Telecommunications giants, MTN Ghana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Folklore Board to digitize the country’s folklore to preserve its cultural heritage.
The Heritage App is currently available on the Google Play Store and App store. There are plans to host it on the ayoba platform which is accessible in our operating countries in Africa and the Middle East.
After the signing of the MoU information from the national folklore board will be migrated to the Ayoba App.
The second phase will see a more active collaboration between the two partners in order to create new content while the final phase looks at monetization.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the MTN House in Accra, the Sales and Distribution Executive at MTN, Mr. Eric Nsarkoh stressed that the marriage with the national folklore is very important.
“They [National Folklore Board] are the gatekeeper for all the heritage content in Ghana. Whether it’s stories, music, and scientific works. So what it means is that since we are a digital technology player, if we want to distribute or we want to support the distribution of our intellectual content work, this is one of the partnerships that have to be in place because we approach our partnership as community-based”.
Mr. Eric Nsarkoh added, “if the youth want to see heritage content and we provide telecommunication networks that connect them to the internet, then we have to help them to get the tools to access the kind of content that they want to see”.
He noted that, as a leader in the telecoms space in Ghana, they thought of going beyond the celebration of festivals as a means to helping preserve our culture.
“We commissioned the development of a Mobile Application,known as the Heritage App to showcase information on Ghana and its cultural Heritage” Mr Nsarkoh added.
In an interview, the Acting Director for the National Folklore Board, Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante was elated about the partnership.
She indicated that, the initiative will help ensure Ghana has an inventory of its folklore.
“This MOU is the beginning of a great relationship between MTN and the National Folklore Board.One of the key agenda or highlight that we needed to do was to ensure we have an inventory of our folklore and what better way than to have an inventory which is digitally accessible to all”, she said.
The Acting Director of the National Folklore Board added that the partnership with MTN will help them fulfill their mandate.