As the world celebrates and recognizes the International charity day this 5th September, MTN Uganda stands firm on the words of Mother Theresa “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

The International Day of Charity was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities. It also recognizes and celebrates the contribution of charitable organizations and the work they do to alleviate pain and suffering. The day honors Mother Theresa who is known worldwide for her charity acts throughout her life to create a better life for the sick and poor.

MTN Uganda has over the years shown its commitment in delivering digital solutions for Africa and harnessing the power of its leading brand to purposefully enable the benefits of a connected world to everyone.

It is therefore not surprising that as they continue to grow and reach out to various customers, they have strongly worked on the vision to promote a better life for all. As a business MTN understands that they depend and thrive on the communities in which they operate and it’s the responsibility of the company to support the people in the communities they operate in by complementing national efforts in areas where there is great need.

In 2007, the MTN Uganda Foundation was inaugurated as the MTN CSR arm birthed to solely give back to the community and further all CSR activities. The MTN Foundation is a not-for-profit entity with its own board of trustees to govern the entity. Every year MTN dedicates a percentage of their profit to CSR through the Foundation to extend hope to those in need.

The MTN Foundation serves to strategically improve 4 thematic areas that include Youth, Health, Education and ICT. As communities continuously evolve, these areas have been identified as areas that require an immediate boost to help improve and sustain the lives of millions to create a better future for all. 

 

MTN Uganda also continues the work of charity through the 21 Days of Y’ello care campaign, an annual MTN employee voluntarism initiative observed by all employees across all its markets to make a difference in the lives of the communities in which they work.

This year the 21 Days of Y’ello care proceeds were dedicated to helping the affected community groups get back on their feet in order to foster economic recovery after the COVID pandemic. The pandemic devasted a number of businesses and community groups due to the restrictions like nationwide lockdowns put in place to control the spread of the virus. A number of beneficiaries were recorded including but not least, orphanages, youth initiative groups and women led businesses.

The MTN Foundation in a bid to further spread hope and combat social challenges such as maternal and child mortality, has dedicated proceeds from the MTN Kampala Marathon that is run annually to bolstering and boosting maternal health. The MTN Kampala marathon has been ran in support of maternal health for the last 3 years.

Most recently, MTN reached out to the Mbale flood victims through the Uganda Red Cross Society with aid worth UGX 500 million to support the displaced families in the Elgon region with non-food relief kits. The non-food kits were to help 100 families slowly start up their lives with temporary homestead requirements such as cooking items and a tarpaulin for shelter. 

MTN Uganda remains steady fast in improving lives, supporting government initiatives and creating opportunities for people to live a more deserving life in these changing times. MTN continues to call upon other entities to uphold the pillars of charity and create a better tomorrow for all.

As schools reopen for the last school term of the year, paying school fees should be easy, safe and convenient. MTN MoMo provides a safe and seamless solution for school fees payment to more than 5,000 schools and institutions across the country. These institutions cut across kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools as well as universities and tertiary institutions.

According to Godfrey Muhindo the Chief Commercial Officer of MTN Mobile Money Uganda, parents are able to make such payments in the comfort of their homes in a matter of minutes using their mobile phones, via short code; *165*80# or through the MTN MoMo app.
Muhindo also notes that paying school fees through MTN MoMo is particularly convenient as the system keeps track of the outstanding school fees balance which enables further payments in case a parent chooses to pay fees in instalments.
Conan Businge the Head of marketing and student recruitment at Victoria University says that this method of school fees payment has afforded many parents and students the much-needed safety and convenience of paying their tuition, especially now as the University prepares for its September intake that is set to begin on the 19th of this month.

“In the spirit of making payments easier for our students, we had to work with telecoms including MTN, to provide our university with a secure and convenient way for them to pay their fees. Uganda is advancing toward a cashless economy. Therefore, as a university that amalgamates technology across its curricula, we embraced the MTN MoMo payment solution,” Businge says.

In further highlighting the safety of using MTN MoMo to pay for school fees, Businge noted that after making the payment, parents receive an instant proof of the payment in form of a text message, complete with a unique transaction ID number.
Parents who have already adopted this method of paying school fees equivocally admitted that paying school fees through MTN Mobile Money has changed their mindset towards the traditional payment method of cash.

