2019 Sustainable Business Report

SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2019 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT CONCLUDING REMARKS 88 Thirdly, we must be responsible and transparent taxpayers. We cannot avoid or evade taxes and then take the high road of criticising corrupt or poor government services. Let’s do our part and then, if need be, shout it from the rooftops that we paid our taxes if, feasibly, that might drive transparency. Fourthly, we must tackle inequalities in the workplace. We also need to self-examine by asking pertinent business questions like: how we are performing on gender pay gaps or gaps between executive salaries and median salaries, especially now, with more transparency around wealth declaration. Indeed, no one sector can do this alone. But we must commit to do our part. The public sector needs to set the enabling environment, while those of us in the private sector need to drive delivery of products and services that will transform society for the better. Civil society should provide the links to community and support accountability throughout. When we bring all these players together, you create what I like to call Constructive Value – which suggests that when you add one plus one you get something that is greater than two. The only way to achieve this is by partnering together across sectors and sometimes even across platforms. What are we at Safaricom doing about all this? In 2016, we started the process of integrating nine of the 17 SDGs into our core business strategy. We did this because we believe that the SDGs provide the opportunity to really engage in purpose-driven business, a business that is both sustainable and inclusive. We asked ourselves: what business could we do in the SDGs areas that would help us drive inclusive growth? Our nine priority goals are the goals related to health; education; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; innovation and infrastructure; reducing inequalities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; peace and justice and partnerships. We have since registered significant impact and transformation through our products in health, education, agriculture; our advocacy and partnership efforts in anti- corruption; our ambitious target of being a Net-Zero Carbon Emitting Company by 2050; and our focus on building an inclusive supply chain. As I conclude, Mark Kramer will talk about shared value – but unless we can address the context within which businesses operate today, it will be an uphill task to deliver Sustainable Shared Value. We must all re-think our business models and strategies and see how to address the growing inequalities. I look forward to hearing about how we can create Constructive Value across sectors that are very important for our continent – health, agriculture, energy, manufacturing – with a view to ensuring that we can drive inclusive growth – growth that bridges the gaps and helps bring down the walls that divide our populations. I thank you for your kind attention.