MTN’s 21 days of Yello care kicks off, supports 1Goal, malaria campiagn

MTN Nigerian has commenced this year’s edition of its 21 days of Yello Care, just as it launched United Against Malaria (UAM) and signed on to 1 Goal Education for All initiative.

Declaring the event open in a ceremony at its headquarters in Ikoyi-Lagos, the managing director, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh said that the annual event which is on its forth year is MTN Group’s community care initiative which harps on the commitment to transforming the communities in which MTN operate.

“Indeed, the management and staff of MTN Nigeria are excited at another opportunity to give back and prepared to once again contribute to a successful Y’ello Care programme,” he said, stressing that already, over 1,200 MTNers have registered as volunteers.

He enjoined volunteers to demonstrate the MTN spirit of caring, guided by its values of leadership, innovation, relationship, integrity and can-do.

In her address to the occasion, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Funmi Omonigbenigun, said that as Africa’s first and only global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, MTN has an unprecedented opportunity to merge its passion for Africa, with the continent’s passion for football to drive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and to ensure that Africa’s world cup leaves a lasting legacy.

This year’s edition of the Y’ello Care, she said, avails volunteers to plug into two global campaign of United Against Malaria and 1 Goal, explaining that MTN has rolled out a ‘Kick Out Malaria’ campaign to reach its consumers in various operating countries and aims to distribute 1 million musquito nets through the 2010 Yello Care platform and other CSR activities.

On the 1 Goal – Education for All initiative, she said, that MTN is seizing the power of football to ensure education for all by collecting the names and backing from the public footballers, celebrities to make a united plea to governments to meet their targets on the ‘Education for All’ international community to provide quality public education to all children and adults by 2015.

“Today, about 75 million children are out of school around the world and MTNers have been asked to support the 1 Goal campaign in order to ensure that our names are part of the millions of names delivered ahead of the United Nations (UN) meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2010,” she said.

Later the MTN Nigeria boss, Mr. Farroukh officially logged on to 1 Goal website to sign up in support of the campaign.

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