Social Sustainability

As a multi-national telecommunications company active in emerging markets, MTN has a particular opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to social development. The social dimension is measured through the direct and indirect impact group activities have on various stakeholders, in both the workplace and broader society.

Investing in our people

Investing in the continual development of our employees is a strategic priority for MTN, as we recognise that the performance of our people is a key competitive advantage.

During 2008, the group successfully implemented a hosted human resources (HR) platform for all MTN operations. The HR information system provides access to a standardised platform for group-wide HR administration, with reduced costs compared to maintaining local systems for this purpose in each operation.

MTN has well-established individual and career development initiatives in place, including the rotation of staff across regions that enables knowledge sharing and the alignment of new acquisitions to the MTN culture, and promotes an aligned customer experience across the group.

With the increase in competition across our operating markets, our ability to attract and retain talented individuals is fundamental to our continued success. Staff poaching is mitigated by building a strong employee value proposition that focuses on the leadership brand, people development, work life effectiveness and diversity. Further strategies include identifying and developing critical skills and future leaders in the group, to grow the number of skilled professionals within the organisation and to assist in effective succession planning.

MTN Academy

Launched in October 2008, the MTN Academy is a result of the group’s decision to develop a new strategic approach to learning and organisational development, assisting with our talent attraction, development and retention strategy. The academy is a vehicle to help grow and develop our employer value proposition and invest in our people, culture and organisation.

The vision of the MTN Academy is to drive business performance and set a new standard for talent development and organisational learning excellence. The academy does not replace existing learning and development initiatives, but aims to create a standardised approach to these initiatives across our diverse geographic footprint. Regional learning centres are being established in Accra, Dubai and Johannesburg, and we look forward to reporting on the success of this initiative over the next year.

Group culture audit

The Group culture audit is an important communication tool which provides valuable feedback on staff opinions and perceptions to the leadership teams in each country of operation. The 2008 Group culture audit was concluded in October, with a 13% increase in participation from 2007. The overall group participation rate of 85% comfortably exceeded our participation target of 75%.

Y’ello Stars

The Y’ello Stars award and recognition event was launched in 2005, in response to the Group culture audit that is run annually. The awards contribute to boosting staff morale and creating a sense of belonging within MTN. Individuals are nominated from across the group by their peers, with nominations based on four focus areas: knowledge sharing, star performance, customer service and living the MTN values. In 2008 over 3 000 nominations were received.

Corporate social responsibility

The MTN foundations are the group’s primary vehicles for corporate social responsibility (CSR), focusing on initiatives in health, education, poverty alleviation and arts and culture. Foundations have been established in 11 operating countries, with Benin successfully launching its foundation in February and Congo-Brazzaville in April 2008. The group mandates each of its operations to contribute a percentage of profit after tax to facilitate CSI programmes, including operations where foundations have not yet been established. The group endeavours to establish foundations in all operating countries.

Further information on activities undertaken by the MTN foundations is available on the group’s website and on individual operating countries’ websites.

21 Days of Y’ello Care

Established in 2007, the 21 Days of Y’ello Care programme is an opportunity for employees to directly contribute to the communities in which they live and work. Held from 1 June to 21 June 2008, 9 710 employees participated in the programme, up from 5 547 in 2007. The overall CEO prize for best initiative was shared between MTN Yemen and MTN Côte d’Ivoire, whose activities included cleaning 15 of the biggest mosques in the Sana’a and Hajjah regions and building a pedestrian footbridge directly opposite one of MTN’s service centres, respectively.

Responding to attacks on foreign nationals

In 2008, South Africa experienced a spate of violent attacks against foreign nationals that began in May 2008 in Alexandra, Johannesburg, and spread to various areas across the country. As a South African-based multi-national company, MTN felt compelled to make a positive contribution to the lives of people affected by these attacks. Our response included:

Donating R1,5 million to the Red Cross and making an in-kind contribution valued at over R670 000, including clothing and other items as well as airtime and SIM cards for use by Red Cross volunteers. In addition, MTN employees volunteered over weekends to help the Red Cross by collecting food, clothing and other supplies for victims.
In addition, and as part of the launch of MTN’s advertising campaign for 2010 sporting events, the group pledged to donate R10 000 for every goal scored at the Africa qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, from 31 May to 22 June 2008. At the end of the qualifying period, 225 goals had been scored, amounting to R2 250 000. These funds were donated to the Salvation Army (R250 000), Doctors Without Borders (R250 000), Gauteng Disaster Management Centre (R580 000), The Star newspaper’s Operation Reach Out (R500 000), the Southern Africa Trust Peace Concert (R400 000) and accredited non-governmental organisations in the City of Cape Town (HDI Support, Mustadifin Foundation and South African National Zakah Fund), which shared R300 000 equally.

At the end of this traumatic period, MTN had donated over R4 million to charity organisations assisting displaced foreign nationals.

Our sustainability performance at a glance

Social performance - progress against targets

What we said we'd do	What we've achieved	What we need to improve
A Group corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy will be adopted in 2008.	The diverse regions and needs of our operations diminished the need for a formal policy and reinforced the significance of the group CSR framework.	Monitor implementation of the group CSR framework and alignment of CSR activities across all operations. Review the effectiveness of the framework.
Support newly acquired operations in establishing CSR management functions and preparing foundation launches (where appropriate).	In 2008 two more operations established foundations, bringing the total number to 11 out of 21 operations.	Work with remaining operations to launch foundations.
Ensure that MTN retains scarce skills despite industry-wide staff turnover trends.	The MTN Academy was successfully launched.
Roll out government relations framework to all operations and generate quarterly status reports.	The group has assisted operations with limited capacity to implement the government relations framework on an ad hoc basis.	Review and improve on the consistency of engagements and interventions to mitigate challenges faced by operations.
In line with the group’s customercentric focus, continue improving call service centre response rates across all operations.	Service centres across the group are continually under review.