The Vodafone Ghana CEO has encouraged Alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center (RLC) Accra to embrace new technology in their line of work.

Patricia Obo-Nai said this is in a bid for them to remain innovative and relevant while playing their role in impacting the planet.

She further urged Alumni of the Center to leverage the power of information technology to reach out to more people, especially youth, to provide solutions to current global challenges.

According to her, when young entrepreneurs solve society’s problems, their businesses are likely to become sustainable. 

The Vodafone Ghana CEO said this at this year’s Social Innovation Conference and YALI RLC Accra Alumni Homecoming held in Accra.

The annual event brought together Alumni from seven West African countries who were trained by the Accra RLC, officers of the Ghana Navy and students from some schools based in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.

This year’s Social Innovation Conference and Homecoming was jointly organized by the YALI RLC Accra, African Rights Initiative International (ARII) and the UN Global Compact Network Ghana.     

The four-day event had distinguished guest speakers such as the Mission Director of USAID West Africa, Daniel Moore; Coordinator and Head of Secretariat of the UN Global Compact Network Ghana; Mr Tolu Kweku Lacroix and Ghana’s Defence Attaché to the UK, Commodore Issah Yakubu. Other distinguished speakers included the Former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Most Reverend Dr Kwesi Aboagye-Mensah; Former Deputy Controller and Accountant General of Ghana, James Ntim Aboagye; Dzifa Gomashie, former Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and the Project Director of the YALI RLC Accra, Dr Shola Safo-Duodu. A cross-section of some participants at the conference Mr Daniel Moore, USAID Mission Director for West Africa, encouraged Alumni to adopt social innovative approaches in their organizations, enterprises and initiatives to solve the problems of their communities, countries and the continent. Citing examples of YALI RLC Accra Alumni across the sub-region who have adopted social innovative approaches in recycling, farming, IT and social enterprise sectors, he charged Alumni to be socially responsible in ensuring their businesses solve society’s problems in education, healthcare, housing, youth unemployment among others.   Some Alumni  Officers of the Ghana Navy present at the conference The conference featured a panel discussion with Most Rev. Dr Kwesi Aboagye-Mensah, Madam Gomashie and Commodore Issah Yakubu who shared their leadership experiences from different perspectives. Participants asked follow up questions related to leadership, social innovation and successfully overcoming different types of challenges from different sectors. Dzifa Gomashie shares her leadership experience from her creative arts and ministerial days