MTN Foundation spends N5b on book project

MTN Foundation, the corporate social investment vehicle of Nigeria’s leading telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria has spent over N5 billion since 2004 and continues to budget billions of naira towards execution of a variety of initiatives geared at enhancing the lives of millions of Nigerians.

This revelation was made by the Corporate Services Executive, MTN and a Director of the Foundation, Mr Wale Goodluck, at the official launch of the Foundation’s 132-page view book, which captures the activities of the Foundation’s activities through the eyes and voices of a few of its beneficiaries.

A highly visual publication, it presents a compelling perspective of the impact that the MTN Foundation on the lives of ordinary Nigerians in a very moving fashion.

The launch, which took place at the Civic Centre in Lagos on Friday, March 11, 2011 brought together the crème de la crème of the society to celebrate the milestones recorded by the MTN Foundation since inception.

According to the Chairman, MTN Foundation, Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, the book entitled ‘A Hand and a Smile’ is a physical documentation of the scope and successes of the Foundation’s activities across the country, using the stories and testimonies of some of the beneficiaries, as well as images that speak for themselves.

He said the Foundation was set up in 2004 with a mission to improve the quality of life in the society. “From the onset, we spelt out our focus areas - Education, Health and Economic empowerment. These we believe, hold the key to sustainable socio-economic growth and impact in our country and we go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that our present and future projects have a dramatic and transformative effect in communities all over the country.

We do this in partnership with Federal and State governments, private, public and civil society organisations,” he said.

Ambassador Ahmadu said the Foundation continuously explores new ways through which it can expand its operations, widen its activities and deepen its impact in the communities, thereby tackling real issues and touching real lives documented in the book.

“The View Book is a bold attempt to capture through the medium of pictures and the testimony of numerous beneficiaries just how the Foundation has touched lives. It shows that our impact goes beyond statistics and has a very personal story to tell”, said Ahmadu.

Mr Goodluck in his own remarks, said MTN’s philosophical belief is that the long term success of MTN’s business is inextricably linked to the viability of the society in which the company operates.

According to him, the Foundation has established a foot print in all the 36 states of our country including the FCT, with 20 projects being implemented in 292 project sites in partnership with over 30 different project partners over the years.

Some of the people whose testimonies and images were captured in the book include beneficiaries of the MTNF SchoolsConnect, Rural Telephone Project, and Partners against AIDS in the Community project (PAAC) which later evolved into Partners against Malaria and AIDS in the Community project (PAMAC).

Others are UniversitiesConnect, Disability Support Project, the Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme,Medical Support project, and the Medical intervention project.

In his remarks, the book reviewer, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay, said the book is a portrait that speaks eloquently of MTN Foundation’s success stories in three core areas of health, education and economic empowerment.