MTN Foundation: Reviewing the CSR Tripod

The MTN Foundation for the past 10 years has impacted on the lives of Nigerians. A good story to tell, the Foundation has been able to achieve this working through a model. This review by Jumoke Akiyode takes a look at the Foundation’s model that has sustained them so far

When the story of corporate organisations that give back to the Nigerian society is written there is no doubt that MTN Nigeria will top the list. The telecommunications company has been doing well with the Foundation it set up 10 years ago barely five years after it started business in Nigeria then regarded with uncertainty by investors. Not only did MTN Nigeria help to inspire confidence for would-be investors, it has made the wellbeing of individuals in whose communities it operates all over the country paramount. This it has done through the MTN Foundation (MTNF).

“Our mission was to be the best. We wanted to be a very serious company that could provide quality service in telecommunications to the country”, said, Chairman MTN Nigeria, Pascal Dozie.

Dozie, said the vision was to participate in all aspects of lives of Nigerians. “We want to at least help in the areas of education, health and economic empowerment. Every moment about the Foundation is a proud one. I wish we could do more, but we are doing our best.”

Since inception, according to Dozie, the goals of the company about the Foundation were clear cut; “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) would not only be MTNs business strategy, it will also become the company’s way of life.”

For Dozie, every organisation has a responsibility and it can either accept that or not. “We wanted to be a good corporate citizen and that has been the hallmark of all our operations. Good corporate citizenship means that we identify ourselves with the aspirations of Nigerians.”

The company carried out a study in 2003 on its Corporate Social Investment Initiative; the result of which made it clear that health, education and economic empowerment would be the focus of the Foundation. Interestingly, as at 2015, the MTN Foundation has over 344 project sites and 36 project categories spread across 36 states of the Federation in Abuja.

As at January 2015, the MTN Foundation (MTNF) has spent a whopping N11.5 billion on various areas to assist on Corporate Social Responsibility, in the area of education, scholarship, women empowerment, music growth among others.

“We decided to back the process up with sufficient resources both in terms of finances and capacity to execute. Thus, we decided that MTN donates 1% of its profit after tax to the Foundations activities to carry out CSI activities in Nigeria”, Dozie said. Having made that decision, what came next was the selection of capable people to make up the nucleus of the Foundation.

According to Dozie, the selection was done using the same principles of the MTN board in terms of quality and characteristics of the individuals. “We have a model. We looked for people with impeccable character; people whose values can be emulated; individuals who are not tempted, corrupt and have no skeletons in their cupboards; individuals that can positively contribute to the system,” he stated.The Foundation is made up of board members, patrons, eminent and experienced Nigerians and statesmen who watch and serve as the third eye of the MTNF board.

On the MTNF board, there is a former deputy governor, a former minister of health, an ambassador, a diplomat, an educationist and a host of other men and women of integrity who give the Foundation credibility. It is therefore not surprising that it has been well with the Foundation, which has achieved most of its objectives and hopes to maintain the tempo and be impactful to ensure sustainability.

For the MTNF, the sustainability of the model is heavily laden on the structure it professed; credible individuals who are visionary. With a board headed by Amb. Hamzat Ahmadu, one of the early heavy lifters that have stayed with the Foundation is Nonny Ugboma. Now the Foundation’s Executive Secretary, Ugboma joined the Foundation in 2004 as Portfolio Manager in charge of the education and health from her position as a financial analyst in MTN.

“The Foundation gives back to the community and that is one way MTN has been able to add value to people in the countries where it operates; doing something different from providing ICT services”, Ugboma said.

Ugboma informed that in May 2005, the MTN Foundation, a company Limited by Guarantee, was launched as a separate entity from MTN Nigeria. “We decided to separate these entities to reinstate our commitment to giving back to our society and the MTN Nigeria Foundation has a separate board of directors”, she said.

As core to the model, separating the entities has worked in creating an enviable image for the Foundation. Unlike many other philanthropy that are dependent on their proponents, the MTN Foundation is allowed to run its course independent of any extraneous intervention from the mother company.

“This decision has gone a long way in achieving the goal of improving the quality of lives of Nigerians for which the Foundation was conceived. Also adding to the success of the Foundations activities is MTN’s philosophy that people are very important to the company.
Without people we have no business. MTNF’s role is to ensure we give back to the society by touching peoples’ lives to keep the business sustainable,” Ugboma affirmed.

