Our approach
Beyond connecting people to the digital world throughout our markets - many of them for the very first time - Millicom is committed to giving back to our communities. We believe in local solutions to address local challenges, and that digital solutions can play a central role in improving living conditions and empowering individuals.
Working with us
Millicom invests in social projects in all of our countries of operation. If you would like to work with us, there are three key requirements:
1. You operate in one or several of our Latin American or African markets. You can find an overview here.
2. You use technology to address a local challenge, or we could support your organization with our tools.
3. Your initiative is scalable and its social impact can be measured.
If your project meets the above criteria we are happy to connect you to our local teams. They oversee our local Social Investment portfolio and help social entrepreneurs build and scale their ideas.
In 2016 we invested more than USD 5 million in social projects in across our footprint.
Here are some of our highlights:
In our six African operations we are searching and supporting local social entrepreneurs in our ‘Digital Changemakers Award’. Since the start of the competition in 2012 in Ghana more than 40 Digital Changemakers have benefitted from the incubator programme.
The programme is run with our partner Reach for Change and the expertise and mentorship of many local Tigo colleagues.
The additional financial and business support has helped many of the winners to develop and significantly scale their business to impact more lives.
We work together with local institutions to improve governance structures through ICT. One example is the mobile birth registration initiative started by Tigo Tanzania together with Tanzania’s Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) and UNICEF.
An app created by Tigo that works on most basic phones allows government workers to register newborns and young children free of charge, decentralising the birth registration process.
In its first year, the project raised the percentage of children under 5 with a birth certificate in the remote Mbeya region from 8% to 45%.
In any of our markets we are placing digital tools and knowledge into the hands of children and entire communities through schools.
One such programme is the Telecentro scheme led by Tigo Paraguay, which transforms old shipping containers into digital classrooms connected to the internet and equipped with learning software.
