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INTRODUCTION
| THE YEAR IN REVIEW
| MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN |
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO |
8
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
GUIDING US TO GREATER SUCCESS
As Chairman of the Board, it is my great pleasure
to present to you our sixth sustainability report.
From a sustainability perspective, it has been an
exciting and bold year for us as a business as we
completed the first phase of our integration of the
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The
purpose of integrating the SDGs is to convert our
sustainability ideals into a set of meaningful, realistic
and measurable daily objectives for every staff
member of the company. It has been most gratifying
to see how enthusiastically staff and management
have embraced this important new approach.
Specific targets have been cascaded from divisions
to departments and individuals and the focus in the
year ahead will be to start reporting against these
targets.
It was an easier year for business in Kenya, in many
respects, with the World Bank reporting a modest
GDP growth of 5.9% and Moody’s revising our
credit rating outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’. The
economy is still facing headwinds in the short-term,
however, from factors such as the drought, reduced
agricultural output in sectors like tea and livestock
and slow credit growth. In spite of these economic
challenges, the ICT sector remains resilient, which can
be attributed to continued expansion of the mobile
telephony network and increased demand for mobile
broadband and internet services.
REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
The regulatory environment remains an area of
importance to our operations and, during the year,
we experienced heightened concerns from investors
on the likely impact of regulatory interventions
in the telecommunications sub-sector. A draft
version of a study on competition in the sector by
the Communications Authority was leaked to the
media and raised concerns among the investment
community. The leaked report was followed by
calls from some members of the National Assembly
to separate M-PESA from Safaricom, which further
dampened investor confidence and negatively
impacted our stock price on the NSE. The ICT
Ministry confirmed that it does not support such a
split and since then confidence has been restored
and our share price has recovered. We expect a
detailed engagement with the Communications
Authority prior to the finalisation of the report and its
recommendations.
WE CANNOT SUCCEED IN ISOLATION
Another of our key objectives is to build sustainability
leadership within our business ecosystem. As proud
as we are of our efforts to integrate the Sustainable
Development Goals into our business, we recognise
that we cannot succeed in isolation. I would like to
take this opportunity to urge all Kenyan companies,
especially those within our business ecosystem,
to embrace sustainability and the SDGs as well.
Businesses cannot be successful when the society
around them fails. As companies, our continued
commercial success relies upon us uplifting and
empowering our fellow Kenyans. If we want to enjoy
a prosperous future we must make sure no one
gets left behind. Sustainability and the SDGs offer a
tangible roadmap to help us achieve this — let’s use
them.
“Businesses cannot be
successful when the
society around them fails.”