When Maame left Ashesi, her mission was clear: she wanted to use her education to improve the lives of the disadvantaged in society. Through her experiences at Ashesi, especially during her community service work, she had seen how much work there was to be done in Ghana.
“Ashesi made us see in a very real way, the challenges and needs of many people across Africa,” Maame explains. “A lot of the projects we worked on focused on actual cases and challenges, and we learned to build solutions that could have real impact.”
After graduation Maame worked in one of Ghana’s biggest private banks, and eventually transitioned to work at Airtel Ghana, then known as Zain Communications Ghana, as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Coordinator. Maame eventually moved up the ranks to become Manager of CSR and Corporate Communications. In her role she champions Airtel Ghana’s work in community engagement, helping the telecoms organisation effectively give back to the communities its customers live in.
“In managing Airtel’s CSR I strive to ensure that we engage in sustainable initiatives that have potential to benefit the entire country,” Maame says. “Our award winning CSR initiative for example, called Airtel Touching Lives, is a project that empowers unsung heroes in communities across Ghana, and gives them resources to expand their work and impact. It has helped change a lot of lives, and I am proud of that.”
In 2014 alone, Maame’s work helped Airtel Ghana win several major awards in community engagement and public relations, including the Ghana Telecom Award for CSR Company of the Year, the Institute of Public Relations’ Best Community Relations Programme of the Year and Corporate Social Responsibility of the Year at the Association of Ghana Industries Awards.
“I am excited by the recognition that our peers and industry partners give Airtel, but I am more excited by the fact that we continue to inspire businesses in Africa to contribute meaningfully in developing the continent,” Maame adds. “It is important that we collectively work to empower people. The benefits spread to everyone; businesses cannot grow if the customers they serve are not being significantly transformed for good.”