EP.03 | S1 | The Human Side of Public Policy: Lessons from Adwoa Wiafe on Stakeholder Management, Trust, and Influence

Public policy is not just about laws and frameworks. It is about people and how well you understand them. In this episode of SheShapes Africa, host Caroline Mbugua sits down with Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe, Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer at MTN Ghana, for an honest and deeply practical conversation on what it truly takes to navigate competing interests, build lasting trust, and shape policy from the inside out. People before positions At the heart of effective policy influence is a deceptively simple idea: understand who you are dealing with before you try to move them. Adwoa unpacks why treating every stakeholder as an individual, not a category, is the difference between a policy that lands and one that creates a crisis. When interests collide Drawing on real experience from the telecom sector, Adwoa walks through what it looks like when regulators, customers, suppliers, and business objectives all pull in different directions at once, and the approach she has used to find common ground without losing the goal. The long game of trust Trust is not a meeting. It is not a handshake. It is a continuous, deliberate practice of listening, acting on your word, and showing up even when there is nothing immediately at stake. Adwoa shares what rebuilding trust from a low base actually requires, and why giving up is never an option. The mistakes that cost you Assumptions. Broad brushes. Disengagement. Adwoa is direct about the errors she has seen derail relationships and reputations, and how to course-correct before the damage becomes irreversible. "People do not trust because sometimes they have misconceptions about things. They make assumptions. So for you to get close to them, you have to show them what the real situation is, and once you open up to people, they begin to trust." — Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe, Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, MTN Ghana Starting from zero For anyone just entering the policy space, Adwoa offers a clear roadmap: invest in your credibility, map your stakeholders, do the research before you make the ask, and nurture relationships long before you need them. The message is clear: in public policy, the technical work gets you in the room. But it is the human work that keeps you there. Hosted by Caroline Mbugua HSC. — An initiative by Caroline Mbugua HSC In partnership with THOP Institute Produced by ASER45 Agency