•150 women to receive N300m equipment loan grant
Following several hours of service outage on MTN networks, which made calls and Internet surfing impossible on Tuesday, users of the network have called for compensation.

This is coming, as MTN, in a notice, apologised to the over 80 million subscribers on the network for the service disruptions.

In the notice posted on Twitter@MTNNG, the telecommunications firm, wrote: “Today, of all days, you couldn’t count on us to keep you seamlessly connected with the people, places, business and things that matter to you.

“Words cannot express how sorry we are for the disruption we caused. The issue has been resolved and services restored.

“You matter to us and we will never stop showing you how much.”

But despite the apology, subscribers insisted on compensation. A customer, @_obi_emmanuel wrote: “You guys ruined my valentine. Apology not accepted. I think we, as customers deserve, proper compensation for the damages caused by you guys on Valentine’s day.”

Another MTN network user, Benjamin Bemgba Elijah, said the service disruption almost cost his company some important opportunities.

He said: “You guys need to compensate us as soon as possible. My office uses MTN for her Internet services. We nearly missed out on important emails if not for a few colleagues who had personal alternative networks. So, person no fit get only MTN line like this? You must have an alternative data Network.”

It was, however, a bad experience for Refuge Aniekwe@itz_refuge, who claimed to have lost a contract.

“I am really serious about this, you guys made me lose a contract because of time. Moreover, I am owed some data I purchased three times and got debited for it. I asked a question earlier, when last were you sued? It will be like a film in your eyes.”

Indeed, the disruption prevented many customers of the company from making and receiving calls, even as data usage was also impossible for several hours.

The telecommunications firm, which is the largest operator in the country, had earlier on the day posted a message on Twitter, where it said it was facing a technical issue and promised to fix the problem soon.

“Dear customers due to an unexpected technical issue, some customers have difficulty using our services this time. Work is ongoing to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We regret all inconveniences this may cause,” MTN wrote.

MEANWHILE, some 150 women will each receive up to N2 million equipment loan grants as the first phase of MTN Foundation’s Y’elloprenuer initiative comes to a close.

The 150 women will be selected from 200 female entrepreneurs that will participate in a pitch competition between February 16 and 22, 2023, to qualify for the grant.

The outstanding 150 female entrepreneurs are expected to have bankable business ideas that will all be supported with the equipment loan at a fixed interest rate of 2.5 per cent and a 36 – months repayment duration.

According to a recent report by PWC Nigeria, women account for 41 per cent of the ownership of micro-businesses in Nigeria, with 23 million female entrepreneurs operating within this segment. Despite the numbers, a lot of female entrepreneurs struggle to scale their businesses, due to a lack of access to start-up capital or capital for expansion and inadequate business training, which creates a skills gap.

Speaking on the Y’ellopreneur programme, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, stated that the goal of the initiative is to encourage growth and expansion of more sustainable women-led businesses.

“The female unemployment rate in Nigeria is about 35.2 per cent, despite having a high percentage of women-led businesses. The Y’ellopreneur initiative aims to equip female business owners with the required business skills and necessary funds to enable sustainable businesses led by women,” she stated.

The Y’ellopreneur initiative in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) is part of the MTN Foundation’s strategic efforts to participate in the reduction of female unemployment in Nigeria and help transform budding small businesses for Nigerian women.