MTN Eswatini’s Corporate Social Investment impact on people’s lives has not been felt only by women, the youth, and people with disabilities, but by the whole MTN Group.
The company has just been recognized regionally and awarded the Y’ello Care South and East Africa (SEA) Region Winner Award during the Group Leadership Gathering (GLG) 2024 taking place in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The company has been recognized for the impactful initiatives embarked upon in June 2023 during the Y’ello Care, an annual staff volunteerism program MTN staff allocate time towards CSI projects over a period of 21 Days.
According to MTN Chief Executive Officer, Wandile Mtshali, this award belongs to each MTNer who dedicated time and effort towards the upliftment and shared value creation in the communities in which we operate as a company.
“We appreciate our valued customers and stakeholders for their continuous support towards the success of our annual Y’ello Care campaign, leading to this extraordinary recognition. Our profound gratitude goes to all the partners who have been a part of this journey of hope and inspiration, creating a better tomorrow for the people of Eswatini, today.”
Mtshali further expressed that MTN is a caring company dedicated to continue creating shared value in Eswatini. As a corporation with a presence across the country, we aim to utilize resources at our disposal to create an enabling environment for the connectivity of every liSwati, particularly, vulnerable and disenfranchised groups.
The recognition is for last year’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care campaign, whose main focus was capacitating women, empowering the youth, and assisting people living with disabilities.
The 16th edition of the campaign was valued at over E1.2m and rolled out under the theme: “Empowering Entrepreneurs to Unlock Growth and Job Creation for Communities”.
MTN reached out to a total 1 200 people, 400 of whom were youths aged between 16 and 34 who received training on monetizing waste.
The primary focus of the 2023 Y’ello Care campaign was to awaken young people to their capacity and potential to grow and develop entrepreneurial and leadership qualities, whilst addressing environmental challenges impacting their specific local communities.
About 300 other young people were enrolled in e-commerce training and Y’ello Youth Regional Tours where upcoming entrepreneurs walked away with seed capital amounting to over E200 000.
Taking advantage of the digital era, MTN also unlocked digital/online entrepreneurship opportunities for about 300 youths. Through this online session, young people were empowered with digital skills for digital jobs with a specific focus on trading opportunities, the legalities of trading, trading safely data privacy, etc.
Women farmers were assisted with the construction of a seedlings nursery aimed at servicing their agricultural projects as well as neighbouring communities.
All this was achieved through partnerships with Imbita Women’s Finance Trust, Junior Achievement, Green Action, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, and the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade.
About the Y’ello Care campaign
- The 21 Days of Y’ello Care campaign is an annual employee volunteerism initiative launched by MTN in 2007.
- It aims to secure high participation levels by staff in high-impact social projects in their local communities.
- The 2023 21 Days of Y’ello Care theme was “Empowering Entrepreneurs to Unlock Growth and Job Creation for Communities.”
- MTN Eswatini has continuously excelled in the delivery of CSI projects across the MTN Group footprint having won the Y’ello Care MTN Group President & CEO Award, on three different occasions: 2017, 2019 and 2022.