MTN Ghana’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Angela Mensah-Poku, has urged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to apply the knowledge acquired through business management training to improve their operations, create jobs and build sustainable businesses.

She said the success of SME support initiatives should be measured not only by the technology and services provided but also by the growth of the businesses they support.

Speaking at the graduation of participants in the MTN NOVA Business School Mini MBA programme, Ms Mensah-Poku said SMEs must strengthen their capacity to respond to changing customer expectations, increased competition, digital disruption and economic pressures.

“At MTN, we believe that when SMEs succeed, communities succeed, industries thrive and economies become stronger. Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of economic activity,” she said.

She challenged the graduates to implement the lessons learnt, share knowledge with their teams, create employment and mentor other entrepreneurs.

“As you return to your businesses, take your teams with you, share the knowledge, implement your ideas, create jobs, mentor other entrepreneurs and continue to contribute to a stronger private sector,” she urged.

Ms Mensah-Poku stressed that graduation should mark the beginning of a new phase of business improvement, encouraging participants to translate their learning into practical results.

The 13-week Mini MBA programme forms part of MTN Ghana’s year-long SME Accelerate initiative, which combines business management training, digital solutions and post-training support to help entrepreneurs strengthen their operations.

MTN deepens SME capacity building

Mohamed Abubakar Siddiq, Senior Manager for SME Sales, Business Partnership and Fibre Broadband at MTN Ghana, said the Mini MBA was designed to address business management gaps identified through the company’s SME clinics.

He explained that while the clinics provided initial assessments and guidance, the Mini MBA offered more extensive training in strategic financing, business sustainability, bookkeeping and digitalisation.

“Strategically, the Mini MBA is part of the year-long SME Accelerate programme that we have put together. Throughout the journey, we have identified certain gaps within the SMEs through what we call SME clinics,” he said.

According to him, the programme builds on the clinics by giving entrepreneurs 13 weeks to develop the skills needed to manage and grow their businesses.

MTN Ghana organised six SME clinics in 2026, through which businesses were assessed and participants identified for further support based on their needs.

The programme was organised in collaboration with NOVA Business School Africa and was open to the general public, with particular attention given to entrepreneurs who had participated in the SME clinics.

Post-training monitoring to track impact

Mr Siddiq said MTN Ghana would work with its partners to monitor graduates after the programme to ensure they applied the knowledge acquired.

“We are going to monitor them and ensure that whatever they have learnt, they are really putting it into practice so that all the good things they have learnt will not fall through the cracks,” he said.

NOVA Business School Africa is responsible for following up on Mini MBA participants, while SMEGA supports monitoring for businesses that participated in the SME clinics.

He said MTN Ghana intended to continue the Mini MBA annually, describing the 2026 graduation as the culmination of the SME Accelerate programme for the year.

Graduate highlights improvements in business management

One of the graduates, Nana Abenaa Oforiwa Kwao-Adotey, founder of SinceShea, a beauty and personal care brand producing eco-friendly products using shea butter, black soap and essential oils, said the training had changed her approach to financial management, digital marketing and team building.

She said the programme helped her identify weaknesses in bookkeeping and the use of digital tools to measure business performance.

“Coming on board, I thought I was doing the best, but I wasn’t seeing results in terms of my numbers and also my statistics. But coming on board, I realised that there was so much I wasn’t doing,” she said.

Ms Kwao-Adotey said she had learnt the importance of keeping accurate financial records to understand her business performance and make informed decisions.

“I have learnt to keep the right records because if I don’t know my numbers, then obviously I cannot tell where my business is going to,” she said.

As part of her 90-day business improvement plan, she said she had begun developing a comprehensive catalogue for her WhatsApp business page and working to optimise her website.

She added that the training had also influenced her approach to recruitment, highlighting the importance of selecting employees based on their skills and competencies rather than personal relationships.

“I’m working out of this programme better than I came on board, and my business has already started seeing growth in the right areas,” she said.

The SME Accelerate programme seeks to equip entrepreneurs with practical skills and digital tools to improve competitiveness, strengthen business systems and support long-term growth.