AIRTEL Africa Plc has expressed delight over the positive impact its partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is making in the lives of people, especially school children and teachers across Africa.
Chairman of Airtel Africa Foundation, Dr Segun Ogunsanya, stated this in Lagos at a press briefing to announce the official launch of Airtel Africa Foundation, a social arm of the company.
According to him, the Foundation’s collaboration with UNICEF, governments, local communities among others to transform lives and communities, especially that of the students and teachers across 14 countries where the company operates has been encouraging.
He noted that feedback and testimonials from direct beneficiaries has greatly encouraged the foundation to intensify efforts in transforming lives across the continent, disclosing that the collaboration has already connected more than 1,800 schools, benefitted over one million students, and trained more than 17,000 teachers in digital education across 14 countries.
Highlighting the broader mission of the Foundation for Nigeria and other countries, including Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Niger, DRC among others, Ogunsanya disclosed that the plan is now to directly improve the lives of no fewer than 10 million people across Africa by 2030.
According to him, the Foundation is not just donating resources, but building a pipeline of talent and fostering innovation to ensure the global digital revolution leaves no child and youths behind.
He listed four core pillars, Financial Empowerment, Education, Environmental Protection and Digital Inclusion (FEED) as initiative strategies to achieve the aims with education most priority.
Ogunsanya explained that those areas of intervention in the education sector will cover students, teachers and institutions.
According to him, the Foundation’s programmes target school adoption for infrastructure development, provision of ICT laboratories and computers, smart classrooms, free internet connectivity, full undergraduate scholarships in tech and STEM fields, mentorship and internships as well as training programmes for teachers.
He added that the Foundation would also leverage its Employee Volunteer Programme to teach students free of charge and mentor them where necessary.
Ogunsanya underscored the importance of quality education, saying that is the easier means to break circle of poverty and socio-economic inequality that many people entangled with today in Africa.
He explained further that an educated society would be financially literate and empowered to turn challenges to opportunities and in turn invest better in education of the next generation, protect the environment and also sustain good living for all.
Emphasising that though similar interventions would be extended to all the 14 countries where Airtel operates, Ogunsanya pointed out that Nigeria being the largest market for the company, would benefit most from the Foundation intervention activities.
He said the immediate plans for the country is to train no fewer than 26,000 youths, award 100 scholarships, connect 300 schools, and adopt 10 schools for long-term support, including facility renovations and smart classrooms.
Commenting on the company’s support for the Foundation, Airtel Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar, also underscored the importance of citizens accessing quality and quantitative education, saying quality education would greatly enhance socio-economic development upon which citizens and the country will thrive.
He said this understanding is the very reason the Airtel Africa Foundation was born as a collective vehicle by the company to catalyse transformation, by systematically investing in the four pillars that underpin a resilient and dynamic society.
“That is why for us as a company, we will continue to support the Foundation in its drive to transform the lives of our people,” he pledged.
In his earlier remarks, CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, also expressed happiness for the birth of the Foundation, and especially that Nigeria would be the most beneficiary of its intervention efforts across the four pillars.
He said the impact of such interventions, especially in the long run would be unquantifiable, commending the leadership of the Foundation for the initiatives.
