MTN Nigeria’s workforce is now 99.85 percent Nigerian, while its trade partners and agents have helped create more than two million direct and indirect jobs, according to the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce.
Ije Jidenma, chairman of the chamber, disclosed this at its August Breakfast Meeting held at Eko Hotel, Lagos, under the theme, “Building Local Content Together: 25 Years of Shared Growth.”
Jidenma said MTN’s 25 years of operations in Nigeria had contributed to employment creation, entrepreneurship, skills development and technology transfer beyond its core telecommunications business.
“Today, MTN Nigeria has 99.85 percent of its workforce made up of Nigerians,” she said.
She said the figure was significant when considered alongside the company’s reported creation of more than two million direct and indirect jobs through its trade partners and agents.
Jidenma said MTN’s workforce and employment impact demonstrated the importance of developing local talent and creating sustainable employment opportunities.
She added that the company’s local economic footprint extended to Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises, suppliers, procurement entrepreneurs and professional services firms supporting its operations.
“If we, therefore, view local content beyond local participation, we can see the footprints of MTN among Nigerian SMEs, be they suppliers, entrepreneurs engaged in procurements and even professional services firms that provide services for its numerous productive activities,” she said.
According to Jidenma, the ultimate goal of local content should be to build sustainable Nigerian capacity through talent development, stronger local businesses, knowledge and technology transfer, expanded local supply chains and meaningful employment.
She urged businesses to adopt an approach that combines commercial success with employment creation and national development.
“As a Chamber, I challenge our numerous members to look at business from the lens with which MTN Nigeria sees it in terms of nation building and the inevitable success that comes from this approach to business,” Jidenma said.
The meeting was attended by business leaders, including Modupe Kadiri, Chief Financial Officer of MTN Nigeria; Udeme Ufot, Group Managing Director of SO&U; Yemi Chukwura, Chief Executive Officer of Seams & Stitches; Ayeni Adekunle, Chief Executive Officer of Blockhouse Media; and Afolabi Sobande, Group Chief Operating Officer of Computer Warehouse Group.
