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Safaricom Sustainability Report 2016
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Safaricom Discover Programme
Although not a new initiative, the Safaricom Discover Programme has been a tremendous success and we placed all
16 graduate management trainees who joined us in 2014 in permanent positions during the year. A response to our
need to accelerate the development of our talent, the 18 month programme is designed to forge our future business
leaders by preparing them to assume challenging responsibilities and roles. The program creates an accelerated
learning environment by rotating trainees within and across diverse business functions during its application.
“Being part of the Safaricom family is fun and exciting”
“The most exciting part about this journey is that you
get to learn something new every day. You discover
why relations are important both at the office and
outside of work. You learn how and why processes,
policies and procedures fit together. You get to know
why the customer is important and why we are efficient
at what we do. It’s all about the why, why, why?
And finding answers to the whys? Finally, you get to
create innovative projects and see them to the end of
implementation.
“At the end of it all, in the same way each part in an
engine works together, you see how employees make
up the divisions and the divisions make up the company.
“For one to be selected as a graduate trainee, I believe
one has to have leadership skills, confidence and a
vision of where they want to be.
“Being part of the Safaricom family is fun and exciting,
as we continue to achieve our mission of Transforming
Lives together.”
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Level Up Campaign
An exciting new initiative launched during the year was the Level Up campaign. A ‘Business Know-How Knowledge
Week’, the initiative is a response to the 2014 People Survey feedback workshops revelation that many members of
staff do not understand the functions and roles of other business units and divisions.
The inaugural event took place in March 2016 and consisted of a week of different ‘business hubs’ and networking
occasions, during which staff members from specific units and divisions explained what they do to other employees
through presentations and discussions.
Over 700 members of staff attended the event and the feedback was positive, with many expressing not just a far
greater knowledge of the organisation, but also a better feeling of togetherness as a team afterwards. The campaign
is now being rolled out to the regions.
Focus areas for the year ahead
From a career management perspective, we intend to re-launch the competency framework during the year ahead.
This will link competency management with other HR systems, such as performance management, succession planning
and Oracle learner manager, which will ensure all employees have an opportunity to comprehensively assess themselves
individually in terms of their competency level in the three broad categories of our competencies of business, functional
and leadership. This will then be evaluated as skill gaps and necessary interventions will be put in place, such as workshops,
coaching, mentorship, E-class courses and classroom trainings.