The donation was made through a programme introduced this year that encourages employees celebrating their birthdays to voluntarily contribute towards charitable causes of their choice.

Speaking during the presentation, General Manager for HR Operations and Analytics at MTN Ghana, Abdul Ibrahim, said that the initiative was driven entirely by employees who chose to support Street Academy after discussions among birthday celebrants from January to May.

“We are here today as part of an employee-led volunteerism initiative that we introduced this year. Every month, when employees celebrate their birthdays, they voluntarily contribute a little of what they have been blessed with to support orphanages and other worthy causes in our communities,” he said.

According to him, the donation marks the first exercise under the initiative for 2026, with contributions from staff who celebrated their birthdays during the first five months of the year.

Mr. Ibrahim stressed that participation was voluntary and not imposed by management, noting that employees themselves decide on the institutions and causes they wished to support.

“Our employees selected Street Academy as the beneficiary for the first five months of the year, and we are here today to present the donations on their behalf,” he said.

The donation package included educational materials and financial support to assist the academy in its work of providing education, meals and care for children.

Mr. Ibrahim described the visit as a humbling experience, commending the institution for the impact it continues to make in the lives of young people.

He noted that education remained one of the key focus areas of the MTN Foundation, alongside health and economic empowerment, and said that seeing children learn and thrive in a supportive environment reinforces the importance of such investments.

During a tour of the facility, he said that the MTN team was encouraged by the academy’s efforts to expand services for the children, including the operation of a health post staffed by a resident nurse and supported by regular visits from a doctor.

He urged individuals and organisations to support institutions that provided care and opportunities for vulnerable children, saying collective efforts could help transform lives and contribute to national development.

Mr. Ibrahim also clarified that although the donation coincided with MTN Ghana’s annual Y’ello Care campaign, it was a separate initiative funded solely through employee contributions.

He explained that while Y’ello Care was MTN Group’s flagship employee volunteer programme implemented across Africa, the Street Academy donation was independently conceived and financed by MTN Ghana employees through their birthday contribution scheme.

He said that the company hoped to organise similar donation exercises later in the year, with employees continuing to determine future beneficiaries.

“The decision on who benefits remains in the hands of the employees, who will continue to identify and support causes that matter most to them,” he added.