The Executive Secretary, whom her background helped a great deal in establishing the structure, clear processes and procedures for the Foundations activities, explained that selecting beneficiaries, project selection and implementation processes have greatly helped in establishing a structure enabling the Foundation achieve its objectives over the years.
Ugboma also explained that “the roots of the family tree of the MTN Foundation run deep in the traditions of the MTN business. We are proud of our heritage; proud of the fact that the Foundation believes in the long-term viability of the MTN business. MTN is a company that truly connects with Nigerians. In essence, if Nigeria grows, MTN grows. In our corporate social responsibility we ensure that we are adding value and touching lives as well as being a good corporate citizen by adhering to the laws of the country, paying our taxes and generally adding value to the society through our products and services.”Add good governance, which she said is very fundamental to the MTNF, to the mix and it is easy to explain its success over the years.

Without this critical factor of good governance, “there will be lots of ad hoc projects. We have selected projects under education, health and economic empowerment portfolios and we ensure that the projects are replicated across the country.” Thus, the vision of the Foundation which is “to be a leader in the area of Corporate Social Investment initiatives in Nigeria measured by the impact and sustainability of our projects in our host communities cannot be over emphasised” she expounded.

A subset of the MTN Foundation model developed for project selection is the CRIVM model; to determine the performance of existing projects and the viability of new ones. The components of the model includes:  Cost Effectiveness, Relevance, Impact, Visibility and Marketability. While the spread, diversity of initiatives and beneficiaries is critical to the Foundation.

After a project passes CRIVM, it is presented to the Project Appraisal Committee (PAC), that assesses every project proposal that comes to the Foundation and gets necessary clarifications where needed. Each project proposal is assessed on the basis of alignment and sustainability. Once the project appraisal committee is satisfied, the project goes to the Board for approval.

Also, the Foundation works with the MTNN Procurement Unit to select project partners. It is the duty of the procurement unit to read through the project brief and invite partners and suppliers for a bid. The unit also assesses the technical and human capacity of the suppliers to roll out the projects across the country.

To ensure an open, free and equal opportunity for prospective beneficiaries in its scholarship programmes, Ugboma assured that the model recognises “an objective selection process for beneficiaries. The selection process is competitive with expressions of interest published on social and conventional media for people to apply within the stated guidelines. For the individual beneficiaries there are newspaper advertorials that gives the preliminary information for applications. Once the application period is closed, we carry out a preliminary screening process before the actual verification of the students at their various institutions. When we are satisfied with the candidates, the shortlisted students are invited for aptitude tests before the final 500 is selected.”

Like every other scientific model, the Foundation in 2013 decided to review its modus operandi by expanding its capacity for creating greater awareness for its projects. “We set out to integrate ICT features into the implementation and leveraging of MTNF’s new and existing projects as well as align MTNF activities with MTNN’s Geo-Marketing efforts, to create enhanced stakeholder engagement,” Ugboma explained.

The results from the reports have been massive. The Foundation has been touching the lives of Nigerians. In education, it is promoting excellence in schools, providing computers to ensure literacy in ICT, as well as excellence in music. On economic empowerment, it is helping women set up businesses. In the health sector, MTNF has funded the installation of machines that help in the early detection of cancer. On security, the Foundation has ensured men of the Nigerian Police are provided with security patrol vehicles to aid their activities.

There is no doubt that the MTNF model is definitely one that works. That explains the reason as noted by Ugboma, “other organisations both nationally and internationally have contacted us to help develop their models. We are very glad that people appreciate our work and we are humbled to offer assistance to other organisations in this regards”.

However, like every other human endeavour, there are challenges. As stated earlier by Dozie, the Foundation can do more but Ugboma pointed to some of the challenges that hold it back.

“There have been challenges with some custodian beneficiaries like some State Ministries of Education and Ministries of Health. There are also challenges of acceptance and maintenance of projects in some communities” Ugboma said.

Despite these challenges, “the Foundation has been successful because we have learnt from them as we move along. MTNF has given people a helping hand and left smiles on the faces of Nigerians. We are pleased to be part of a caring organisation like MTN and we are committed to doing more for our beneficiaries,” Ugboma concluded.