Gloria Nandutu, a parent who has been paying her daughter’s school fees through MTN MoMo for the past couple of years, was quick to accept that it saves her time and effort. And most of all, allows her to keep close track of what used to be a big pain point in her life.
“All I had to do was request the school for my daughter’s student number,” Nandutu happily recalls.
That is the advantage of Mobile Money and the importance of a cashless economy.

How to pay school fees using MTN MoMo
To pay school fees using MTN MoMo, simply dial *165*80# or use the MTN MoMo app.
Enter the student number provided by the school. It will show you the student’s name and class plus outstanding balance.
Once you have confirmed the student details above, you can then enter the amount you want to pay and follow the remaining prompts.
At the end of the entire process, you will receive a text message confirming the success of the payment of school fees to the school. The text message provides a transaction ID that enables the payer to reconcile the school fees payment with the school effortlessly.

Missionaries of the Poor, Bethlehem Children Home in Busega, has been able to feed and steadily provide decent health care to vulnerable children under their wing after support from MTN Uganda’s staff initiative dubbed 21 days of yellow care.

Founded in 2010 under the leadership of Fr. Hayden Augustine—successor to Fr Philip Selvaraj and Br John Reddy, Bethlehem Children Home hosts over 120 boys, 66 of whom are deaf, dumb and mentally incapacitated. The other 60 children are able-bodied school-going children who were either abandoned at birth or left without caretakers after the demise of their parents.

The orphanage takes care of vulnerable children who they have taken of the streets or have been brought to them by poverty-stricken parents unable to care for them any longer. The home is sustained by the generous support from good Samaritans who aid their survival and continuity. However, just as every group, family and community was ravaged by the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, the home was badly affected plunging their food supplies and eating into their saving to provide medical care for these vulnerable children.

With this huge gap in the required basic needs for these vulnerable children in the past two years, MTN Uganda recently stepped in and provided clothing, beddings, foodstuffs, cleaning agents, and wheelchairs for immobile children as well as computers for school-going ones at the Children’s Home.

Brother Joachim, the caretaker priest at the Missionaries of the Poor, Bethlehem Children Home, said it is has been a daily struggle to furnish the demanding needs of their children and provide all round care to them.

“We don’t have any business or income generating opportunities that can help us support this cause, that’s why it profoundly touches our heart every time MTN Uganda reaches out and supports our mission. MTN Uganda has aided our survival and granted the children more joy and hope for the future.”

 Joachim said that the MTN Uganda support has made the administration at the Bethlehem Children’s Home remain hopeful that things will continue to move in the direction envisioned in their mission.

He said despite the fact the children’s home faces tough times in meeting their needs, they have continued to pray to God to help them realize the message of Matthew 25:35-37 which is to  give shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, clothe the needy, look after the sick and do to our brothers and sisters as we would to ourselves.

Bryan Mbasa, senior manager at MTN Uganda Foundation said they are excited that the campaign has continued to have a positive impact on the communities in which the company operates.

“We are glad that we have been able to put smiles on the faces of the children at Bethlehem Home through our support and we look forward to more collaborations and support,” he said.

Missionaries of the Poor was founded in 1981 by Father Richard Ho Lung a Chinese priest born in Jamaica where his misally began. His vision and mission were to reach out to all communities and pick up children who were orphans or who have been abandoned.

He opened up several homes around the world and across continents and some of the homes are located in Haiti, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Kenya. 

Other groups that received MTN support during the campaign, include; the Tesobar deaf carpentry group in Lira, the Masaka Diocese Youth,  Jinja-based Tabulera Kawuma deaf carpentry, the disabled association of Fortportal, the Bunusya Abarema Twetungure Association in Mbarara, the Glorious widows of Makindye, Focus for Life Development Link in Kawempe, and the Nakawa Market Vendors association.

The MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care is an annual MTN staff volunteerism campaign observed by all MTN employees across all its markets.  The campaign that dates back to 2007 is executed within the first 21 days of June every year.