Safaricom’s (NSE: SCOM) CEO Peter Ndegwa has today mobilised his Kenyan counterparts to join the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC). The telco is one of the founding members of the coalition whose aim is to bring together CEOs from across the continent to help drive action on pressing sustainability issues and promote UN Global Compact principles in their supply chains and broader ecosystem.
Speaking during Safaricom’s 11th Sustainability Report launch, Mr Ndegwa urged CEOs to take initiative and be part of the commitment to advance Africa’s sustainable growth, prosperity and development.
“Together with my fellow CEOs, we are advancing the agenda on the importance of partnerships in resolving pressing global challenges such as climate change. We would like to use this forum to rally the collective action of businesses in coming up with sustainable solutions towards shared prosperity,” Ndegwa said.
Safaricom’s latest Sustainability report titled Partnering for Growth: Transforming Lives, covers the company’s last fiscal year from 01st April 2021 to 31st March 2022 and highlights the progress it has made towards building a more sustainable business.
Key among these is the ‘True Earnings’ bridge which indicates that the total
value Safaricom created for the Kenyan society was KES 727 billion,
approximately ten times greater than its financial profit. This represents a 9% increase from the previous financial year.
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M-PESA’s social value increased by 14% to KES 275 billion driven by increase in the number of customers, agents, merchants and average number and value of transactions per customer.
“As you will see in the report Safaricom demonstrated resilience in living true to our commitment of being a sustainable purpose-driven business which has delivered consistent returns to shareholders. Our business continues to contribute towards successfully improving the quality of life for Kenyans across the country by delivering a wide range of products, services and initiatives that support businesses, and communities”, added Ndegwa.
Since 2015, Safaricom has used the True Value methodology to quantify its positive and negative impact to society, the environment, and the economy in monetary terms.
The True Value assessment calculates that Safaricom sustained over 214,000 direct and indirect jobs during the year and, if the wider effects on the economy are included, this number increases to over 1.1 million jobs.
