MTN Nigeria (MTNN) CEO Karl Toriola has committed to promoting and hiring 70% more women by the year 2030 to achieve gender parity in the workplace.
At the weekend’s public signing ceremony for the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles (UNWEPs), Toriola made the announcement. He reaffirmed the corporation’s dedication to gender parity by saying, “We do believe that gender equality and balance is good for the company and good for the society,” rather than simply because it’s a nice PR move.
“We do this through a deliberate action and we are thinking on principle that any recruitment and promotion that happens in the company, we are going to do our best to reserve up to 70 per cent for women.”
“Because we have calculated that to meet our commitment at achieving gender equality by 2030, we have to consciously be reserving posts with those numbers every year in that direction, else we won’t hit that target.”
He said he hoped that as Nigeria’s largest publicly quoted firm by revenue, MTNN could utilize the signing to persuade other businesses to take action to reduce gender imbalance in the workplace.
Toriola continued by saying that the MTNN’s statement of support for the women’s empowerment programme is “as a business and a part of the MTN Group, we are committed to our diversity and inclusion vision: ‘to be the most inclusive and successful organisation across Africa and the Middle East, putting diversity into action to help employees, customers, and communities to thrive.’ Diversity and inclusion sit at the heart of our identity and organisational culture.”
“On behalf of my management team and board, with this signing, I am delighted to again speak up about MTNN’s commitment to women’s advocacy as a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce is critical to the success and sustainability of our business.”
“We commit to promoting gender inclusiveness, equality and empowerment, internally as well as across our ecosystem to ensure that interventions are holistic and position women to thrive effortlessly.”
“For us, addressing gender gaps benefits not just MTN, but the larger society as well. So we will leverage our partnership with UNWEPs to deepen our efforts toward reducing gender gaps through collaborations with stakeholders.”
Mr Kalim M. Shah, Senior Country Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria, spoke at the signing event, noting that the World Bank has found that countries with more gender parity in the workforce had higher GDP growth rates.
According to Shah, “If Nigeria could reduce gender inequality, it could grow its gross domestic product (GDP) by an additional 5.8 per cent.”
“For these reasons, through our investment and advisory expertise, IFC supports companies to promote women’s advancement as leaders, entrepreneurs, consumers, employees, and business leaders because it is not only a moral imperative, but also a smart business strategy.”
“Today’s event once again highlights the importance of gender equality for economic development and growth. It brings attention to the pivotal role the private sector can play in advancing gender equality to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to raise awareness about the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which emphasises the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.”
Mr Temi Popoola, CEO of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), also attended the event and commented, “the MTN Nigeria has single handedly catalysed women participation in the capital market,” about the company’s initial public offering.
Ms Florence Raes, Acting Regional Director of UN Women and UN Global Compact (UNGC) Representative reinforced this sentiment, noting that much work was required to turn today’s pledge into a reality, not just for Nigeria but for all countries in the West and Central Africa sub-regions.
Raes, who was unable to physically attend the signing, said virtually: “We are looking at the signature today on the trend that it will blaze in Nigeria and for the region. As I mentioned this is a starting point. Diversity in a company makes for good business. It is also good for the economy and growth.”
“The financial support and access to capital and capacity building opportunities for women entrepreneurs is really helping to foster an enabling environment for women to thrive, grow for posterity in the coming years.”
In the same vein, Ms Naomi Nwokolo, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Nigeria, remarked that MTN Nigeria’s decision to join the WEPs demonstrated the company’s commitment to empowering women in all spheres of society.
She said, “By signing on to the WEPs, MTNN is making a bold statement that they value diversity, inclusivity, and equal opportunities for all.”
Mrs Esther Akinnukawe, Chief Human Resources Officer of MTNN, praised the collaboration as “having the icing on the cake to make sure that we have the tools and the knowledge base to be able to advance the objectives we have set out and to ensure that we move in leaps and bounds in this gender equality both in the workplace and marketplace.”
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