MTN says the authorities dropped tax claim after negotiations
Several companies are disputing tax bills as Ghana seeks money
MTN Ayoba MoMo Accelerator Awards: Noni Hub wins ultimate prize
Mobile telecommunications giant, MTN Ghana, has rewarded five startup hubs who emerged winners at the maiden MTN Ayoba MoMo Accelerator competition. This competition was created by MTN Ghana and Ayoba for all startup hubs across the country to bring forward their digital solutions by leveraging Ayoba App to grow their businesses. At the end of the competition, Wa-based Noni Hub, an Information Technology (IT) firm won the ultimate prize. The firm, which currently has three micro apps on the MTN Ayoba platform, received GH¢50,000, a lifetime partnership with MTN Ayoba, a certificate, and souvenirs from MTN Ghana and Ayoba. Noni Hub was adjudged the Top Tech Hub category, while Top Ayoba Influencer went to Damasko Smart App. Also, Smithfield, an agribusiness app won in the Experts Choice category. In the Users Choice category, Africa Global Radio emerged as ‘the Most Liked App’; and the Best MoMo Solution App went to the Tudu Online Shopping app. These other four winners received GH¢20,000 each, certificates, lifetime partnerships, including an opportunity to put their apps on Ayoba platform which has over 2.5 million active customers in Ghana and 21 million across Africa. An elated Chief Executive Officer of Noni Hub, Sumaila Chakurah, dedicated the ultimate prize to his team and the people of Wa and the whole of the Upper West Region for their support. He said they are working to put more app on the Ayoba platforms to help clients who have limited knowledge about the service. Mr Chakurah expressed profound gratitude to MTN Ghana for the laudable initiative and urged other developers to take advantage of Ayoba. For his part, the Chief Digital Officer of MTN Ghana, Dario Bianchi, said they are committed to driving digital and financial inclusion in Ghana. He noted that the main aim of the competition is to push local businesses to leverage Ayoba as a platform to sell their businesses across Africa. The MTN Chief Digital Officer stressed that the Ayoba app has provided exciting content for all users irrespective of their locations in the country. He indicated that, aside from chatting for free via instant messaging, Ayoba offers access to an in-app music player which brings weekly updates on the latest African and international music. In the era of cybercrime, Mr Bianchi assured users of adequate security to protect their intellectual properties. “We have strong security measures in place to protect our customers from cyber fraud,” he added. MTN Ayoba is available on Google Playstore to all MTN and non-MTN customers in the digital ecosystem who wish to enjoy all service and rich media content Ayoba provides. All MTN users are allowed to enjoy all these services and more on Ayoba for free- no data is required.
MTN Brigtenining lives, as mothers who delivered babies on Xmas day received hampers
The Upper East Regional branch of MTN Ghana, the country’s leading telecommunication has gifted hampers numbering 52 to nursing mothers of babies born on Christmas Day. The hamper includes, towels, diapers, blankets, toiletries, clothes, soap, and some other baby necessities. The visit of the MTN Officials at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital saw 9 new babies delivered on Christmas day and the 9 comprises of 3 females and 6 males. In Bongo newborn babies numbering 9 were also delivered on Christmas Day and their nursing mothers were given hampers.Moving to the North East Region, the team visited Walewale hospital and Nalerigu Baptist Medical Center. At the Walewale Hospital, on 25th December babies numbering 19 were born and at the Nalerigu Baptist Medical Center 15 also saw their delivery that same day. However, the nursing mothers who received their surprising hampers from officials of MTN were all excited and grateful to them as they pray for the company’s prosperity ahead of 2023. Yabila Mary, one of the nursing mothers who received a hamper from MTN also expressed her gratitude to the leading telecommunication for their kind gesture. She said, she wasn’t expecting a such surprising gift from MTN. Meanwhile, addressing the media, the Territory Sales Controller for the Upper East Region Mr. Richard Asamane, said the yellow family is thinking about people that are coming into the world around this festive season. ”Christmas is a yuletide season and is a season of joy, season happiness, is a season of making merry and sharing and as MTN we believe in the season by going out and reaching these people show that the season yuletide is been shared. The yellow family is thinking about people that are coming into the world around this festive season. You could see the smile that were on the faces of these mothers when they received these wonderful hamper gifts and airtime of Ghc 100.00. That is just what we seek to do by brightening the lives of people”. He explained Meanwhile, Staff Midwives who were at post during the visit expressed satisfaction with the step taken by MTN. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie StephenPlease contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0256336062
MTN Ghana Marks International Fraud And Ethics Awareness Week
