Graphic, MTN to collaborate to enhance ICT
TELECOM giant, MTN Ghana, and the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), have initiated moves to strengthen their business relations for mutual benefit.
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A delegation from MTN Ghana has therefore paid a working visit to the management of the GCGL to discuss ways to strengthen their relationship.
The visit, led by the Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr Ebenezer Twum Asante, was to find common grounds for promoting economic development for both companies and the nation as a whole.
Also present at the meeting were editors of the various brands of the GCGL.
Digital platform
The Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, in his address, said the two companies could support themselves by formulating strong ties to improve on their relationships to enhance their economic growth.
Considering the digital trend, he mentioned that the two companies needed to collaborate on how they could take advantage of the digital platform and also bridge the digital gap.
He said GCGL had moved from just being a content provider to an interactive platform to meet the demands of all groups of people at various destinations.
Mr Ashigbey further indicated that Graphic had initiated the move to introduce the Beta (digital) version of the newspaper, hence the need to collaborate with organisations such as MTN to improve on it.
He said there were corporate social responsibilities that the two companies could work on for mutual benefit.
He expressed concern about the challenges the telecommunications industry was facing, especially destruction and stealing of fibre-optic materials and other equipment and tools.
He expressed his frustration at engineers who watched fibre optics destroyed during construction works, saying: “It is a failure on the part of engineers.”
Promoting economic dev’t
He urged the management of MTN to open its doors to the editorial department of the company in response to news stories on MTN for the public to also hear their side of the story in the event of even negative issues.
While commending Mr Asante on his appointment as the CEO of MTN and for being the first Ghanaian to head the company in Ghana, Mr Ashigbey said it was good to have a Ghanaian at the helm of affairs at a multinational company.
In his remarks, Mr Asante reiterated that the two companies needed to come together and see how best they could support each other to grow their businesses.
He said the digital channel was the new trend of doing business, hence companies that did not want to die out had made moves to make good use of it.
Considering the number of subscribers MTN holds and the brand GCGL has established over the years, he said the collaboration between the two was a giant step to promote the two brands.
He said the company was ready to work with GCGL on various corporate social responsibility programmes through the MTN Foundation to improve the society within which they operated.
He added that GCGL could also take advantage of some of the MTN initiatives such as the mobile money and tracking systems to enhance its business operation.
The Editor for the Junior Graphic, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, suggested to MTN to come up with toll-free helpline for children to report cases of harassment and abuse for redress.
She said the staff of the Junior Graphic received many letters of harassment from children which needed swift response; however, sometimes there were difficulties in responding to them and also the lack of a toll-free number hampered the newspaper from responding to the concerns of the children.