MTN Group President and Chief Executive
Officer, Ralph Mupita has revealed that MWC Africa presents a great opportunity
for MTN to collaborate with others who want to build partnerships to solve some
of the continent's many challenges.
According to him “from using 5G to enable
growth across industries to stepping into the metaverse, we are excited to
build partnerships to solve some of the continent’s many challenges.”
This was contained in a statement issued
on Tuesday as part of MTN Group's participation in the Mobile World Congress (MWC)
Africa 2022 event which is currently underway in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
The statement noted that recognizing the
need to engage and collaborate to achieve the effective, rapid and
comprehensive digital transformation of Africa, MTN Group is a key participant
and founding partner of Mobile World Congress (MWC) Africa, which is
taking place on the continent for the first time.
Called ‘Connectivity Unleased’, MWC Africa
starts Tuesday 25 October, and runs until Thursday 27 October. It brings
together hundreds of delegates from across the globe, exploring themes such as ‘Leadership
for Connectivity’, ‘One People, One Purpose’, ‘Accelerate Africa’ and Fintech’.
Among the topics on which MTN executives
will be engaging are: ‘What does Metaverse mean for Africa?’; ‘Progressive
policy to accelerate the digital agenda in Africa’; ‘Setting the mobile money
agenda for the next generation; ‘Beyond the smartphone – developing innovative
5G use-cases and applications for Africa’; and ‘Digital transformation to
accelerate the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’.
It further stated that determined to play its part in
building the digital skills that Africa needs for its digital transformation,
MTN will launch the MTN Skills Academy on the sidelines of MWC Africa, aiming
to develop people across the continent as producers, consumers, and innovators
of digital technologies.
“This
is part of our work to build digital skills for digital jobs, through which we
will upskill the continent’s most valuable asset – its people – to help close
the jobs gap in a sustainable and measurable way. Investing in digital
capabilities of citizens underpinned by both technological and human capacity
offers the most robust approach for the future,” it said.
“This
is aligned to MTN’s Ambition
2025 strategy: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress,” it added.
By: Kanto Okanto