MTN Sign MoU With National Folklore Board To Digitize Ghana’s Folklore

Telecommunications giants, MTN Ghana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Folklore Board to digitize the country’s folklore to preserve its cultural heritage.

Already the pioneers of the Heritage App which promotes the culture and traditions of Ghana, MTN is hoping to use the partnership with the National Folklore Board to take the purpose of the App a step further by hosting it on the Ayoba platform which is accessible in other operating countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Following the signing of the MoU today, information from the national folklore board will be migrated to the Ayoba App.

From there, the second phase will see a more active collaboration between the two partners in order to create new content while the final phase looks at monetization.

Speaking at the signing ceremony at the MTN House in Accra, the Sales and Distribution Executive at MTN, Mr. Eric Nsarkoh stressed that the marriage with the national folklore is necessary.

He explained, “They [National Folklore Board] are the gatekeeper for all the heritage content in Ghana. Whether it's stories, music, and scientific works. So what it means is that since we are a digital technology player, if we want to distribute or we want to support the distribution of our intellectual content work, this is one of the partnerships that have to be in place because we approach our partnership as community-based".

Mr. Eric Nsarkoh added, “If the youth want to see heritage content and we provide telecommunication networks that connect them to the internet, then we have to help them to get the tools to access the kind of content that they want to see”.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante who is the Acting Director for the National Folklore Board expressed delight on behalf of her outlet on the latest partnership.

According to her, the move is key in advancing the agenda of the board which is to ensure the country has an inventory of its folklore.

“This MOU is the beginning of a great relationship between MTN and the National Folklore Board.

“One of the key agenda or highlight that we needed to do was to ensure we have an inventory of our folklore and what better way than to have an inventory which is digitally accessible to all”, Mrs. Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante said.

The Acting Director of the National Folklore Board continued, “So a partnership with MTN is a step in the right direction and it will help us as a government institution to fulfill our mandate and our target that has been set for us by the government”.

As an African multinational company, MTN has already in the past demonstrated its commitment to the preservation of Ghana’s heritage by supporting the celebration of over 30 traditional festivals each year during which the country’s Heritage is showcased to the admiration of both locals and foreigners.

As a leader in the telecom space in Ghana, MTN believes going beyond the celebration of festivals as a means to helping preserve our culture is important and hence the birth of the new partnership