MTN Ghana says the most effective way to promote sustainability is to make it part of everyday business operations rather than treating it as a one-off event.

Abdullah Ibrahim, General Manager for HR Operations and Analytics at MTN Ghana, said sustainability must be reflected in how businesses operate, from the vehicles they use to the energy they consume and the companies they choose as suppliers.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, August 20, as part of discussions on MTN Sustainability Month 2026, Mr Ibrahim said businesses would have a greater impact when sustainability was built into their normal processes.

“The best way to do sustainability is not to do it as an event, but it should be embedded in the processes and the way you do your business,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim said MTN Ghana had introduced several measures to reduce its carbon footprint, including the installation of an electric vehicle (EV) charging station at its offices.

“When you come to our office, for example, we have an EV charging station that employees can bring their EVs,” he said.

He said the company was also working with EV providers to encourage more employees to switch to electric vehicles.

Mr Ibrahim said MTN had recently organised a drive and dual campaign aimed at helping employees acquire EVs that could be charged at the company's offices at no cost.

“We did a drive and dual campaign where we focus a lot more on helping employees acquire EV vehicles that they can come and charge at the office for free,” he said.

He said the initiative was particularly important because of the large number of vehicles that use the company's facilities daily.

“What can we do to reduce our carbon footprint, for example?” he asked.

He added that some motorbikes used by dispatch riders were also electric, with plans to expand the use of EVs in the coming years.

“Some motorbikes that dispatch riders use, some of them are EVs. We have plans to put a lot more in that space in the subsequent years,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim said MTN was also increasing its use of renewable energy, including solar power, particularly in its data centres.

He said the company had increased its solar generation capacity as part of efforts to make sustainability part of its core operations.

The measures, he said, showed that sustainability was not being treated as a separate programme but was increasingly influencing the way MTN runs its business.

Mr Ibrahim said MTN's sustainability efforts extended beyond its own operations to the companies that supply goods and services to the telecommunications firm.

He said the company was increasingly considering the sustainability practices of suppliers when deciding which businesses to work with.

“We don't stop there. We also look at our suppliers. What are our suppliers doing to also advance the conversation?” he said.

According to him, sustainability is becoming an increasingly important consideration in business relationships as companies seek to ensure that their wider supply chains also operate responsibly.

“Increasingly it's becoming part of how businesses choose who to work with,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim said businesses could achieve greater results by working together rather than pursuing sustainability initiatives in isolation.

“If all of us come together, we can advance the conversation, and we can really pull our resources together to ensure we do our business sustainably,” he said.

He said such cooperation would help businesses reduce their environmental impact while protecting resources for future generations.

“We protect the environment for future generations, and we ensure that compliance is at the table all the time,” he said.