MTN CEO pushes digital literacy as key to Africa’s future
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, has underscored the urgent need for Africa to prioritise digital skills development, describing them as a “foundational capability” comparable to traditional literacy and numeracy.
Mr Mupita made the call in Accra during the MTN Bright Conversations series, where he urged parents, educators and policymakers to ensure that coding and artificial intelligence (AI) literacy are placed at the heart of youth development.
“From there comes relevance, from there comes the skills to build their own businesses,” he said, stressing that digital proficiency will be a defining factor for young people in Africa’s fast-evolving economy.
According to him, digital skills extend beyond coding and AI literacy to include digital problem-solving, entrepreneurship and the ability to leverage technology for innovation.
He noted that these competencies not only enable young people to access opportunities but also empower them to create sustainable ones for themselves and their communities.
Mr Mupita described Africa’s digital economy as being at the “beginning of the beginning” and called for deliberate action from both public and private sectors to scale up connectivity, financial inclusion and innovation across the continent.
He also highlighted Ghana’s strategic importance to the MTN Group, pointing out that strong performance in the country contributed significantly to the company’s 2025 half-year results, which reported 297.7 million subscribers across Africa and 63.2 million mobile money users.
The MTN boss emphasised that sustained investment in digital infrastructure, cyber resilience and access to emerging technologies such as 5G is crucial to unlocking Africa’s digital future.
For him, coding and AI literacy must be seen not merely as technical skills but as essential tools for relevance, innovation and economic empowerment.
