The story of the role of the telcos in Ghana can sometimes be told in distorted forms when network connectivity goes bad.

Emotionally hyped narratives of how the telcos fleece their customers and sometimes project images of rabid environmental harm by mast erected by telcos, which receives generously distorted and sometimes overly exaggerated media coverage.

Yet, the telecoms sector is no such evil. At MTN, a different narrative pertains; Positive business is breaking long-held myths of an industry with image sometimes buttered and battered by awkward and wild rumours.

The telecoms giant is anchoring its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) wing, the MTN Ghana Foundation to deliver major community development projects that have transformed lives and empowered indigenes economically.

The story of the MTN Ghana Foundation is worth telling. Stripped of any flowery depictions, the foundation holds an important promise…perhaps ample testament that when regulatory systems work, and ethical companies are given some good guarantees, the telecoms sector can present a great future for the nation’s development.

In April this year, the Foundation was adjudged the Corporate Philanthropist of the Year at the National Philanthropy Excellence Awards.

That was probably not a surprise. Since its establishment in 2007, the MTN Ghana Foundation has funded and implemented over 140 major projects in its focus areas of education, health and economic empowerment, directly impacting an estimated four million beneficiaries.

In commemoration of MTN Ghana’s 20th Anniversary in 2016, the MTN Ghana Foundation made three commitments to provide 300 scholarships to students across Ghana, to construct, furnish and equip a 40-bed maternity block for the Tema General Hospital and construct and equip a processing plant for women in oil palm production at Juaso in the Ashanti region. The foundation has since delivered on this promise and people are being empowered.

$13 million investment
At a half-day orientation for the members of the Journalists for Business Advocacy in Accra, Executive Secretary of the foundation,  Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, said so far, the foundation has invested over 13 million dollars in building school blocks, libraries and Information Communication Technology Centres around the country in the last 10 years.

The investment is to enhance teaching capabilities, constructing and equipping hospital wards, paying tuition and supporting entrepreneurship.

In 2013, in a bid to encourage others to make impactful contributions to society, the MTN Ghana Foundation launched the MTN Heroes of Change project to identify and recognise selfless people who sacrifice their time and resources to improve their communities and brighten lives.

Mrs Asare Fiagbenu said her outfit will insist on a sustainability plan for every support the foundation gives to communities henceforth.

Living to the bill of one of its core values of leadership, the interventions of the foundation has impacted more people in rural as well as urban communities now than ever before.

More people have access to improved healthcare and in the same vein, thousands of expectant mothers now deliver in comfortable hospitals that the foundation has refurbished or constructed.

“The newly constructed maternity unit of the Tema General Hospital is a classic example,” she said.

“Indeed, it has a been a decade of great transformations and improved wellbeing for the communities they have touched spanning the North, South, East and West of Ghana”, she boasted.

”‹Transforming lives
He said as the company leads in the transformation of Ghana’s telecommunications sector, the Foundation was expected to continue to provide leadership in the communities and would ensure that the impact was felt in all spheres of life.

“We have not just invested financial resources; we have also invested quality time and made a lot of sacrifices to make lives better.”

These interventions, she said, have saved many lives in remote and urban communities in Ghana and all of this made possible from funds generated from a network “we consistently strive to enhance and expand,” she adds.

There is also the “Save a life campaign” which organizes the annual blood donation exercise was introduced to help address the perennial blood shortage at the National Blood Bank and other regional hospitals. The campaign has since then, collected over 6,000 pints of blood.

The activities include economic empowerment day, education day, staff volunteering day, community-driven corporate social responsibility in MTN’s three business districts and a visit to the Borstal Home.