This year's award paid honour to those driving digital inclusion and closing the connectivity usage gap
27 February 2023, Barcelona: The GSMA is thrilled to announce that this year's GSMA Chairman's Award will be taken home by four joint recipients, each of whom have gone above and beyond in their efforts to drive digital inclusion and bridge the connectivity usage gap.
The winners - Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Republic of Rwanda Minister Paula Ingabire; Mapula Bodibe, CEO of MTN Rwanda and Diane Karusis, CEO of the Bank of Kigali - were announced last night during a special ceremony to kick-off this year's MWC Barcelona.
The GSMA Chairman's Award annually recognises the outstanding achievements of individuals or organisations from across the mobile industry. Established in 1996, the award celebrates those who are responsible for the technology advancements that are shaping the future of mobile communications worldwide. This year's award recognisesthe importance of collaboration between organisations, governments and the industry in driving digital inclusion and ensuring we can close the broadband usage gap.
It's time to make a more concerted effort to bring connectivity to the billions of people who are not yet able to use broadband or maximise digital services worldwide. Bridging these gaps will not only boost the economy, but have been proven to improve social mobility and, ultimately, transform lives, said Jos Mar a lvarez-Pallete L pez, Chairman of the GSMA. Each of the winners of the 2023 GSMA Chairman's Award were chosen for their amazing work in this area, leading the way in closing the digital divide and broadband usage gap. They truly embody the power of what can be done when organisations and governments alike come together, and their work will hopefully inspire other industry stakeholders to follow suit.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin was given the award for creating Partner2Connect (P2C). P2C is a global leadership platform bringing together stakeholders from across the digital ecosystem to facilitate partnerships and make use of resources aimed at expanding digital inclusion.
P2C was launched in co-operation with the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology in September 2021. It has already driven more than 500 pledges from governments, industry and international organisations across 111 countries, representing an estimated combined financial value of over USD 28 billion. The initiatives created through P2C had an immediate impact on people's adoption of digital technologies, fostering digital ecosystems and incentivising investment in digital transformation.
Minister Paula Ingabire also earned the award for her role in the P2C commitments made on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Rwanda.
Minister Ingabire's was the driving force behind the commitments announced by the Government of the Republic of Rwanda to close the broadband usage gap, as part of its P2C pledges. Thanks to her input, Rwanda committed to increase digital access and inclusion by investing in key digital enablers, focusing on under-served areas and groups. This included a promise to provide a smartphone to an additional one million disadvantaged households by 2030, support for national smart device financing programs and the launch of a local connectivity access scheme targeting unconnected government offices, schools, hospitals, and marketplaces.
Mapula Bodibe (CEO of MTN Rwanda) and Diane Karusis (CEO of the Bank of Kigali), our final two winners, were honoured for their commitment to connecting the unconnected and to increasing access to digital financial services through device financing.
Under the leadership of Ms Bodibe and Ms Karusis, MTN Rwanda and the Bank of Kigali partnered to launch Macye Macye', a device financing program funded by the Bank of Kigali that will allow MTN Rwanda customers to purchase smartphones and tablets on credit from any MTN retail distribution points.
The program represents part of the #ConnectRwanda Initiative, which MTN Rwanda launched in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of ICT. The initiative was created to change the fact that approximately 75% of the population in Rwanda does not own a smartphone. To date, 26,599 devices have been given to beneficiaries, who also receive MTN SIM cards with 1 free GB of data per month for the first three months as well as basic digital skills training through MTN's Digital Ambassadors program.
The Chairman's Award forms part of the Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO), which are celebrated each year at MWC Barcelona. This year's full ceremony will take place on Tuesday 28th February from 6-7pm (CET) on the Industry City Stage.
-ENDS-
Find the latest information and news live from MWC Barcelona on our Press Zone.
About GSMA
The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today's biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.
We invite you to find out more at gsma.com
Media Contacts
GSMA Press Office
pressoffice@gsma.com
Like what you read? Share.
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Clic
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
This year's award paid honour to those driving digital inclusion and closing the connectivity usage gap
