Telecel Group (telecel) is among four platinum sponsors for the just-ended Kwahu Summit, also dubbed Africa Prosperity Dialogue, and held at two venues – Aqua Safari in Ada and Peduase Lodge in Aburi.
The three-day summit, held from January 26 – 28, 2023, was a intended to be a strategic platform where the movers and shakers of the African economy will elevate the AfCFTA objectives from ambitions to real actions.
At least seven African heads of state and twelve top business leaders and CEOs of top corporate entities listed on the event website as invited guests. But information reaching Techgh24 is that due to the high cost of hotel accommodation at Aqua Safari among other things, several of them could not make it to the summit.
Apart from Telecel, other platinum sponsors of the summit were Adonko Bitters, Ghana Maritime Authority and KGL Group, while the Diamond sponsors were GCB Bank, Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), Eximbank Ghana, CBG and Paystack.
Telecel only recently got conditional approval to acquired 70% majority shares in Vodafone Ghana, with government of Ghana still holding the remaining 30% shares. This means government and Telecel remain partners like Vodafone and government did.
Some participants of the summit have been telling Techgh24 that there was no mention of Telecel as a sponsor at any point during the summit, and there was no visible Telecel branding on any banner or backdrops either, except on the back of an event notebook, even though the event website listed Telecel as the first Platinum Sponsor.
A very reliable source from Telecel told Techgh24 that “As you know we are coming in to Ghana and [we] are interested to sponsor important events.”
The source said Telecel’s decision to sponsor the Kwahu Summit came only after they got approval from the National Communications Authority (NCA) approval to purchase majority shares in Vodafone Ghana, and that was why the joined the event a bit late.
“We are also planning to be in other events as well for the exposure of the company,” the source said.
ASIP in Ghana
Meanwhile, it is important to note that prior to getting approval to acquire Vodafone Ghana, Telecel had been working in a number of African countries, including Ghana to support tech start-ups through its accelerator program called Africa Start-up Initiative Program (ASIP).
ASIP has been very active in Ghana for the past two to three years and it has benefitted more than five Ghanaian start-ups and counting.
This month alone, ASIP named eleven African start-ups who have qualified to participate in the 13-week cohort 3 accelerator program in Dakar, Senegal, and they include two start-ups from Ghana, which were selected out of 10 Ghanaian start-ups who pitched for the program in November 2022.
Africa-focused
Indeed, on its newly revamped website, Telecel has projected itself as an Africa-focused digital technology company with a vision to expand its footprints across the continent via acquisitions and other forms of investments.
The acquisition of Vodafone Ghana is its biggest on the continent yet, but the company plans to do some more acquisitions going forward as it gears up to float shares to Africans through an initial public offer (IPO) slated for the next five years.
Red Branding
Another interesting feature on its new website is the projection of its red brand colours, which was originally subservient to the group’s blue brand colours until the acquisition of Vodafone Ghana.
Throughout the period Telecel was negotiating to buy Vodafone Ghana, its brand colours was blue, but now it is projecting a red branding.
Techgh24 gathered that even though the group’s brand colour is blue, all of Telecel’s entities – Telecel Central Africa and Telecel Global had red brand colours, but now the plan is to unify the brand colours so they have reverted to the original red colours.