MTN Ghana joined the rest of the world to celebrate International Fraud and Ethics Awareness Week and Global Ethics Day. The International Fraud and Ethics Awareness Week which was on the theme, “Whistleblowing a means to combating fraud”, sought to create awareness on whistleblowing hotlines and precautionary measures taken to ensure the safety and protection of users of the hotline to report fraud and misconduct. Global Ethics Day was celebrated on the theme “Empowering ethics as a force to prevent fraud”. The themes express the importance of ethical conduct in combatting fraud. Speaking on the Fraud and Ethics Awareness week celebration, the General Manager of Internal Audit and Forensics at MTN Ghana, Michael Gbewonyo said, “Over the years, MTN has positioned itself as a good corporate citizen. We have always believed in the value and importance of maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct. All of us have an important role to play in combating fraud and creating an ethical and fraud-free work environment”. “In order for us to lead digital solutions for Africa’s progress, we need to stand against fraud and unethical behavior. For us at MTN, we are asking, “what are you doing today” to fight fraud. When you see it, say it. Doing breaks boundaries”, he added. The Chief Commercial Officer of MTN Ghana, Noel Kojo-Ganson at the Global Ethics Day live event encouraged employees to continue to abide by the ethical principles of the company to achieve the goal of preventing the occurrence of fraud. “Fraud is a human problem, and the assured solution is achieved when people are committed, and action their decision not to perpetrate fraud. It is this commitment we seek to harness among ourselves as MTN staff to build a thriving culture for ourselves, our partners, and stakeholders alike, he stated. MTN Ghana held activities aimed at sensitizing management, staff, and customers about the importance of maintaining ethical standards and the repercussions of fraud. Activities included workshops, training sessions and publications on building trust in MTN Ghana’s whistleblowing line, empowering ethics as a force to prevent fraud, assess staff’s understanding on the celebration, focused fraud awareness initiatives for frontline staff, and insights sharing on best practices to protect themselves from predatory fraudsters. Held annually and convened by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the International Fraud and Ethics Awareness week provides a platform for anti-fraud professionals, activists, and stakeholders to educate individuals on fraud, its impact and preventive measures, while Global Ethics Day provides an annual opportunity for MTN Ghana to deepen its commitment to ethical business conduct Source: MTN Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
MTN MoMo to become full business platform – CEO
The Chief Executive Officer of the Mobile Money for MTN, Mr. Shaibu Haruna, says the company is to transition its MoMo Services to a full business platform as part of broader ambition for 2025 strategy. He said solid services would be introduced in the coming years to advance customer experience as an evolving mobile financial tool. The CEO was speaking at an Awards and Dinner night to appreciate and reward 250 merchants and agents, who have held the brand on high from operational areas such as Cape Coast, Mankessim, Kasoa, Sekondi and Tarkwa. The top performing Vendors received Motor Bikes, Smart TVs, Laptops, and CCTV Cameras, with the overall best MoMo Agent for the South-West Business District took home Ghc50,000 electronic cash and motorbike. In 2009, MTN Ghana sets out to redefine the course of Ghana’s financial sector with the launch of MoMo and after 10 years of implementation, this e-financial mechanism had become a major bug in homes and the business community in general. The service has 11.3 million subscribers with 250,000 agents and 200,000 merchants across the country. Mr Haruna attributed the successes over the last decade to the critical contributions of merchants and agents. The Senior Manager for MTN South-West Business, Mr. Prince Nyarko said the event had always presented an opportunity to take stock of the year’s activities and reward the excellence and resilience of the vendors. He described the financial year as a difficult one with the introduction of e-levy as well as the challenges customers had with accessing their MoMo wallets during the sim barring exercise, adding, ” but our resilience as a people has enabled us to soldier on and today, we are here to celebrate our achievements and strategize for next year.” The top three awards were picked by Big Joe Ventures from Kasoa, who took home a plaque, motorbike and an electronic cash of 50,000, Rossey Venture, motorbike and an electronic cash of 20,000 and Peoples Investment a motorbike and an electronic cash of 10,000. Source: GNA
MTN Ghana foundation wins four awards at sustainability and social impact (SSI) awards
