Nompilo Morafo, Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer at MTN, shares how the company approaches sustainability communication across diverse markets.
MTN’s sustainability narrative is inseparable from its business model. Does this make communication more credible or easier to dismiss as commercial positioning?
In Africa, commercial success and societal progress are deeply interconnected.
By investing in connectivity, financial inclusion and digital skills, we create opportunities for individuals and communities while strengthening the markets in which we operate. Connecting underserved communities enables access to education, healthcare and economic participation, while initiatives like the MTN Skills Academy equip young people with future-ready skills. These outcomes reinforce one another. Some inclusion investments take longer to generate returns, but they build resilient, sustainable markets.
Our responsibility is not to choose between societal and shareholder value, but to deliver both over the long term.
You operate across 16 markets with different regulatory relationships. Is sustainability communication a Group brand strategy, a regulatory management tool or both?
For us, sustainability communication is about accountability.
Our purpose and principles remain consistent across all markets, but stakeholder priorities differ. In some markets, the focus is digital inclusion and youth employment; in others, energy resilience, tax contributions, governance or data privacy.
What changes is emphasis, not our commitment. We communicate through the lens of local realities while maintaining a consistent Group narrative supported by evidence and transparency.
Sustainability communication must be globally consistent in principle yet locally relevant in execution.
Do your investors genuinely care about sustainability and how much time does it receive in results presentations?
Investor interest varies, but sustainability issues are increasingly viewed through the lens of long-term business performance. Questions about energy security, cybersecurity, data privacy, fintech growth, governance or talent are all sustainability-related, even if not labelled as such. For example, when investors ask about energy resilience, they are also asking about operational continuity, cost efficiency and climate risk.
Sustainability is embedded in discussions about strategy, capital allocation, growth and risk. It is not measured by minutes, but by depth of integration.
MTN has achieved impressive emissions reductions, but much of your story is about social inclusion. How do you communicate a human-focused agenda in a world where the ESG conversation is often environmental?
Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time and we remain fully committed to our net-zero ambition. In Africa, climate and people are intrinsically linked. Climate change directly impacts livelihoods, food security, health and economic resilience.
Our sustainability approach addresses both reducing our environmental footprint and strengthening community resilience. For example, in Nigeria, our Early Warnings for All initiative delivers localised weather and agricultural advisories via SMS, helping farmers adapt to climate risks.
Sustainability is both environmental and social: success is measured not only by emissions reduced, but by lives improved and communities made more resilient.
With sustainability communication comes credibility risk. How do you decide what to say publicly and what to stay quiet on?
Credibility begins with discipline. Before making any public commitment, we assess whether it is material, evidence-based, achievable and supported by accountability. We prefer fewer commitments delivered well rather than overpromising.
Operating across diverse legal and political environments requires transparency balanced with judgement. Sometimes the responsible decision is to communicate cautiously or wait until the facts, context and implications are clear.
The test is simple: can we substantiate what we are saying and can we deliver on it?
How do you ensure that sustainability communications are accurate, balanced and transparent, avoiding greenwashing?
The strongest safeguard against greenwashing is governance.
At MTN, sustainability disclosures undergo rigorous review by subject matter experts, executive management, board oversight and independent assurance where appropriate. Increasingly, sustainability information is held to the same standards as financial reporting.
Balance is equally important. Stakeholders do not expect perfection; they expect honesty. Credibility is built when organisations are transparent about progress, candid about challenges and clear about where more work is needed.
Reporting only positive outcomes may create a compelling narrative in the short term, but it undermines long-term trust.
