Accra, August 28, 2026 — MTN Ghana has organised its maiden Sustainability Workshop for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), equipping entrepreneurs and business leaders with practical knowledge and tools to integrate sustainability into their operations.
The workshop, held in partnership with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Global, brought together founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders to explore practical ways of embedding sustainability into everyday business decisions.
As part of the initiative, MTN Ghana also launched a sustainability competition for SMEs, giving participating businesses an opportunity to present ideas on how they intend to adopt sustainable practices within their operations.
MTN Ghana: Sustainability Must Extend Beyond Corporate Social Investment
Speaking at the workshop, MTN Ghana’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe, said the initiative formed part of activities marking MTN Ghana’s 30th anniversary and reflected the company’s Force for Good philosophy.
The philosophy seeks to harness technology, partnerships and responsible business practices to generate positive social, environmental and economic impact.
She explained that MTN Ghana’s approach to sustainability had evolved beyond traditional corporate social investment towards embedding responsible practices within its operations and contribution to national development.
“We believe that we cannot grow if our communities around us are not growing,” she said.
According to her, MTN Ghana has consistently invested in areas including health, education and economic empowerment as part of its broader contribution to communities.
She encouraged SMEs to recognise that sustainability is not an undertaking reserved for large corporations, stressing that businesses of all sizes can take practical steps towards operating more responsibly.
Among the measures she highlighted were reducing waste, managing plastic use, improving energy efficiency and developing the digital capabilities of employees.
“There are small things that we can all do, and collectively we will see the impact that that makes,” she added.
MTN Highlights Its Own Sustainability Efforts
Ms Afriyie Wiafe pointed to MTN Ghana’s efforts to reduce energy consumption as an example of how businesses can identify opportunities for sustainability within their own operations.
She cited the installation of solar panels at MTN House as one initiative demonstrating how businesses can adopt cleaner and more efficient approaches to their energy needs.
The message to SMEs was therefore not simply to understand sustainability as a concept, but to identify practical changes that can be introduced gradually and sustained over time.
ACCA Seeks to Make Sustainability More Accessible to SMEs
The Business Manager of ACCA, Gameli Datsomor, said the partnership with MTN Ghana was aimed at making sustainability more accessible to SMEs.
He noted that SMEs are often left out of major sustainability discussions despite their significant contribution to economic activity, employment and livelihoods.
According to him, ACCA has developed resources specifically targeted at SMEs and was pleased to collaborate with MTN Ghana to help businesses understand sustainability principles and apply them in practical ways.
The partnership therefore seeks to bridge the gap between sustainability discussions and the realities faced by smaller businesses.
Experts Highlight ESG and Climate Responsibility
The workshop also featured a presentation by Dr Thelma Frimpong Mensah, an ESG Specialist, who encouraged entrepreneurs to pay closer attention to their businesses’ carbon footprints and align their decisions with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
She described sustainability as conducting business and living today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Dr Frimpong Mensah also cautioned SMEs against greenwashing, urging businesses to ensure that sustainability claims are supported by genuine and measurable action.
Her presentation reinforced the importance of moving beyond statements about environmental responsibility towards practical changes that can produce meaningful results.
KPMG Shares the SME Approach to Sustainability
The workshop further featured a presentation by KPMG’s Kofi Osei Asenso on “Creating the Sustainable World: The SME Way.”
The session focused on practical approaches SMEs can adopt to develop more resilient and responsible businesses while incorporating sustainability into their growth strategies.
For many SMEs, the challenge is often determining where to begin.
The workshop sought to demonstrate that sustainability can be incorporated through incremental changes in areas such as resource management, energy consumption, employee development, waste reduction and responsible business practices.
Bringing Businesses into Ghana’s Sustainability Journey
The event was attended by members of MTN and MoMo’s Sustainability Working Group, including the Acting General Manager of Sustainability, Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, and Charles Osei Owusu, Senior Manager for Fintech Business Development, MML Operations, alongside other officials.
With sustainability increasingly influencing how businesses operate, access finance and respond to changing consumer and regulatory expectations, MTN Ghana hopes the initiative will encourage more SMEs to integrate responsible practices into their businesses.
The sustainability competition also provides an opportunity for participating SMEs to move from discussion to action by presenting practical ideas for incorporating sustainability into their operations.
For Ghana’s SME sector, which plays a significant role in economic activity and livelihoods, the message from the workshop was clear: sustainability does not have to begin with massive investments.
It can start with small, deliberate and measurable changes that, when adopted across thousands of businesses, can contribute to a more resilient private sector and a more sustainable Ghanaian economy.