MTN Ghana Foundation, the Corporate Social Investment arm of MTN Ghana has won four awards at the just ended Sustainability and Social Impact (SSI) awards night in Accra. The awards are: Best Company in SSI Project of the year (Socio-Economic), Best Company in Educational Sponsorship Project, Best Company in Economic Empowerment and Best Company in Employee Volunteerism Initiatives. The awards are in recognition for the Foundation’s contribution in delivering on high impact Corporate Social Initiatives and its focus on achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development. Commenting on the awards, the Senior Manager of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mr. Robert Kuzoe said, “The awards are a testament to the impact we are creating in communities across Ghana. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the MTN Ghana Foundation, and these awards set the tone for our anniversary celebrations”. “We dedicate the award to the Foundation Board, the management, the staff of MTN and the beneficiaries of our impactful projects. The Sustainability and Social Investment Awards is an initiative to create awareness about companies doing impactful community improvement projects. It also seeks to encourage companies, CSI/CSR Foundations, NGO’s, and other implementing agencies to deliver high impact CSI/CSR projects that align with Government’s focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The awards also adopt a multi-stakeholder approach that leads to excellent outcomes. This year’s awards were organized under the theme “Leading the Sustainability Transition Through Private-Public Partnerships and Collaboration”. Since its establishment in 2007, the MTN Ghana Foundation has invested USD 64 million in over 158 major projects in the areas of education, health and economic empowerment which are directly impacting an estimated 4 million and several others indirectly. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Beneficiaries of MTN Ghana Foundation YEEP impacting communities
Beneficiaries of the MTN Ghana Foundation Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Project (YEEP) have begun training more youth in phone repairs within their communities. This comes a year after completing their skills training programme in phone repairs that qualified them for startup tool kits and ‘container’ kiosk at their preferred location to start business. During a visit to some beneficiaries in communities within the Suhum and Nsawam townships of the Eastern region, it was observed that most of the beneficiaries had apprentices at their workstations. In an interview, Mr. Derrick Awartey, who had two apprentices, said he had been so fortunate to participate in the project which provided a sustainable source of livelihood and put him in a better position to help others through apprenticeship. “At first, we sat by our parents but now you know you have a place to go to for something. With the little I get, I am not tempted to engage in any vice or rely on any man for support,” said Ms. Diana Ohene Ansah, another beneficiary. Mr. Ofori Enoch, a Beneficiary with four apprentices also commended MTN Ghana Foundation and its partners for empowering the youth through skills training. With guaranteed source of income, he said, life had become much better as he did not worry about meeting his financial obligations. Mrs. Cynthia Mills, Economic Empowerment Advisor of MTN Ghana Foundation, disclosed that out of the 100 participants selected for training through the various Assemblies, 84 managed to complete the one-month programme. She said there was a plan to scale up the training to include the repair of laptops and tablets to broaden the skill base of beneficiaries. “We are also looking at extending the project to other regions, but we are yet to settle on the regions,” she added. Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Mobile Money Limited handed over a 2-bedroom house worth over GHC 300,000.00 to Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh
Mobile Money Limited has recognized the effort of Madam Nhyiraba Tetteh (lead Character of MTN MoMo advert. A.K.A Mensa Akaooo) at Dobro Nsumena. Madam Nhyiraba Tetteh on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, was handed over a 2 bedroom house by the Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Money Limited Mr. Eli Hini. Giving a little background on the introduction of Mobile Money into the system, Mr. Hini said: “Over a decade ago, we began the journey to create a convenient way of undertaking financial transactions with an electronic Money transfer system accessible via the mobile phone. We had a huge task of breaking down this service into very simple communication that will resonate with the masses and drive wide acceptance” According to him at a time, “…a script was developed by our advertising agency and a character was selected to live the script and that was wonderfully done by Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh – the woman and voice behind “Me Nsa Aka ooooo” commercial”. “Madam Rita’s role and delivery as well the entire cast in MoMo’s first ever commercial played a significant role in appealing to the Ghanaian populace. From there, Madam Rita joined us across the length and breadth of the country as we created awareness about the MoMo service. Today, Madam Rita’s efforts as well as those of several others who believed in the opportunities MoMo presented at the time have yielded positive results”. He acknowledged He said, the impact and success stories have been telling – offering mobile financial services to the banked and unbanked, and creating job opportunities for millions of Ghanaians. Across Africa, Ghana has emerged as one of the shining examples of using mobile money innovation to drive a cash-lite society while enhancing financial inclusion across all levels of the economy. Today, many people within the informal sector who were left out of the financial ecosystem are all playing active roles in Ghana’s financial ecosystem through the mobile money intervention. “In view of the success chalked over the years, Mobile Money decided