The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and Ghana’s telecommunications giant MTN, have commenced a collaborative initiative to empower the Ghanaian youth to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital world.
The maiden inaugural event of the collaborative initiative known as the Digital Youth Expo was held in Accra on Wednesday December, 10 at the Kofi Annan of Excellence in ICT. The event brought together over 80 youth from various academic institutions to be networked to learn about the opportunities in the digital space and how they can take advantage of such opportunities.
The event featured presentations by the Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Vice president of the Ghana Chapter of Internet Society, Dr. Sani Abdulai Mohammed, Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor, a global icon on internet and Information Communication Technology, who was recently inducted into the Internet Society Hall of Fame, and one of Ghana’s accomplished social media entrepreneurs Mr. Maximus Ametorgor.
Mr. Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of MFWA said the initiative is aimed at mobilizing, empowering and inspiring the youth to take advantage of the prospects the internet, data applications and mobile technology offers for self-development, business incubation and entrepreneurship. The event forms part of MFWA’s Internet Freedom project that seeks to empower people through secure and affordable internet.
In a speech read for him, the Minister of Communications emphasised the commitment of government to expand internet access across the country to ensure that the unreached and underserved communities in the county have access to affordable internet.
The minister stated that “As part of government’s broader commitment to bridge the digital gap to enable broader participation in the information age, government is building a National Data Centre infrastructure that will serve the public and private entities in the country”
The CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr. Serame Taukobong, said his company was delighted to be partnering the MFWA for an initiative that is intended to empower the youth to own the digital world. He explained that his organisation has a commitment of delivering a bold new digital world to its customers particularly the youth.
Mr. Taukobong announced that MTN has just rolled out a new initiative in partnership with the ministry of education that makes MTN Ghana the first mobile operator to grant subscribers free access to Wikipedia as way of empowering people to have access to knowledge without cost.
Other speakers at the forum focused on how the youth can combine critical thinking, creative ideas and Information Communication Telecommunications to form relevant partnerships to make use of the digital space for wealth creation.
Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, who is also the President of Internet Society Ghana Chapter in a brief remark, inspired the youth to work hard to take advantage of the improving digital environment to create wealth.
