9mobile, Nigeria’s telecom provider and youth friendly brand, has been awarded the Deborah Leipzigar Africa Prize for Innovation for powering the Bichi Emirate Digital Skills Project, an initiative aimed at empowering youth in the Bichi emirate of Kano state with the requisite digital skills needed to compete effectively on the global scene.
The telecom company was recognized for its innovation in driving initiatives that solve critical societal challenges at the 15th edition of the Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Responsibility Awards (SERAS). The Deborah Leipzigar Africa Prize for Innovation is a pan Africa recognition for innovation that addresses crucial problems in society in a sustainable way.
The Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards (SERAS), which made its debut in 2007, and participation was opened to other countries of Africa in 2016, is an initiative of TruCSR that celebrates and promotes investments by corporate organisations in the society through CSR and sustainability initiatives.
Over the years, the SERAS awards has grown into a coveted recognition in the corporate space across Africa, attracting over 1500 entries from more than 350 organizations. “If today the world talks about social responsibility as a new norm, they should remember that Africa embodied this in our communal way of living in which the strong protected the weak. When the world talks about waste management, recycling, and circularity, they will do well to take a cursory look at how our forebears lived on zero waste,” said Ken Egbas, founder, the SERAS/CRO TruCSR.
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According to Egbas, Africa has a lot to contribute to the future that the world desires. However, he posits that it must happen with Africans as equal partners on the table of decision making and not the poor relatives of the developed nations.
He equally charged both individuals and corporate organisations not to get carried away by The SERAS trophy. “The number of children we can give access to education; the number of young girls crying for equal opportunities; the hundreds of millions who need access to drinkable water; the many millions dying annually due to lack of access to healthcare; the teeming millions without access to employment, and all those who have lost hope because they have gone days without a meal,” Egbas stated.
Chineze Amanfo, PR Lead, 9mobile, said it was a due recognition of service awarded to the telecommunication company. She added that the award will spur the company to do more in giving back to the society through creative CSR interventions.
“We are grateful to the organisers for recognizing the impact of what we are doing particularly in empowering young people. What we are doing in Bichi is one of 9mobile’s strategic efforts to contribute to the human capital development of the country by providing digital skill acquisition opportunities for beneficiaries of the program,” said Amanfo.