to honor all stakeholders who played very critical roles in the MoMo journey during our 10th Anniversary celebrations. At special stakeholders’ awards night, plagues and certificates of honor were presented to all stakeholders. However, we chose to handle Madam Rita’s contribution differently by engaging her to find out what will be most precious to her, and she told us she needed a permanent place of abode”. The CEO explained Mobile Money Limited decided to honor the request after she sent us the plan of the type of facility she wanted. Today, we are happy to honor our promise and present this 2-bedroom house worth over GHC 300,000.00 to Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh. On behalf of Mobile Money Limited, MTN Ghana, and the rest of the MTN Group, we would like to thank you, Madam Rita, for lending us your image and voice on this successful journey. This is to recognize you and make you feel a part of our success story.! God bless you. As I conclude I would urge Madam Rita to take good care of the facility and observe a good maintenance culture that will preserve the facility for a long time. I would also like to also to encourage all our partners and stakeholders to remain resolute and loyal to the MoMo brand because we appreciate the critical roles you play in our business. Tomorrow, when the history and success story of Mobile Money Limited is being written, none of you, our partners, and stakeholders will be left out. Thank you all for your support and thank you for joining us this morning to celebrate Madam Rita. However, after receiving the building donation from Mobile Money Limited, Madam Tetteh expressed extremely excited about the kind gesture done to her by the Management of Mobile Money. She pledged to continue promoting the MoMo brand. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
MTN Ghana launches 2022 MoMo month
Telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana has launched this year’s Mobile Money month in Accra. The 2022 edition is on the theme: ‘Accelerating Growth in Digital Payments – The Role of Partnerships’ is part of efforts to ensure digital inclusion. Speaking at the launch, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mobile Money Limited, Eli Hini said the feat chalked by MoMo is partly due to the mass awareness campaigns undertaken through the month-long campaign dubbed MoMo Month celebrations. He indicated that since 2012, MoMo month has been held annually to create awareness about the digital payment platform, drive financial inclusion and reward thousands of customers, agents and merchants. Mr. Hini noted that MTN MoMo has impacted the lives of millions of Ghanaians both home and abroad. Activities lined up to drive partnerships in the digital payment space during this year’s MoMo Month, he said include customer promos, digital fairs and market storms, stakeholder forum, a new initiative named as “Catch Them Young’ series, among others. Mr. Hini also thanked the various players in the industry who facilitated the launch of one the most revolutionary products to have been introduced onto the Ghanaian Finance market. “We say thank you to our Regulators, Partner Banks, Agents, and Merchants dotted across the length and breadth of Ghana” he added. For his part, General Manager for Sales Distribution of MTN Ghana, Abubakar Mohammed said the company’s decision to launch the MoMo Month at the Rawlings Park, a leading business hub in Ghana, is a testament that the company attaches great importance to businesswomen and small and medium businesses in the country.
MTN Ghana strategize to get majority SIM registered before July 31 deadline
MTN Ghana is enhancing its strategies to ensure that the millions of unregistered subscribers are registered before the July 31, 2022, deadline. The Company has started sending urgent messages to customers, who are not fully registered to do so before the deadline or risk having their SIM cards disconnected. A statement issued in Accra by Nana Kofi Asare, the Acting Chief Corporate Services Officer, MTN, said the Company had also launched an internal campaign dubbed: “GRAB, CHECK AND ACT (GCA).” The campaign is to encourage all staff, irrespective of their role to assist with the registration of customers. It said with the campaign, all MTN Staff had been tasked to check the registration status of customers they interacted with so that unregistered customers could be assisted to do so. The statement said in addition, MTN had deployed its field agents to communities with lowest registration numbers to get the customers registered. Mr Shaibu Haruna, Chief Sales and Distribution Officer of MTN Ghana, said: “We are nearly at the finish line and so we have intensified our efforts to reach out to all our customers.” He said they could not afford to lose customers due to non-registration and, therefore, encouraged all its customers to ensure their data/internet SIMs in their modems and other smart devices were fully registered. “We have created many channels (including our online portal – simregistration@mtngh.com) to ensure our customers register with ease. We are encouraging them to use the available channels that are convenient for them to speed up the registration process,” he added. The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization announced the mandatory registration of all SIM cards in Ghana in October, 2021. The registration exercise which started in October 2021 is scheduled to end on July 31,2022.