Telecom
“We Remain Committed to Driving Innovative Solutions at all levels” – MTNF Executive Secretary, Odunayo Sanya
Odunayo Sanya, Executive Secretary of the MTN Foundation, has stated that MTN remains committed to driving innovations at all levels. She made this statement at the Alliance for African Partnership [AAP] panel discussion at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
Odunayo Sanya, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation
The conversation which was centred around Innovating Solutions to African Challenges, was attended by different stakeholders from all over the continent such as Professor Titulaire des Universités, Ahmadou Aly Mbaye; the Director, Ford Foundation, West Africa, Catherine Chinedum Aniagolu-Okoye and Director, Partnership and Communications, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Somachi Chris-Asoluka.
Speaking on the role of the private sector in facilitating transformative change, Odunayo states that the private sector is aware of its benefits, and more importantly its responsibility to drive innovation. She reinforces MTN’s belief that everyone deserves the benefit of a modern connected life, therefore lifting people and connecting them to their dreams.
She stressed the importance of creating inclusiveness at all levels, outside the classroom as we strive to solve these problems.
“We need to drive a bit more unstructured innovation. We need to drive innovation at all levels, not everyone will end up in the four walls of a university. And that one doesn’t get into a university doesn’t mean they cannot create innovation. I think we need to be able to target innovation at different levels.”
Beyond academia, Odunayo identifies the need to be able to transfer skills to the recipients of the scholarship that the Foundation facilitates, which is very important. She attest that the universities’ curriculum is a bit inadequate.
She said, “A lot of students pass through universities, without engaging in adequate research. Dissertations are usually not geared towards innovation, so they struggle by the time they come out of school.
“To address this, MTN Foundation collaborates with its ecosystem partners; Google, Microsoft, IBM, and recently Meta, to train beneficiaries of MTN Scholarships on the needed ICT and Business skills for the labour market.
“These graduates are also trained to be entrepreneurs enabling them to create jobs and wealth for themselves.” On entrepreneurship, Odunayo aslo noted that MTN has recently launched Y’ellopreneur which is a women-targeted funding and skill training program.
Odunayo maintains that other key roles of the private sector in driving innovations are in the areas of funding and influencing policies. MTN Foundation partners with The Bank Of Industry to give out loans at 2% interest to young university undergraduates, to help them through school.
She points out that private sectors are policy influencers that birth policies that makes things easy for all the stakeholders contributing to the sustainability of innovation.
Founded by Michigan State University in 2006 in collaboration with African colleagues, the Alliance for African Partnership [AAP] is an Association of the MSU committed to working in equitable partnership to transform lives and address global challenges.
Their priority areas include Agri-food systems, Water, energy and the environment, Culture, Youth empowerment, Education, Health and Nutrition.
SHELT, a leading cybersecurity-as-a-service provider, has earned inclusion in the 2025 MSSP 250, the annual ranking of the world’s top 250 Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) by MSSP Alert, a CyberRisk Alliance publication.
SHELT
The list evaluates firms on business performance, service breadth, and industry impact, spotlighting those excelling in growth, operational excellence, and advanced managed security amid rising cyber threats. Selection criteria include annual recurring revenue, profitability, workforce expansion, business growth, and the depth of managed security offerings.
SHELT’s recognition underscores its investments in scalable security operations, threat intelligence, and tailored managed services across multiple regions, enabling clients to navigate complex risk landscapes effectively.
“Being recognised in the MSSP 250 is a meaningful milestone for our team,” stated Youssef Abillama, CEO of SHELT. “It validates our focus on building practical, resilient security services that help organisations manage risk and respond effectively to today’s evolving cyber threats.”
The company hailed the honour as testament to its teams’ dedication and expertise worldwide, reaffirming commitment to enhancing capabilities and delivering trusted cybersecurity solutions.
Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, has appointed Dina Powell McCormick, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, as its new president and vice chairman, bolstering its leadership amid aggressive AI and infrastructure expansion.
Dina Powell McCormick
The announcement, made on Monday, positions Powell McCormick – who recently stepped down from Meta’s board after eight months – to guide overall strategy, including multi-billion-dollar investments in data centres and global partnerships.
A Goldman Sachs veteran with 16 years in senior roles and prior stints as deputy national security adviser under Trump and in the Bush administration, she brings deep finance and international ties to the role.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed her as “uniquely qualified” for the company’s next growth phase, while President Trump praised the move on Truth Social as a “fantastic choice”.
The hire signals Meta’s efforts to strengthen White House relations, following recent dinners with Trump and U.S. investment pledges worth hundreds of billions
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has suspended the @Twitter account, replacing its profile with a standard notice citing violation of platform rules.
Musk
The action, which occurred on Sunday, January 11, left users encountering the handle greeted by a bold “Account Suspended” message on a black screen, with no details provided on the specific rules broken or the duration of the suspension.
The development has sparked widespread confusion and nostalgia among users, given that Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X in July 2023, approximately six months after acquiring the platform for $44 billion in late 2022.
The @Twitter handle had remained dormant since before Musk’s takeover, serving as a legacy remnant of the platform’s original branding, and its suspension appears to mark the final erasure of the Twitter name amid X’s ongoing efforts to combat spam, impersonation, and rule violations.
X’s official statement on the suspended page simply reads: “X suspends accounts that violate our rules,” without offering an appeal process or further explanation, unlike standard user suspensions.
Public reactions on social media ranged from humorous laments of “RIP Twitter” to speculation that the move resulted from automated moderation or a deliberate cleanup of legacy trademarks.
xAI’s Grok AI described it as a purposeful retirement of outdated elements rather than a genuine infraction, while neither Elon Musk nor X spokespeople issued any comment as of Monday morning.
This incident underscores the evolving identity of the platform under Musk’s ownership, which also saw a domain shift to x.com in 2024, further distancing it from its Twitter roots.
Industry observers note that while the suspension aligns with X’s stricter enforcement policies, the lack of transparency has fueled debates on consistency in applying rules to high-profile legacy accounts.
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