MTN Ghana’s all-female employee network, the Y’ello Ladies Network, has marked its first anniversary with a celebration that highlighted a year of concrete activity and laid out an expanded agenda for 2026, including a second breast cancer awareness campaign and a structured leadership development series.
Chairperson Antoinette Kwofie said the network, established in March 2025, had moved beyond its founding ambitions to become an active community where members share experiences across professional development, personal growth, and health advocacy. She said its most tangible output over the past year was a breast cancer awareness initiative that raised GH¢20,000 to support education and advocacy efforts.
“Over the past year, we have transformed vision into action, creating open spaces for empowerment and opportunities that define the future we seek,” she said, adding that the network had also fostered connections that extended beyond the workplace into members’ personal lives.
For 2026, Kwofie announced a calendar of programmes covering leadership development series, coaching circles, mentorship programmes, and a follow-up breast cancer awareness drive. “When women thrive, organisations thrive, and when organisations thrive, societies thrive,” she said.
Delivering the keynote address, Angela Kyeremanteng Jimoh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brainwave Africa, said the scale of impact a network creates is measured not by what it accumulates but by the opportunities it generates for others. She said women across Africa were reshaping leadership in business, science, technology, and governance despite persistent structural barriers, and that platforms like the Y’ello Ladies Network were essential to sustaining that momentum.
MTN Ghana Chief Executive Officer Stephen Blewett offered a personal reflection on how far the network had come since its founding discussions. “I remember when the idea was first discussed. What has been achieved is far greater than I imagined. Today’s event is not just a corporate activity; it is a personal experience for me,” he said. He credited women in the company’s leadership team as a direct contributor to MTN Ghana’s overall performance.
The network was established to advance gender equality through leadership opportunities, mentorship, and career growth, with MTN Ghana targeting a 50-50 gender balance by 2030 as part of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy.
