MTN Nigeria Signs UN Women Empowerment Principles for Gender Equality

MTN Nigeria signed the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles (UNWEPs), reaffirming its commitment to advancing gender equality and balance in the workplace. The Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) place a strong emphasis on the economic justification for corporate action to advance gender equality and women's empowerment.

Speaking at the signing ceremony over the weekend, Mr. Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, emphasised that MTN is steadfastly committed to gender balance because it believes that gender equality and balance are good for the company as well as the society and will help MTN as a business to grow better, just as it does for the GDP in the nation.

He emphasised that MTN takes extremely careful effort to reinforce its beliefs. Hear him: "We have established a policy that any hiring or promotions made inside the firm would, to the best of our ability, be reserved for women to the extent of about 70%. Why is it 70%, specifically? It is because we want to fulfil our obligations to achieve gender equality by 2030, which we have scientifically determined we will do.”

Toriola continued by saying “Other further initiatives inside the organisation through the MTN Foundation that are aimed at empowering women would continue to be driven. We are behind on gender balance on the board, but now that we have refreshed the board, you will see that we are moving very swiftly in that direction.”

“We, as business leaders from throughout the world, wish to voice our support for the programme for women's economic empowerment by furthering gender equality in order to bring the most diverse set of skills to our endeavours. We also don't want to downplay the significance of males in our society as the world and the economic sector change. The abilities, emotional intelligence, perceptiveness, awareness of how humans function, and construction of larger societies, however, are skills which you find much more prevalent in women these days in this region of transition towards all sorts of other models.”

“Therefore, it's crucial for the firm to have the necessary abilities on staff. We wish to increase our company's competitiveness and adhere to our obligations to sustainability and corporate responsibility. In the nations where we do business, we aim to promote social and economic factors that give both men and women, children and adults, possibilities. We also want to support sustainable development. Therefore, we support the requirements of the principle of women's empowerment.”

Ms. Florence Raes, Regional Director for West and Central Africa for UN Women, thanked MTN Nigeria for the cooperation in her introductory remarks and said that MTN's singing of the WEPs will significantly benefit women, MTN, and the nation.

The signing event underscored the significance of gender equality for economic development and progress, according to Mr. Kalim Shah, Senior Country Manager, Nigeria, International Finance Corporation (IFC), in his own remarks. It draws attention to the crucial part that the business sector can play in furthering gender equality and promoting the principles of women's empowerment in order to accomplish the sustainable development objectives.

"Research shows that organisations that remove barriers to women in the workplace grow more quickly, and societies with more gender equality tend to be more resilient," he added. Organisations, on the other hand, that ignore gender equality run the danger of falling behind. IFC supports businesses that boost women's progress as leaders and entrepreneurs, consumers, employees, and business leaders for these reasons through our investment and consulting skills, since doing so is not just a moral obligation but also a wise business strategy.

Our colleagues at the World Bank estimate that Nigeria's GDP might increase by an extra 5.8% if gender inequality could be reduced. He urged other private sector businesses to keep looking for creative methods to improve the standard and support the progress of women as leaders, employees, and entrepreneurs, just like MTN has done.