Vodafone Ghana scoops 5 key honours at 2023 HR Focus Awards

Maxwell Darko of Vodafone Ghana

At the prestigious 2023 HR Focus Awards held in Accra, Vodafone Ghana showcased its leadership in human resource innovation by securing five significant awards.

These accolades underscore the company’s commitment to organisational excellence and its investment in top-tier talent.

Vodafone Ghana was recognised as the Best Organisation in HR Information Systems, Best Organisational Culture, Best Organisation in Employee Safety, Wellbeing, and Workplace Design, and Best HR Management in Telecommunications and IT. Additionally, Maxwell Darko, the Rewards and Human Resource Information Systems Manager at Vodafone Ghana, was named the HR Rising Star of the Year.

During a panel discussion, Vodafone Ghana’s HR Director, Hannah Ashiokai Akrong, emphasised the importance of building resilient organisations.

“Resilience means creating teams that can weather any storm, whether they are economic challenges or unforeseen crises like COVID-19,” she said.

She further cautioned against over-reliance on a single leader and highlighted the necessity of robust succession planning.

Ashiokai also urged businesses to prioritise continuous training, ensuring teams are equipped to handle crises. In the era of Artificial Intelligence and advancements like ChatGPT, she stressed the importance for HR professionals to stay updated and integrate AI seamlessly into operations.

Vodafone Ghana’s commitment to promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is evident in its initiatives. The ‘Grow Western Girls in STEM’ programme recently provided 50 young girls from Sekondi-Takoradi with free training in robotics, web development, and coding.

Additionally, under its workplace diversity and inclusion efforts, Vodafone Ghana inducted ten young women into its Female Engineering Student Sponsorship Programme (FESSP) in May this year.

Since its launch in 2011, FESSP has been dedicated to narrowing the gender gap in STEM fields and offering women equal opportunities. The programme has supported 65 female students from renowned Ghanaian universities, providing financial aid, internships, mentorship, and job opportunities.