (MTN STLP), ICT and Business Skills Training, Performing Art Sponsorships, Back to School Initiative, and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Program (YEDP).

While the National Priority Portfolio aligns with Goal 1- No Poverty; Goal 2 – Zero Hunger; Goal 3 – Good Health and Well-Being; Goal 4 – Quality Education; Goal 5- Gender Equality; Goal 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation; Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy; Goal 8- Decent Work and Economic Growth; Goal 9- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Goal 10 – Reduced Inequality; Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities; Goal 13 – Climate Action; and Goal 17 – Partnerships for the Goal, the second portfolio on Youth Development aligns with SDGs 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 

and 17.

National Priority Portfolio 

According to the foundation, the National Priority portfolio focuses on initiatives that support community infrastructure development, health-related initiatives, and initiatives that focus on women and children, aligning with the Government’s National Development plan and contributing to the SDGs.

Meanwhile, initiatives under this portfolio include the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP), an advocacy campaign launched in 2019 to increase awareness about the negative impact of drug abuse amongst young Nigerians between the ages of 10 and 25 years with the goal to discourage first-time use of addictive drugs amongst the youth by providing relevant information to them and engaging relevant stakeholders.  

Also in sync is the Y’ello Doctor Mobile Medical Intervention, designed to provide free primary healthcare services that involve consultations, medications, treatment, female hygiene & ante-natal packs to people in semi-urban and rural communities via six state-of-the-art mobile clinic trucks.

Another initiative is the NIMR-MTN Partnership, a high-tech laboratory for the design and development of local diagnostic kits for COVID-19 and other similar disease outbreaks, aimed at strengthening the health system, particularly research institutions. 

Not left out is the MTN Orphanage Support Initiative that supports orphaned and vulnerable children, involving the donation of food and household items to orphanage homes across the country.

Then there is the “What Can We Do Together”, a give-back initiative that is designed to get Nigerians to nominate selected projects they consider of utmost importance to communities (via SMS or Web platforms) for consideration and implementation by MTNF. Launched in September 2015, it has successfully implemented various projects in 586 communities in 482 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the 36 states and FCT. In its fifth phase, the foundation has invested over N3.1 billion in revitalising 40 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in partnership with PSHAN for sustainability.

Certainly not the least is the MTN Y’ellopreneur, which seeks to contribute to the reduction in women unemployment and advance women development in ‘Entrepreneurship’ through capacity building and access to capital through loans, grants, and advisory support services for long term business sustainability.

The Youth Development Portfolio

The second portfolio is the Youth Development portfolio, which focuses on Initiatives that provide the youth, as the largest and most impacted population group with skills, tools, access, knowledge, and opportunities to become economically active citizens.

Initiatives under portfolio include the MTN Muson Music Scholarship Programme for musically talented youth to study at the prestigious Musical Society of Nigeria School of Music (MUSON) for two years for an internationally recognised Diploma in music. 

For the Performing Arts Sponsorships, MTNF sponsors theatre productions, festivals and visual arts exhibitions that highlight our rich Nigerian and African stories. Some of the sponsorships include Legends the Musical, Saro The Musical, Kakadu the Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, Wakaa! the Musical, OMG the Musical, Agbarho the Musical, Emotan, Oba Esugbayi, High! The Stage Play, Jungle Story, Our Son the Minister, Five Maids of Fadaka, Life in My City Art Festival, Nigerian Universities Theatre Arts Festival (NUTAF),  Eko Theatre Carnival and Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFEST) and Made in Nigeria Poetry Show. 

Under the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP), the foundation enhances the entrepreneurial skills of MTN Scholars Alumni (youth who are past recipients of MTN scholarships). The initiative involves entrepreneurial skills training delivered by the Enterprise Development Center (EDC) of Pan Atlantic University and 50 most outstanding are granted loans of up to N2 million in collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to manage the loan disbursements.

For the MTN Scholarship scheme, it provides academic scholarships for both students studying Science and Technology discipline & Blind Students of any discipline in public tertiary institutions across the country.

The Life in My City Arts Festival (Visual Arts) portfolio is an annual visual arts festival targeted at youths from Nigeria who submit their artwork for review by a panel of judges. Shortlisted entries participate in regional competitions which culminate into a national competition. Alongside gift prizes, finalists also get the chance to exhibit their work in galleries across the six geo-political zones. The festival also involves holds lectures and art workshops for children

In terms of ICT & Business Skills, the foundation builds the capacity of youths between the ages of 18 to 35 in ICT, enhancing their employability and entrepreneurial skills.

Through the MTN Science & Technology Laboratory Project (MTN STLP), the foundation is partnering stakeholders and the educational sector to revive science laboratories in secondary schools for enhanced learning by renovating public secondary school laboratories, providing laboratory equipment, and training teachers and laboratory attendants towards improving the practical teaching and learning of science subjects, particularly physics, chemistry, and biology.

Lastly, through the MTNF Back2School, the foundation is  committed to providing access to quality education through the provision of learning materials to children in public secondary schools around Nigeria, especially in less privileged communities in Nigeria.

Resolute in Changing Lives against All Odds 

Given the global economic meltdown occasioned by crashing naira prices, if there was anyone that could have justified putting a stop to changing lives and direct focus on recouping the losses made in the year, it would have been MTN. 

With losses running into billions of naira, even after a 

profit after tax of N4.1billion for the third quarter in September 2024, an improvement nonetheless even when juxtaposed with the overall financial results for the three quarters of nine months of N514.9billon after tax. However, it also disclosed an adjusted profit after tax of N118.5bn, which is a 59.2 per cent decrease compared to last year as against the reported net loss of N519 billion (approximately $320 million) in the first half of 2024 marks a stark deviation.

Infact, CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, while engaging the 20 MIP Fellows at the MTN Headquarters in Lagos, 

stressed that the telecommunications sector needs to return to profitability to sustain its operations, else they would shut down as the industry was living on borrowed time. 

Given all the facts, it would be stating the obvious that they could have pulled the plug on the foundation as they had reasons to quit, but they did not because of the millions of lives hinged on the social services they deliver either through education, health, economic empowerment or innovative technology. 

A Pat on The Back

While the reward for hard work is often more work, the foundation has received so many pats on the back for the incredible job they are doing. 

Just this week, the  foundation carted away three prestigious awards at the 8th Tech Innovation Awards. While the Executive Director, Odunayo Sanya bagged the CSI Personality of the Year, the Foundation Team of the Year and Transformational Solutions in Education and Skills Award went to the foundation. 

The foundation had also received the 2023 Corporate Responsibility Award at the Africa-America Institute’s 70th Anniversary Gala event in New York; three awards at the Intellidex Top Investor Relations SA Survey Awards; as well as recognition on the Fortune Change the World list. 

But beyond any awards, for the team, the greatest pat on the back is actually the smiles and joy in the hearts of those they have impacted either through the foundation’s 

National and Youth Development Portfolios, again reinforcing that the work they do is beyond corporate obligation but a passion to impact lives and create shared values.