Examining Airtel’s expansion approach, corporate responsibility

Joel Barker of the Future Edge fame must have had Airtel Nigeria in mind when he made the popular assertion that speed was useful only if an organisation was running in the right direction.

Recent activities of Airtel Nigeria have confirmed that it is not only possible for firms to run swiftly, in the right direction, but also feasible for them to have a pronounced impact on the lives of the community in which they operate.

Without doubt, the telecoms firm has had a fair share of expansion in recent times, ramping up its express shops to 130 and recording primary sales worth N22 billion just in 2014.

The firm has launched a number of innovative and data products while also entering into a series of mutual partnerships that will enable it grow rapidly and ensure effective, seamless service delivery.

Apart from launching ‘Better Life: True Partnership’, which guarantees competitive incentive payouts on airtime sales and activation bonus on first recharge, the telecoms giant has partnered with Oando with a view to seeing that customers of the former patronise the latter and vice versa.

Airtel Nigeria has also entered into an understanding with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The agreement allows UNICEF to tap into Airtel’s mobile services to make health, education, child protection and community-focused content available to Airtel customers across the country.

“This partnership with Airtel has the potential to empower millions of Nigerians through access to information and with opportunities to help them transform their societies,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Lagos recently.

These are just a few. But beyond expansion and partnerships, Airtel has proved that it cannot be successful when the society around it fails.

“We value our communities because we believe that you cannot be successful while the local community where you are is not successful,” Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive of Airtel Nigeria said during the MoU signing with UNICEF.

In recognition of the role of education in national development, the telco recently introduced ‘Adopt-a-School’ programme, where it selects a primary school in a rural or semi-urban area, rehabilitates itsdepleting infrastructure, equips the library as well as provide necessary teaching and learning materials.

The essence of this, according to the telecoms giant, is to ensure that the Nigerian child in countryside is not robbed of qualitative and functional education.

Having already adopted Oremeji Primary School II at Ajegunle, Lagos State; St. John’s Primary School at Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State; Community Primary School at Amumara, Imo State; and Presbyterian Primary School located at Ediba, Cross River State, Airtel moved to the semi-urban Iyeru-Okin Primary School situated at Offa, Kwara State, on July 16 this year.

The event gave the telecoms firm an opportunity to unveil the renovated blocks of classrooms, toilet facilities, borehole, 400 school bags, 1, 400 note books, 400 uniforms and pens, among other items dedicated to the school.

It was Godfrey Efeurhobo, chief sales officer, who represented the telecoms’ chief executive officer. According to Efeurhobo, once Airtel adopted a school, it would upgrade its infrastructure and support it on a long-term basis.

“Last year, hundreds of pupils and teachers benefited from the Airtel free eye screening exercises conducted in the adopted schools,” Airtel’s chief sales officer said at the event.

“In addition to these, several teachers in the schools have been trained by Airtel in collaboration with State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) of the various states,” he added.

He said the firm was motivated by both the vision and the various initiatives of the Kwara government to give its widow’s mite in a concerted effort to make a difference in the lives of the people of state, especially the less privileged.

“Education, to us, is the bedrock of development of a nation and the best place to start is at the formative stage. Nigerian government has taken various initiatives in this direction but has often not reached the poorest section of the society,” he pointed out.

Abdulfatah Ahmed, governor, Kwara State, represented by Lamid Alabi, permanent secretary, ministry of education in the state, confirmed that Airtel’s initiative connected with the government’s educational infrastructure development programme.

“Clearly, what Airtel has done at this school deserves our commendation and applause. The project represents a contribution to our educational development through corporate social responsibility intervention,” Alabi said.

More so, the firm recently introduced ‘Airtel Touching Lives’, which is focused on empowering, uplifting and creating life-changing opportunities for underprivileged individuals, communities and groups in the Nigerian society.

With the success of the maiden edition, the telecoms operator recently announced the commencement of the second edition of the initiative, which has been described by many as a ground-breaking approach to corporate social investment.

Speaking at an event held recently in Ikoyi, Lagos, to mark the commencement of the second edition, Segun Ogunsanya, CEO, said the telco was rolling out the second edition of the revolutionary programme based on the monumental successes recorded in the first edition.

Ogunsanya said Airtel went scouting for people who needed help last year, adding that the journey had yielded big results, as it succeeded in touching many lives.