The network of professionals in the field of communications (COM-PMA) held its annual meeting from 26 to 28 May 2022 in Kribi. The deliberations  centered on the theme: “Attractiveness of Regional and Local Authorities: the challenges of local communications”.

An opportunity seized by MTN Cameroon to invite communication professionals to draw inspiration from certain practices of institutional communication to better sell the attractiveness of villages, cities and regions they are responsible for.

In this regard, MTN’s representative, in his presentation, emphasized the Sustainable Development Goals or Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) criteria as an avenue to follow.

“The regional and local authority is certainly a geographical area, but above all, is the meeting point of several stakeholders. These stakeholders are the priority of the actions to be taken. Communicators must keep this critical detail in mind when they are called upon to advise cities, develop and execute communications strategies for communities,” explains Edouard Tamba of MTN Cameroon’s institutional communications team.

In the case of MTN, the ESG approach is appropriate. It provides the company with a framework that guides its choices by taking into account the priorities of its stakeholders. On inclusion and diversity, for example, the company is aiming for a 50/50 ratio of men to women in its workforce by 2030.

To help alleviate poverty, MTN is deploying its infrastructure on rural communities, providing free access to several communication services to the poorest and accelerating financial inclusion with its MoMo service.

Another critical area is carbon footprint. MTN is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 47% by 2030 and attaining  zero emissions by 2040. In Cameroon, for example, the deployment of solar-powered network infrastructure is one of the ways to achieve these goals.

“Communicators can encourage city councils to adopt this type of indicator to show the relevance of their strategic choices and then make their actions more visible to stakeholders,” recommends Edouard Tamba, taking the example of the city of Johannesburg in South Africa.

The series of questions and answers enabled MTN’s representative to further illustrate his point. It should be noted that in addition to this presentation, MTNC supported the organization of this forum in terms of logistics to make the event more visible.