Use technology, human resource— To quicken Africa’s development

African Business 2 (fin)
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Story: Boahene Asamoah

AN Executive Director of MTN Foundation, Nigeria, Ms Amina Oyagbola, has called for the deployment of human and technological resources to hasten the pace of development in Africa.
She said it was time for the continent to release its full potential in the areas of technology and human resources to accelerate the pace of its development, which is currently sluggish.
Ms Oyagbola, who said this on the second day of the African Business Leaders Forum (ABLF) in Accra said “all hands must be on deck to quicken the pace of the continent’s development”.
She was speaking on the topic “Women in Leadership — Shaping the future” at the forum, which attracted business leaders across the African continent and beyond.
Ms Oyagbola likened the African continent to an aeroplane using only one engine instead of two and which was as a result moving at a slower pace.
She said “we must deploy the use of the second engine to move the plane faster in order to get to our destination on time.”
The MTN Foundation executive director called on organisations and corporate leaders to also play an active part in the human resources development, nurture, grow and mentor talented individuals to achieve their potential.
The Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Computers, Ms Florence Seriki, said there was the need to tap into the entrepreneurial skills of women if the continent was to eradicate poverty.
She called for support for small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) targeted at women since such a policy would help reduce poverty.
“We must have a conscious effort to grow and encourage women in SMEs across Africa,” Ms Seriki stated, adding that there was also the need to create more vocational and other skill acquiring resource centres.
For her part, a Human Rights Lawyer and Co-ordinator, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Africa Region, Nana Oye Lithur, said involving women in leadership would change both the corporate and political spheres of the continent.
She said the colonial administration did not encourage women to take active roles in leadership and that accounted for the low level of participation of women in governance.
The Group Executive Corporate Affairs of MTN, Ms Nozipho January Bardill, noted that women involvement in governance and the corporate world was crucial for the survival of the continent.
“We must not see women in government as desirable but essential,” adding that women must be part of decision-making and that the process was too important to leave them out.