In their words: Communication for development

Chris Maroleng says MTN recognises the ISS’ deep insights into African security, politics and social factors.

Published on 05 January 2016 in Impact

The ISS helped telecommunications giant MTN to build an early warning and intelligence system that keeps staff safe and secures its operations in volatile markets.

‘Reliable communication is a tool of development and a source of stability, particularly in times of crisis,’ says Chris Maroleng, MTN Group Executive for Corporate Affairs. ‘We chose to work with the ISS because of its deep insights into African security, politics and social factors, which impact on our business.’

MTN operates in 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East, including volatile or politically challenging states such as Nigeria, Liberia, Congo-Brazzaville, South Sudan, Côte D’Ivoire, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

The ISS helped MTN to develop its Situational Awareness and Integrated Response system (SAIR), based on open-source informatics and software. SAIR enables intelligence gathering and a smooth flow of information through the business, increasing security and aiding reputation management for MTN.

‘We can now harvest information and intelligence from multiple media and social media sources, assess the regulatory environment, and provide better briefings to our decision makers,’ Maroleng says.

The ISS African Futures and Innovation section has developed systems to forecast medium- and long-term socio-economic, security and development indices.

‘This expertise helped us to better understand the challenges and opportunities in key markets for MTN,’ Maroleng says. ‘We are delivering a bold new digital future for emerging markets, and that is an aid to stable and sustainable development.’

‘The ISS support has been crucial to the development of MTN as a secure and stable business which benefits consumers and their countries’ development.’

	We chose to work with the ISS because of its deep insights into African security, politics and social factors, which impact on our business
	– Chris Maroleng, MTN Group Executive for Corporate Affairs