MTN Ghana chair urges African governments to back home-grown multinationals

MTN Ghana Board Chairman Dr Ishmael Yamson has called on African governments to give stronger support to home-grown multinational companies, saying empowered African businesses are vital to regional integration and the continent’s competitiveness in the global economy.

Speaking on The Y’ello Chair – Episode 8, MTN’s vodcast platform featuring African leaders and changemakers discussing the future of the continent, Dr Yamson said governments needed to create conditions that would allow indigenous companies to expand more easily across national borders.

He identified the lack of harmonised regulations as one of the major obstacles facing African businesses that operate in several countries.

“Today, literally every country you go to, the regulatory environment is different. We are operating in 19 countries, and we are dealing with 19 different regulatory environments. That is tough,” he said.

Dr Yamson said African countries should work towards aligning their laws and regulations, particularly among the continent’s largest economies. He argued that such reforms would make it easier for companies to operate across borders and help deliver the ambitions of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“It’s important that we set the idea of harmonising our laws and regulations across the continent, especially between the big economies, to make sure that businesses can flow from one country to another without great difficulty,” he noted.

He also questioned why African governments often appeared more willing to work with multinational companies from outside the continent than with businesses owned and developed in Africa.

“Companies like MTN and other African multinationals need the support of African governments. Unfortunately, African governments find it easier to deal with non-African multinationals than dealing with African multinationals,” he said.

Dr Yamson attributed that tendency partly to long-standing perceptions and attitudes within African societies and institutions.

“It’s very simple. Why should I be dictated to by my other Black brother? And that’s a mindset that should change,” he remarked.

He said the continent needed larger and stronger African companies if it was to increase its influence internationally. Africa currently accounts for only a small proportion of global innovation, while continuing to import technologies and ideas developed elsewhere.

“We need to understand that together we’ll be bigger. If we continue to operate as small countries and build only small companies, we’re not going to make any meaningful impact anywhere,” he said.

The MTN Ghana chair also urged governments and the private sector to create regular forums where they could discuss shared difficulties and develop policies to support business expansion and continental development.

“I think that has been the missing link. We need to bring the African private sector and African governments together and have a forum where we can have the difficult conversations, but at the end of the day, we see what will be beneficial to both parties,” he said.

Dr Yamson maintained that closer cooperation between governments and African multinationals would bring benefits beyond individual businesses. In his view, stronger partnerships could support economic integration, create jobs and promote sustainable development across the continent.