The awards were also in honour of their resolve to contribute to a larger dream of making the lives of their customers brighter, as well as showing how MTN Ghana valued its customers.

Mr Selom Adadevoh, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN, said the commitment of its customer service operators and other partners had helped build, arguably, the most profitable company in Ghana with trail- blazing records in the telecommunications industry.

He said the need for good customer service had never been more pertinent than in today’s connected world, where customer experiences were posted almost instantly on social media; and that was why customer service was among the key criteria in measuring business success.

He said outstanding customer service engendered loyal customers, and most successful business people believed that customers even looked beyond the quality of a product, thus placing emphasis on exceptional customer service.

Mr Adadevoh said MTN Ghana decided to put deliberate measures in place to celebrate the people who interfaced with their customers and the public on a daily basis, expressing the hope that others would also begin to live the bright experience in a way that manifested in their dealings with their customers.

“To all MTNers and our stakeholders, what you have done is nothing less than a mark of passion, dedication and perseverance,” he said. “This should serve as a model to all our colleagues, especially in this post IPO era where public interest in our business has intensified.

“MTN Ghana sincerely appreciates your commitment and endurance. It has been a long journey full of both challenges and opportunities but through it all, you discharged your duties with excellence.”

Madam Jemima Kotei Walsh, Customer Relations Executive, MTN, said customer care remained at the core of their business and indeed the nature of their business reaffirmed the adage that the customer was a king.

She said the Award was to reward stakeholders for their sincere partnership in maintaining excellent customer service, adding that it was also in recognition of staff at all levels for their dedication to quality customer service that had sustained the MTN business over the past 20 years.

“The significance of these awards is that it gives a new face to our Closed Loop Feedback Awards, which until today was internally focused.”   “We will recognise our stakeholders as well as staff who have distinguished themselves in their area of service.”

Madam Kotei Walsh said MTN Ghana had always provided their staff with a healthy and competitive environment to create a culture of excellence and this, together with many others, differentiated them from all others.

Branches and call centre teams that received awards were, ISON Team 19; Eagles Team; Nkunim; Ison Team 6; Tema C 25 Service centre; Takoradi Main Service Centre; and Tamale Service Centre.

The internal divisions awarded were Sales and Distribution; Enterprise Business; Marketing; MFS; Human Resource; Network Group; CPG; Information Systems ; Finance and Service; and Business Risk Management Division.

The external stakeholders and their products were Econet Media, with the product, Kwese Tv & Kwese Iflix; Timmwe, with product, Spin the Wheel; Ayo Intermediaries, with Ayo recharge and send with care; Prepeez with 2CTV; Hubtel with MoMo payment platform & Content Service.

The rest were Cellulant with Mula; Nsano with the product MoMo payment platform; Dream Oval with Slyde Pay; Jumo with the product Qwikloan; and United Pensions Trust with My Own Pension.

MTN Ghana also awarded some key partners including Tecno Tree Convergence, ISON BPO International Limited, Innova DDB, Rakes, Insight HR, Reliance Personnel, Huawei Technologies, Ericsson, BSYSTEMS, Rancard Solutions, Kevin Ikechukwu Woanyah and Wisdom Kuedokah (Engineers).