DJ Khaled encourages people everywhere to #WearItForMe

Hip-hop star and Grammy Award-winning producer Khaled Mohamed Khaled, aka DJ Khaled, on Wednesday added his voice to MTN Group’s efforts to raise awareness about the importance of wearing masks to fight the spread of COVID-19.

“DJ Khaled and MTN want you to know that we want you to wear your mask out there; it is so important,” the rapper and social media celebrity said in a video clip posted to his 21,5 million Instagram followers. In a message he felt was vital for Africa as well as for the rest of the world, he said: “If you love yourself, you love your family…if you love the WORLD, you will wear a mask.”

Wearing face coverings remains one of the most effective measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, many people refuse to wear them, wear them incorrectly or still underestimate their importance.

 DJ Khaled, whose participation was enabled by his management company Roc Nation, urged everyone to get involved: “Tag somebody that you love so that they can wear their mask…I’m gonna wear mine; you gonna wear yours and we will make this world better, safer…and we are gonna come out this stronger, wiser and more powerful! MTN, DJ Khaled. One love.”

 Earlier this month, MTN Group launched its #WearItForMe campaign, encouraging customers and the public at large not to be complacent, to wear their masks to protect themselves, and to protect and respect others.

#WearItForMe runs throughout September. Spread the message, not the virus. Visit www.wearitfor.me to send a message to someone to encourage them to do the right thing.

MTN Group works to build a culture of recognition through its ‘global appreciation week’

MTN Group on Monday launched ‘global appreciation week’, encouraging employees to recognise their colleagues’ efforts – big or small – towards achieving the group’s vision, which is to lead the delivery of a bold, new digital world to our customers.

The aim is to make our 20 000 employees feel valued and connected, particularly important during COVID-19, when most employees are still working from home.

Global appreciation week is an opportunity to show MTNers what they mean to us, recognising each person’s contribution to our values and vital behaviours, as well as our company performance,” said MTN Group chief human resources officer Paul Norman.

With a new theme every day this week, MTN employees are being urged to use the internal ‘MTN Shine’ peer-to-peer social recognition platform to send and receive messages to each other.

They are encouraged to celebrate the contribution of their co-workers to making the MTN brand and customer experience brighter; to recognise their colleagues’ ability to support other team members; to shine a spotlight on our people and their spirit leadership; as well as to acknowledge everyday heroes in the group who go to extraordinary lengths to care for MTN’s communities.

“With the emerging realities of the ‘new normal’ brought on by COVID-19, we recognise the need to rethink our employee value proposition. This begins with a deep sense of gratitude for all our MTNers who have always gone above and beyond to make us who we are,” said Paul.

“While appreciation and recognition are deeply embedded in our culture, ‘global appreciation week’ is that special time of the year when MTNers across the group come together to show their appreciation, kindness and gratitude for each other. We salute our people who made all of the successes this year possible,” he added.

Procurement digitalization in a post-pandemic world

MTN’s Global Sourcing and Supply Chain (GSSC) division, in partnership with Beroe and Espresso LiVE, will be hosting a live webinar on ‘Procurement digitalization in a post-pandemic world’ on Tuesday 8 September 2020. The session will highlight the importance of investing in procurement digitalization in uncertain times, brought about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supply chain and sourcing management across large organisations and geographies requires absolute accuracy, agility and constant innovation in order to adapt and evolve to meet the continually changing needs of the business.

Leading the way in digital transformation within supply chain management, MTN Group’s GSSC division has developed and successfully implemented several digitalization initiatives. These digital programmes are focused on combining a high-performance blend of automation with intelligence as well as business analytics with machine learning.

“Developed entirely in-house, GeSSiCa – our artificial intelligence assistant and our decision support application (DSA) – focuses on improving business efficiency and enhancing fact-based decision making. The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled us to work remotely and rely even more on technology than ever before,” says Dirk Karl, MTN group executive for procurement and supply chain management.

“Driven by our desire to take advantage of the digital acceleration shifts and opportunities across our markets, GeSSiCa and DSA are a visual representation of digital technologies in motion,” says Karl.

We have tangible examples of robotic process automation (RPA) in a number of use cases across the business. RPA is often referred to as software robotics, which is a form of business process automation technology based on metaphorical software robots or on artificial intelligence /digital workers.

Since her introduction, GeSSiCa has been hard at work automating time-consuming, administrative and repetitive tasks inherent within supply chain management. This gives GSSC staff the opportunity to focus more on strategic procurement and making better business decisions based on accurate data.

MTN Group’s DSA manages cross-functional decision making and combinatorial negotiations in complex multi-unit tenders. DSA enables MTN to move from several million scenarios into single digits with a complete paper trail, instantly.

With GeSSiCa and DSA, MTN’s GSSC has embarked on a journey towards digital transformation, resulting in a unique blend of automation that incorporates intelligence and business analytics. The future of work is here, delivered by a bold new digital world.

To join the webinar: 8 September 2020 at 4:00-5:00 CET/ 10:00 -11:00AM EST, https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4186107257776849419.

MTN Group appoints new audit committee chair and acting GCFO

MTN today announces changes to the board of directors of MTN Group, as well as to the board of major subsidiary MTN South Africa.

After six years as an independent non-executive director of MTN Group – the last five as audit committee chairman – Christine Ramon will step down on 30 September to focus on her extended executive responsibilities.

Sindi Mabaso-Koyana will join the MTN Group board as an independent non-executive director on 1 September, assuming the chairmanship of the audit committee on 1 October.

Sindi is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in the public and private sectors, where she is held in high regard both locally and internationally. She has served as a non-executive director for numerous companies, and her current board positions include MTN Zakhele Futhi, AWCA Investment Holdings, Toyota SA and Phembani Group.

MTN Group chairman Mcebisi Jonas said: “Christine has played an invaluable role in ensuring the integrity of MTN’s corporate reporting, for which the board is grateful and wishes her well in her future endeavours. We also welcome Sindi, who the board believes to be a worthy successor in this critical role.”

Following the announcement in August of the appointment of group chief financial officer (GCFO) Ralph Mupita as the new group president and chief executive officer (GCEO) effective 1 September, outgoing GCEO Rob Shuter steps down from the board from this date. The board once again expresses its gratitude to Rob for his leadership and wishes him success in future.

The company continues with its rigorous recruitment process for the GCFO position, and in the interim the board has appointed Sugentharan Perumal as MTN Group’s acting GCFO. A chartered accountant for over 15 years, Sugen has extensive financial and accounting experience. He has served as an external auditor of MTN Group and held various key executive and board positions within the group. He is currently acting CFO of MTN South Africa and previously held the CFO position at MTN Irancell.

Finally, the group announces the appointment of Dineo Molefe as the CFO of MTN South Africa, effective 1 December 2020. Dineo is a chartered accountant and joins from T-Systems (South Africa), where she is CEO.

GCEO Ralph Mupita said: “The board is confident in the wide-ranging experience and knowledge of MTN that Sugen brings to the role. We also welcome Dineo to MTN South Africa, to which she brings a wealth of experience, having held a number of executive positions in the ICT, investment management and energy sectors. We wish both Sugen and Dineo well in their new roles.”

 

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