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Telecommunication giants, MTN has held a forum for its stakeholders at the Kasoa new market in the Central Region.
The forum provided the opportunity for MTN officials to interact with its valued customers as well as solicit feedback from cross section of stakeholders included market queens, traders, GPRTU members, etc.
The platform was also to thank customers for their support for the past 25years and to educate and update customers on measures being taken to improve the network and the various social investments being implemented in the country.
Kennedy Ofosuhene, the corporate Services Advisor on behalf of the Regional Senior Manager for South West on a brief history of the company said Scancom PLC registered the company in 1994 and started commercial operations in 1996 with network coverage in Accra and Tema, grew progressively and extended its services to other parts of the country.[ads2]
He said the company started off with a staff strength of approximately 20, including six Ghanaians.
On brand transformation, he said it has evolved over two and half decades with different brand names: Spacefon, Spacefon Areeba, Areeba and MTN and the brand evolved along with its tag lines “Communication for the nation” to “the heart of your world” and finally to “everywhere you go”.
Technology
Mr. Ofosuhene said that it started with GSM with only postpaid services and now offering both prepaid and postpaid, and also have SMS, voice, data, FinTech, rich media services starting from 20 staff and now MTN has over 2000 employees with indirect employment of over 500,000.
In the area of leadership, he stressed that, MTN started with mostly foreign leaders at the beginning and now has over 95% Ghanaian employee base with the ownership from Private to Public with lots of Ghanaian shareholders.[ads3]
On Technology / Employment Creation
“We are proud to say we have been the first at most, if not all, technological innovations in Ghana since our launch starting from GSM to more recently Mobile Money to a landmark IPO which was the first in the world to democratize the purchase of shares through mobile money to 4G+ technology and digital.”
“First GSM mobile service provider in Ghana From post-paid only and now offers Data, Mobile Money, Enterprise Solutions, Digital. Comes with a lot of employment, tax, socio economic growth
Had 100,000 subscribers in……. and 2.6million in 2006 and now has 25 million subscribers in 2021 Between 500,000 to a million jobs jobs (including hundreds of thousands of airtime resellers, mobile money agents and mobile money merchants).”
Support to SME Growth/ Economic Development
Mr. Ofosuhene said that the company has supported businesses to grow leaps and bounds while making health, education and commerce accessible to many Ghanaians; “we have enabled productivity and economic growth by giving SMEs and the informal sector the tools to build new businesses and grow existing ones.”
“We have inspired many Ghanaians to innovate by leveraging the power of technology and believing that it is possible based on our own success.
We partner about 18 banks for Mobile money service. The float/funds contribute to the profitability of these banks.”[ads4]
Tax Contributions
He said that, MTN has been adjudged “the number 1 taxpayer” and “the largest taxpayer in the country” by both the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) or several years
CSI.
“We have a Foundation that consistently invests in our communities. Over 154 major projects executed impacting about four million people.
COVID support – Supported the country immensely with Vaccines, funds, PPE’s, free browsing on over 200 educational sites.”
Entertainment / Sports Development
“We have sponsored and groomed many properties in the entertainment and sports industry. Our much-acclaimed “Stars of the Future” and “Hitmaker” platforms have unearthed stars like Efya, Jane, Kwame Eugene, Kidi and several others. We support the organization awards in the creative arts industry eg. 4stye Music Video Awards and have supported the GHANA MUSIC AWARDS for close to 10 years before competition took over.”
In the area of football and sports in general, Mr. Ofosuhene said that the company has been sponsors of Ghana’s league, FA cup for the past 10 years and supported the grooming of young football talents with the MTN Soccer Academy reality show, Amputee football and a lot of local football competitions which happens during festival celebrations and have sported the recognition of the sports media for more than a decade as organized by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana
Into the Future
On the company’s projections for the future, Mr. Kennedy Ofosuhene said that MTN in Ghana is transitioning to become a fully digital operator by 2023 and has repositioned its strategy from BRIGHT to Ambition 2025, which aims to build the largest and most valuable platform for businesses with a focus on Africa. Ambition 2025 is anchored on five pillars: Fintech Solutions, Digital / ayoba, Enterprise, Network as a Service, and an API Marketplace.
On his part, Mr. Joseph Havie Arthur, who is the mobile money territory sales officer for Kasoa said, “MTN would like to assure its valued customers that MTN MoMo system is secured and safe.
Highlighting on some scenarios used by fraudsters to dump people, like Fraudsters calling victims and posing as MTN officials to assist with Customer’s pin reset and Fraudsters calling you to reverse a wrong transfer made to them as well as calling and playing recordings that mimic’s MTNs call center response to customers’ request and
Fraudsters sending customers messages that their numbers have been blocked; he said that MTN will sonn be launching its 25th anniversary celebrations and customers must always verify any claims before they respond.
He added that, “Customers are to be cautious of money doubling schemes on radio and TV. Some fraudsters also take shots of a merchants transaction log and then call the customers to defraud them based on the information they have on their transaction. Some also play with numbers so when you pick they engage you and
Some pretend as if they are sending you money and when they see your name they note. This explains why some people mention your full name
Security Tips
On security tips, he said that MTN Mobile Money staff will NOT under any circumstance, ask for customer’s MoMo PIN code and MTN Mobile Money staff will not demand money from you to redeem your prize and urged customers not to use MoMo PIN for a very long period – he said pin numbers must be changed at least every month and also Customers should protect their pin numbers at all times and change them as soon as they think they have been exposed or are compromised.
On the three Golden Rules of MoMo, he said that
1. Do not disclose your MoMo PIN to anyone
2. Do not entertain calls or text messages from any number
3. Do not allow anyone to do transaction on your behalf, discuss their wallet or respond to any promotion they have not participated in
Phone calls and MTN officials will ONLY call with the official line 0244300000.”[ads5]
