MTN Ghana, via its basis, partnered with the 2025 Nationwide Youth Mentorship Summit and Awards to champion youth empowerment beneath the theme “YouthPreneur: A Catalyst for a New Financial system.”
The occasion happened on Saturday, July 12, on the College of Ghana Enterprise Faculty, drawing tons of of scholars from establishments together with the College of Ghana, KNUST, GCTU, UPSA, UEW, and Pentecost College.
The summit introduced collectively influential figures, together with media persona and entrepreneur Janet Sunkwa-Mills, CEO of Lynx Leisure Richie Mensah, and key representatives from MTN Ghana and the MTN Ghana Basis.
On the coronary heart of the programme was MTN Ghana Basis’s Abilities Academy, an initiative designed to bridge the digital expertise hole amongst African youth.
Addressing college students, Training Portfolio Advisor at MTN Ghana Basis, Ebenezer Terkper highlighted the corporate’s shift from being a conventional telecommunications supplier to a technology-driven enterprise.
“MTN has transitioned from a telco firm that simply offers SMS and calling providers to a completely know-how firm,” Mr Terkper said. “There are specific expertise that we’d like going ahead, and if we don’t need to herald folks from Singapore or the U.S. to take these jobs, then we must be empowered regionally.”
He recounted how MTN, which as soon as closely relied on international experience, now boasts over 95 per cent native staffing in important roles as a result of deliberate investments in upskilling.
“We would like you, the younger folks in our universities, to be prepared for this altering world of labor,” he urged. “It’s not nearly graduating with a first-class diploma in Accounting or Sociology. With out digital expertise, you received’t match into firms like MTN or different tech-driven organisations.”
He defined that many graduates battle to safe employment not due to poor educational outcomes, however as a result of they lack “future-ready expertise.”
To deal with this, the MTN Abilities Academy, in partnership with world studying platform Coursera, is providing free entry to world-class digital coaching. These embody programs in areas comparable to information analytics, cybersecurity, and fintech, offered by famend universities like Harvard, the College of Pennsylvania, and the College of Chicago.
“These programs, which often price as much as $500, can be found totally free on the MTN Abilities Academy platform,” he mentioned. “And whenever you full them, the certificates come from the precise establishments not MTN.”
The platform additionally includes a Profession Steerage Portal, serving to customers uncover appropriate profession paths based mostly on their pursuits. For these curious about behavioural expertise, it affords coaching in gentle expertise like communication and emotional intelligence areas typically missed by conventional training techniques.
“Whether or not your curiosity is in ICT or regulation, the portal will information you thru choices and even present you the place in Ghana you’ll be able to pursue these research,” Mr Terkper added. “We would like your youthful siblings in secondary college to learn from this too.”
He famous that MTN is dedicated to supporting graduates past coaching. Based on Mr Terkper, information from the platform will assist establish college students who full the programs, making it simpler for MTN and its companions to succeed in out with job or internship alternatives.
“We’ll organise a giant Profession Honest on the finish of every 12 months to attach you with employers,” he defined. “The roles exist however with out the best expertise, our younger persons are lacking out.”
Talking to the media, the Head of Company Communications at MTN Ghana, Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, reiterated the organisation’s dedication to training and youth growth.
“MTN could be very centered on Africa’s future, and we imagine the longer term is within the palms of younger folks,” she mentioned. “By way of the MTN Abilities Academy, we’re driving digital expertise growth not simply in Ghana, however throughout all African nations the place MTN operates.”
She inspired college students from all backgrounds whether or not aspiring medical doctors, performers, or entrepreneurs to make the most of the platform.
“In no matter profession path you select, you want digital expertise. That’s the way you develop your affect and keep related,” she famous.
Ghana alone is concentrating on 100,000 college students via the initiative, as half of a bigger purpose to succeed in a million younger Africans.
“That is how we spend money on Africa’s potential,” she added. “We would like our youth to be impressed, expert, and able to lead the continent into the longer term.”
The MTN Abilities Academy and Profession Steerage platforms are free to make use of and accessible on the web. Contributors have been urged to register and start studying instantly.
One of many impactful periods got here from media persona and mentor for ladies and youth, Janet Sunkwa-Mills, who shared her private entrepreneurial journey and provided sensible recommendation for aspiring enterprise homeowners.
She emphasised the significance of beginning small, constructing bankable expertise, and staying knowledgeable about nationwide financial insurance policies.
“If you wish to turn out to be one thing, establish the place your ability gaps are and attempt to shut them,” she mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t afford to be a CEO who is aware of nothing. Be taught the basics of the enterprise you need to construct.”
She inspired college students to discover rising alternatives in sectors prioritised by the federal government’s 24-hour economic system agenda, notably agribusiness and the artistic business.
“Did you hear in regards to the 24-hour economic system? We’re shifting from an import-based to an export-based economic system,” she mentioned. “One of many key focus areas is Develop Ghana, which centres on agriculture. Agribusiness will at all times be related, folks will at all times want meals and diet.”
She additionally highlighted the See Ghana initiative, which focuses on Ghana’s wealthy arts and artistic sector, encouraging college students with abilities in vogue, magnificence, and efficiency to grab the second.
She referenced the World Financial Discussion board’s Way forward for Jobs Report, noting that probably the most in-demand expertise right now embody cognitive capacity, technical intelligence, and social affect all of that are important to thrive in fashionable entrepreneurship.
“Till you’re very open to your atmosphere, your group, your college, even your church, and also you actively search for issues to unravel, you’re not pondering like an entrepreneur,” she mentioned.
She reminded college students that funding shouldn’t be the primary concern.
“An investor received’t provide you with cash except you display perception, capability, and a strong concept,” she defined. “So sure, begin small however begin ready.
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