HOW THE TELECOM CSR WAR BENEFITED ODUMASE-KROBO, MY “VILLAGE”

Zain built Odumase Presby JHS (Top left) and MTN built the rest. Watch the video via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVH07UUu1k&list=UU7ljxYzKiZJZYmrQI8c0nLA

I have observed some very positive developments in my “village” and find it interesting writing about. Competition is tough in the telecom sector and this, nobody can dispute; the fight even appears keener in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) space where these companies are literally stampeding one another to catch the public’s eyes and prove their supremacy.

One after the other, all the major players in the sector have rolled out mind-blowing campaigns and initiatives to prove their responsiveness to societal needs. We have seen them make swift interventions in the lives of many individuals. Several communities across the country have also benefitted immeasurably from this competition (or generosity, better put). Of these, none (I know) benefited more than my hometown, Odumase-Krobo.  

Within a space of 34 months, MTN Ghana went and splashed a “whopping sum of money” in excess of GHC 530,000 in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region alone, building for my people 3 huge and very important facilities that have since pushed the development of the area a notch higher. In September 2012, the Yellow Yellow telecom giant built and furnished an ICT center at Kpong valued at US$100,000.00 and followed in rapid succession with the construction of a six unit (storey) classroom block for the Kodjonya (Millennium) Presby Junior High School, estimated to cost GHC 229,982.00

The MTN ICT center at Kpong, in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality

A six unit (storey) classroom block for Kodjonya Millenium JHS, Odumase-Korbo, also sponsored by MTN

As if that was not enough to prove itself a responsible corporate citizen, the company sponsored the construction of another edifice, an Accident and Emergency Center for the Atua Government Hospital also in the same municipality- a project that was valued at GHC 200, 000.00. In all, MTN spent not less than 5 billion OLD Ghana cedis (GHC 5, 299, 820) in helping to raise the standard of living of my people.

An MTN sponsored Accident and Emergency center for the Atua Gov. Hospital, Odumase-Korbo

That is really a commendable act and I can’t help but praise the company for this huge intervention. But come to think of it, is this not the work of competition? Why would MTN want to lump together all three facilities in Lower Manya without actually considering the adjourning districts and municipalities which are similarly in need of these amenities? What made Odumase-Krobo the MOST STRATEGIC location to consider? There certainly must be some considerations and I want to believe that Odumase-Krobo was chosen because that’s where Zain (or if you like Airtel’s) praise was/is “loudest”.

From my small corner where I sit now, I see MTN’s move motivated largely by what Zain earlier did in the same community- characterised by massive PR activities- which won the company the heart of many Ghanaians and Krobos in particular.

The boss player (MTN) must be out there on a conscious move to display the depth of its pocket, stamp its superiority over the others in terms of financial clout and ultimately neutralize the WOW feeling Zain has left behind.

In May 2009, Zain, then a new entrant in the Ghanaian telecom industry, followed one of my stories in the Daily Graphic newspaper (published in the back age of the May 7, 2009, edition) which painted the plight of the teachers and pupils of the Odumase Presby JHS in their decaying 1888-built classroom block. The story reported the worsening condition of the school building which had never seen any major renovation since its establishment over 121 year ago. Also captured in the story was that preventable disaster (rainstorm) that hit the school which threw off the rafters and roof of the building, painfully and irreversibly snuffing life out of a class six pupil, Bernard Narteh and injuring several others.  http://thekroboquill.blogspot.com/2014/10/danger-odumase-presby-school-collapsing.html

The state of the Odumase Presby JHS before Zain's intervention. Watch the video via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVH07UUu1k&list=UU7ljxYzKiZJZYmrQI8c0nLA

Cutting long story short, Zain literally rushed to Odumase-Krobo on seeing the story and razed to the ground that monster of a classroom block threatening the lives of teachers and students, and built in its place- in real record time- a modern six unit classroom block with several other facilities that hitherto were non extent.

The Odumase Presby JHS block, revived and refreshed by Zain. Watch the video via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVH07UUu1k&list=UU7ljxYzKiZJZYmrQI8c0nLA

In a matter of 3 months the school was restored to shape, assuming an enviable position among the comity of schools not only in the community or municipality but the whole of Eastern Region. It could instantly boast a 30-seater computer lab with internet access, a fully furnished library that could also seat 40 students, electricity, water harvesting and storage facility and lots of other additions that made it a modern educational center. And guess what, all this happened during vacation; the pupils walked out of their colonial “mud house” and by the time they returned, a new school block of no mean standard sprung up like mushroom at the same spot.

THe school's new computer lab. Watch the video via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVH07UUu1k&list=UU7ljxYzKiZJZYmrQI8c0nLA

If there was any project aside the Touching Lives TV reality show that earned Zain the enviable reputation as responsible company, it was the reconstruction of this school. Truth is that by the time the company was living the shores of Ghana (metamorphosing into what it is today, Airtel) it was still young though but it assumed a leading position in the arena of CSR, literally dictating the CSR tune and setting the pace for the others to follow.

Could this be the same tune MTN danced to? Then Tigo, Glo, Vodafone (and may be Expresso) please let me see you on floor so my people could benefit the more. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVH07UUu1k&list=UU7ljxYzKiZJZYmrQI8c0nLA

CREDIT: Worked on the pictures together with Hilary Saki Klonene Kodji and Stephen Tetteh Kormoh