We have invested on data centres to drive cloud computing for SMEs — MTN

Mteto Nyati is the MTN Group Enterprise Officer. In this interview with  Emeka  Aginam during  recent forum on  Inspiring Business Growth in Africa organized by MTN Nigeria in partnership with CNN, he talked about  how the mobile operator is impacting businesses in  Africa through cloud computing.
While speaking on  a number of industry issues including the  Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon and the prospects for Africa,  Nyati  said that MTN has invested on data centers to drive cloud computing  across the continent to support the adoption of cloud-based technologies by Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
MTN Business role  in the development of African businesses
In MTN Business, we serve three different types of  customers. Firstly, we serve those large companies that are working across countries. We provide technology solutions for global and African multinationals. Our aim is to help them to expand geographically across Africa. The second group of customers that we are interested in is small business. If you look into almost all of our countries, this is probably the biggest segment. We want to help stimulate growth of small businesses by providing cutting-edge connectivity solutions tailored to their needs and requirements.
We want to help them to access new markets through the deployment of technology. The third one is the public sector. Government plays an integral role in almost all of the countries where MTN has operations. Government  delivers services to the citizens. As MTN Business, we want to help government to deliver services effectively to the citizens using technology.
How  cloud computing  improves SME  efficiency and productivity
There are many things that are critical to improving the efficiency of small businesses. Cloud computing is but just another critical requirement. The other requirement is just basic connectivity,  the ability to connect to the Internet and get access to relevant and quality information. Quality information helps small businesses make better decision. Cloud computing helps reduce the capital expenditure on deploying technology infrastructure and services. It levels the playing field smaller companies. A small business is able to access at affordable rates the same technologies large companies used to have monopoly over in the past. Cloud computing is an important strategy for our company.
 MTN’s approach to African businesses
We are actually making progress. We are making progress because we are  rooted in the countries. We are not sitting in a country somewhere in Europe or Asia, trying to do things remotely. We have skilled professionals on the ground. If you want to understand the challenges facing small businesses in Nigeria, you must be on ground to address those challenges. MTN has employees in all of the 22 countries where we operate in.
We have invested significantly on data centres to drive cloud computing. We have invested in an Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network that helps with improving the speed of communications amongst countries.
Apart from providing technology solutions, does MTN provide seed funds for small businesses?
No, we are not yet there. When you look at where we are going as a business, our objective is to develop strong partnerships. Because the needs of small businesses are broad, we create partnerships that deliver value to small businesses.
A partnership of MTN and a bank is an important partnership because it provides small businesses access to finance. A partnership of MTN and a software solution providers is another important partnership because those small businesses are looking for solutions.
How IoT  strengthens  Africa’s internet ecosystem
We launched the IoT platform for Africa about a month ago. We are targeting three to four industry verticals. Firstly, we are looking at fleet management. We are conducting trade in several countries in Africa. Our vehicles and trucks travelling across borders, we need to know where these trucks are and monitor them. In the past, if these trucks move from a country to the next, owing to high roaming rates, these trucks and vehicles end up being charged exorbitant prices.
We are providing Africans a uniformed pricing mechanism across all of our 22 countries. The other area of focus is vehicle tracking. Critical to Africa’s development is the work we are doing in agriculture. We intend to help companies launch drones to map and analyse soil to enable the farmers treat and get the best out of the soil. These are just a few of the many benefits. The biggest challenge we face in Africa is energy constraints