MTN’s $1bn fine in Nigeria contributed to a slashed corporate social investment budget for MTN SA Foundation in the 2017 financial year.
"In 2016, MTN SA went through a rough patch affected by the global MTN business — a case in point is the Nigerian fine – which led to a grant allocation of 58% budget cuts for 2017," said foundation GM Kusile Mthunzi-Hairwadzi.
MTN was fined by Nigerian regulators after the firm missed a deadline to disconnect more than 5-million unregistered subscribers in that country.
MTN SA Foundation’s budget is dependent on the performance of MTN SA and is calculated at 1.5% of profit after tax.
Mthunzi-Hairwadzi said the foundation had continued to focus largely on providing information and communications technology connectivity to the special-needs education sector, and on entrepreneurship and small business skills training.
The foundation handed 18 multimedia centres to schools, universities and special-needs schools in 2017, for students and pupils with disabilities, she said.
The facilities consist of 20-, 40-or 60-seater computer laboratories, printers, data projectors, interactive whiteboards, free connectivity and laptops. The special-needs learning areas remained the most needy in terms of technology adoption, Mthunzi-Hairwadzi said.
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