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 Kampala, Uganda: MTN Uganda has injected over UGX 5 Billion in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, through the MTN Uganda Foundation over the last three years alone.
MTN CEO, Themba Khumalo revealed this during the launch of the Bombo Nubian Tourism project held in Bombo, Luwero district.
“Our investment to the communities’ to-date has been over UGX 5 Billion since the launch of the MTN Foundation three and a half years ago. We make it a point to support multi-year, sustainable projects and aim at addressing nationally aligned priorities such as health, education, environmental management, sport and community development ultimately translating into economic empowerment of the people.” he said.
The MTN Uganda Foundation partnered with Community Based Tourism Initiatives (COBATI), a non profit NGO whose main purpose is to support local people in Uganda to participate and benefit from rural community tourism initiatives.
Khumalo said MTN’s partnership COBATI, is specially designed to empower the Nubian Community in Bombo, and indeed Uganda as a whole, through rural-based tourism.
He added that the unique culture and traditional way of life of the Nubian people provides an attraction that has been felt worldwide for many years, and can be tapped into for the benefit of the entire nation.
“By investing in human capital, MTN Uganda has set an example for the rest of Corporate Uganda. I believe that if all the corporate bodies got involved in such ventures, the lives of countless Ugandans would take a turn for the better. We started off the project with a pilot that ran for one year with highly successful results. We now believe that the benefits that will be reaped from this project will be greatly beneficial to the communities involved, and will encourage the rest of the country to tap into the resources that they have already been gifted with, by nature,” he said.
Khumalo also said, “We realise that Ugandans need to shift their focus from formal employment as a source of income and look to our abundant natural resources, heightened creativity and our already-existing skills and talents. Tourism in this sense encompasses a wide area. It goes beyond national park, wild animals, fauna and flora - as the Community here have done,”
Khumalo said one of Uganda’s greatest attractions is the wealth and magnitude of our cultural diversity.
“We are a multi-faceted cultural country. This directly means that we have a lot to show the world. We have various traditional practices that in such colourful and beautiful ways capture our way of life which besides being a source of national pride, should be used to better our lives,” he said.
This Bombo Nubian Tourism project will benefit over 3,500 locals directly and indirectly.
ABOUT the COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM INITIATIVE - COBATI
Founded in 1998 COBATI is a non-for profit organization seeking to empower rural based people and their communities to utilize tourism as a means to improving their economic livelihoods.
COBATI is a pioneer endeavour focusing on sustainable economic development through community mobilization, people empowerment and encouraging participation in new entrepreneurial activities that utilize local people, their hospitality tradition, culture and unique rural landscape. Visit: www.cobati.or.ug
ABOUT the MTN FOUNDATION
Launched in 2007, the MTN Foundation is a non profit organisation engaged in activities of general interest having a philanthropic focus on education, science & technology, music, arts & culture, health, Habitat for Humanity and other actions of humanitarian character, contributing to the promotion and protection of material heritage and national culture. The MTN Uganda Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the MTN Group in Uganda and has made over UGX 1.5 billion since the year 2007 in contributions to community focused projects that have wide ranging benefits and that are sustainable. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East. Visit www.mtn.com for more information.
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