By Japhet Alakam

MTN Nigeria Foundation, the very first Foundation established by MTN, one of the leading telecommunication giants in Nigeria with the vision to improving the quality of life in their host communities, penultimate week officially presented her first ever MTN Foundation View book titled A Hand and A Smile to the public.

The View book which is published by Hermitage Publishing is a unique compilation of powerful photographs, strong images and documents of all the activities of the Foundation across the country in the last seven years.

The event which was held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos was graced by notable dignitaries from all works of life especially the friends and fans of the Y’ello family.

In his opening remarks at the occasion, Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, Chairman of MTN Foundation described the event as an opportunity to reflect on the activities of the foundation over the past seven years and to share the thinking behind the mission of MTN adding that “our commitment to improving lives in our communities remains sacrosanct.”

According to him, the foundation was established in order to improve the lives of the people and in partnership with the Federal and State governments, private, public and civil society organisations has carried out projects that have had a dramatic and transformative effect on the communities.

Continuing he pointed out that the View Book is a bold attempt to capture through the medium of pictures and testimony the numerous beneficiaries of MTN’s activities and how the Foundation has touched lives.

In his own remarks, Akinwale Goodluck, Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria reiterated the company’s commitments in the area of corporate social investment towards the attainment of Millennium Development Goals for the socio- economic development of Nigeria. He also pointed out that it was that vision that gave birth to the Foundation.

In her own presentation, Ugboma took the audience down memory lane of all that the foundation has done since 2004. How the Foundation in 2004 held series of consultations with diverse groups and set forth the mission of how to improve the quality of life in the communities and how it went on to establish the SchoolsConnect project and the Rural Telephone Project that provided fully equipped digital laboratory with 21 computers, free internet subscriptions etc to many schools in the country.

According to this testimony, the Rural Telephony Project empowered over 4500 men and women across 28 states in the country by providing them with mobile phones, recharge cards, promotional materials etc as well as training on basic accounting principles and customer service.

Continuing, she pointed out some of the specific projects carried out by the Foundation which include; MTNF UniversitiesConnect, Partners against AIDS in Community Project (PAAC) which later became the Partners Against Malaria and AIDS in the Community(PAMAC),MTN low Cost Housing Estate in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, in new Karu, Nasarawa State.

Others are ; the Disability Support Project and Skills Acquisition Project for Disabled Persons, The Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme, The Medical Support Project, The Medical Intervention Project and others These projects actually changed the lives of many people.