Accra, 1st June, 2011- Let’s plant a forest…

With that as a rallying call, MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care initiative kicks off across the mobile operator’s vast footprint in Africa and the Middle East today with the involvement of approximately 30, 000 employees. In Ghana, the ceremony was held in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi and over 2000 MTN staff volunteers will be taking part in various tree-planting and growing initiatives for the next 21 days.

‘Our Environment, our Future’ is the campaign’s theme for MTN Ghana this year, coming on the back of the United Nation’s declaration of 2011 as the “International Year of Forests”. The overall target for the next three weeks is to plant a minimum of 21 000 trees within the 21 MTN operating countries. In Ghana, the nationwide exercise is targeted at planting 9000 trees across the country in line with our 9 million subscriber mark milestone.

The staff volunteers will be joined by the various directors of the organization led by the CEO to drive an all-out tree planting exercise in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands & Forestry, EPA and Zoom Landscape and Beautification. In addition to this, MTN Ghana will roll out other environmental projects, such as river and beach clean-ups, environmental awareness creation and some ecotourism projects.

The CEO of MTN Ghana, Michael Ikpoki noted that “This year’s Yello Care challenge comes at a time when Ghana’s forests have experienced drastic depletion from 8million to 1.8 million hectares over the last two decades. Other environmental issues that MTN shares concern for include protection of our oceans and other water bodies. For the next 21 days, MTN will interact with schools, hospitals and various communities to spread the word about protecting the environment.

He said “MTN will put in place the necessary measures to maintain and assess the impact of our contribution to environmental sustainability beyond 2011 with the support of our valued partners.

MTN Ghana was declared the overall winner for the 2010 edition of the 21 Days of Y’ello Care initiative, taking home the coveted US$100 000 prize which will be reinvested in community

projects across the country. This was in recognition of MTN Ghana’s well-executed 2010 FIFA World Cup legacy projects to eradicate Malaria, support education through the 1Goal initiative and use football to foster development.

21 Days of Y’ello Care was instituted by the MTN Group President and CEO in 2007 to give all MTN employees an opportunity to contribute towards improving the welfare of their communities. It has now become a prominent feature in MTN’s calendar, and is also one of MTN’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes driven by MTN Foundation.