Airtel Malawi has pledged to continue supporting government to facilitate the creation and transmission of knowledge for Malawi to effectively compete on the global economic front.
Airtel Malawi’s Enterprise Director Rachael Mijiga.
Airtel Malawi’s Enterprise Director Rachael Mijiga made the pledge Friday morning during an interface meeting with students pursuing a Masters Degree in Innovation at the Malawi University of Science and Technology-MUST.
Mijiga said Information and Communication Technologies-ICTs have enormous potential to increase information flows and empower poor people in the country, thereby enhancing their performance in economic activities.
“There is now alignment of what the industry expects of graduating students and that students have seen for themselves first-hand the massive network architecture that is Airtel, what is involved to keep it up and running 24/7 . This means that courses will be designed with the employer in Mind.
“As Airtel we support education because we understand that intellectual capital is the very determinant of economic growth for any nation e.g. India invested heavily in education and we can see the results,” said Mijiga.
According to Mijiga, Airtel – Malawi leading mobile telecommunications operator – will be heavily investing in the internet in the next two years, and will also continue investing to innovate and offer value add solutions that both consumers and Corporate markets require.
“We will soon be talking of LTE Speeds (115MBps). We need as a country to start talking, E-Banking, e-commerce, E-Government leading to increased demand and supply of goods and services including export, stimulating greater financial development which is a backbone of economic development,” challenged Mijiga.
“Internet can get around inefficient delivery systems and other physical barriers such as geography and transportation problems in facilitating knowledge transfer and creation hence our strategic focus in the medium –to long term is internet,” added Mijiga.
One of the students, Roe Zenengeya was overwhelmed with innovations at the company like Airtel Money, admitting that MUST has shouldered a huge innovation task in the country.
“I know we have a challenge to innovate, but I promise you that we won’t just relax. We are the first cohort and everything has started. We have appreciated what Airtel is doing and we want to do more, innovate more,” challenged Zenengeya.
Among others, MUST students were oriented on the Airtel network, systems, Airtel Money and others.