2019 Sustainable Business Report

SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2019 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT CONCLUDING REMARKS 79 ENSURING A SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN The code of conduct clause, 2.9 of our supplier contract, is guided by the principles of human rights, labour rights, environmental responsibility and anti-corruption, and stipulates that our partners have an obligation to sign up to the Code of Ethics for Business in Kenya. Three hundred and twenty-four out of our 335 suppliers, or 96.7 per cent, have done so. We are following up with our longstanding suppliers to ensure the remainder sign up. We are working with Global Compact Network Kenya to determine how best to align our partners with the code to transition it from a compliance concern to a way of doing business, how to move to the next level and how to sustain our membership. We conduct continuous screening of all our potential partners for ethical issues prior to awarding any contract. Under Project Magenta we expect our supply chain to champion the decent or living wage (KSh 19,639.95) over the minimum wage (KSh 13,572.00), and we have seen this implemented in our security guarding contracts. We closely monitor our suppliers’ compliance with labour laws and other regulatory and statutory adherence. In the year under review we instituted consequences for non-compliance and contracts with three suppliers were terminated for violation. WOMEN IN BUSINESS (WIB) Empowering women-owned businesses can have a very significant impact on society and reducing inequalities. In the year under review we established a mentorship programme wherein experienced WIB volunteer to mentor start-ups and SMEs, providing guidance and technical expertise. Three cohorts of mentees have benefited and the first cohort are now mentoring other emerging SMEs. Awareness of WIB is growing, and through our mentorship and capacity-building programmes we have observed a mind-shift among participating suppliers. At the start of FY19, our active suppliers included 113 women-owned businesses. Most of these suppliers, however, fulfilled relatively low-spend needs such as stationery supplies, cleaning and cafeteria services. In July 2018 we put out a call for applications from women-owned businesses specialising in technology. By the end of FY19 we had grown our list of active WIB suppliers to 178, and our spend with them increased from KSh 1.9 billion to KSh 2.4 billion, which represents 3.2 per cent of our total amount of goods and services purchase expenditures. We have seen tremendous growth among women-owned businesses in the technological arena; the number of WIB with the expertise to handle various scopes in technology has increased from fewer than five to 50. In FY20, we aim for 10 per cent of procurement spend to go to women-owned businesses. Various categories of specific capacity building initiatives have been conducted for the WIB, both with internal teams in supply chains and other WIB supporting partners. This means that when a specific need arises, no further prequalification assessments need to be done. The women have already been scaled up (through capacity building sessions, mentorship sessions and subcontracting to tier one suppliers) and can take up bigger, more challenging assignments. 19,640 13,572 Living wage Under Project Magenta we expect our supply chain to champion the decent or living wage over the minimum wage, and we have seen this implemented in our security guarding contracts. Minimum wage