WHAT THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS MEAN TO US

OUR SUSTAINABILITY VISION

We aspire to use our products and services to transform lives and contribute to sustainable living throughout Kenya. Based on this fundamental aspiration, our vision sets out how we use our ability to deliver connectivity and innovative services to improve the quality of life and livelihoods of all Kenyans. Central to achieving this vision is our commitment to managing our operations responsibly and ethically. Our vision is based upon the twin pillars of responsible, ethical business and transformational products and services.

The Safaricom SDG Purpose Statement

“We commit to deliver connectivity and innovative products and services (SDG9) that will provide unmatched solutions to meet the needs of Kenyans by enabling access (SDG10) through our technologies and partners (SDG17) and by exploring opportunities in Health (SDG3), Education (SDG4) and Energy (SDG7). We will do so by managing our operations responsibly (SDG12) and ethically (SDG16). This will stimulate growth and generate value (SDG8) for our company, society and economy.”

OUR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS STRATEGY

In 2012, we integrated sustainability into our corporate strategy, bringing it in line with the SDGs in 2016 to help translate our sustainability ideals into meaningful and concrete plans, from overarching objectives to simple daily activities that could be put into practice throughout the organisation.

The Board is responsible for ensuring that sustainability is at the heart of our overall business strategy. Safaricom management assumes the responsibility of leading, implementing, monitoring and reporting on sustainability initiatives through seamless integration of the SDGs into the day-to-day operations and functional responsibilities of the business.

For more information on our governance structure and the responsibilities of the relevant governing bodies, please refer to the governance section of the 2019 Safaricom Annual Report.

Since 2016 we have incorporated nine of the 17 SDGs into our performance objectives, both as a company and on the individual employee level. Each division is implementing projects or developing products and services in line with the SDGs. Reporting on targets related to the SDGs is now central to our ways of working, and we seek to empower everyone we work with – employees, partners and other stakeholders – to set their own.

OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In making the SDGs a central pillar of our business, we have made sustainable development a part of the organisational and business culture at Safaricom.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS STRATEGY: BUSINESS-DRIVEN APPROACHES

Provide business-driven solutions for the challenges faced by our society
Stimulate continuous economic growth
Address societal needs
Empower communities

OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In making the SDGs a central pillar of our business, we have made sustainable development a part of the organisational and business culture at Safaricom.

Partnerships for the Goals: “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.”

Our contribution: Partnering and building the collective capacity of people, organisations and nations to promote and advance the SDGs.

Membership of B-Team Africa allows us to champion responsible and ethical business practices in Africa.
We participate in Big Data for Social Good.
Six portfolio companies to date have a close commercial partnership with Safaricom (Sendy, mSurvey, Eneza, Lynk, Farm Drive and iProcure).

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

Our contribution: Managing our operations responsibly and ethically
and fi ghting corruption in all its forms.

96% of our suppliers have signed up to the Code of Ethics for Businesses in Kenya.
282 dealers (64%), 61,567 (38%) agents and 248 suppliers have been trained on Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for registration of customers to combat money-laundering and other crimes associated with mobile technology.
96% of staff have undertaken ethics and anti-corruption training.

Responsible Consumption and Production: “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

Our contribution: Managing our operations responsibly, decreasing our environmental impact and promoting responsible behaviour among our stakeholders.

We have reduced by 50% the amount of plastic used in our SIM cards.
97% (253 tonnes) of the waste collected in our admin buildings in the year under review was recycled.
1,072 tonnes of e-waste has been collected and recycled to date.

Reducing Inequalities: “Reduce inequality within and among countries.”

Our contribution: Reducing inequalities by enabling equal access to opportunities to everyone, especially to vulnerable groups, using Safaricom leadership, network, solutions and technology.

A diverse and inclusive workforce: we have achieved a 50:50 gender balance among our employees, and 34% of senior management are women. In addition, 2.1% of our staff are persons living with disabilities.
We have Women in Business initiative targets in place to increase the share of women-owned businesses in our supply chain from the current 3.2% to 10% by the end of 2020.
We have partnered with device suppliers to provide affordable smart devices such as the Neon Kicka (3G) (KSh 3,500) and Neon Lite (4G) (KSh 4,999), to enable our customers to access internet. Currently 38% of the devices on our network are smart devices (3G and 4G capable).
In the year under review, we reduced the cost of data per MB by 42%.

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.”

Our contribution: Delivering connectivity and innovative products and services that will provide unmatched solutions to meet the needs of Kenyans.

Our mobile network coverage – 96% of the population covered by 2G, 93% by 3G and 57% by 4G.
We have connected 107,762 homes and 5,992 businesses to high speed internet through our fibre optic network.

Decent Work and Economic Growth: “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Our contribution: Providing decent work within Safaricom and its broader ecosystem, including enforcing effective health and safety practices both internally and by suppliers while at the same time contributing to the local and national economy through innovative solutions to increase employment and facilitate economic activity amongst suppliers and clients.

We sustained 187,756 jobs directly and indirectly through our operations.
Under Project Magenta, our commitment to improving the working conditions of our outsourced staff, we have implemented a living wage (KSh 19,639.95), which is considerably higher than the defi ned minimum wage (KSh 13,572.00), for our security guarding contracts.

Good Health and Well-being: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Our contribution: Leveraging our mobile technologies to transform lives by improving access to quality and affordable health care services and by promoting well-being for all.

Our award-winning M-Tiba, in partnership with CarePay, is a health payments solution with an e-wallet which enables users to save towards healthcare expenses from as little as KSh 10. M-Tiba now has over 4.4 million users, 1,405 approved health facilities countrywide, and to date over KSh 600 million has been paid out.
The Thrive programme, designed to boost the well-being of our more than 6,000 employees with its focus on body, mind, heart and soul.
Fafanuka, an SMS and unstructured service supplementary data (USSD) service to educate the public, patients, nurses, community health workers and caregivers on how to prevent, screen for, diagnose, manage and follow up non-communicable diseases (NCDs), has reached 5,400 unique subscribers.
Comprehensive maternal and child health programmes and medical camps by the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations, which are improving access to quality, affordable and accessible services for women and children, have impacted on over 100,000 lives across the country.

Quality Education: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Our contribution: Expanding access to education through innovative solutions, our network and through partnerships.

Our unstructured service supplementary data (USSD) and SMS service Shupavu291, which enables students and teachers to take quizzes, search subjects to study and access Wikipedia summaries without an internet connection, currently has 580,126 active subscribers and so far has been used by 4,129,058 learners since its launch in 2016.
The M-PESA Foundation Academy provides 700 economically disadvantaged students access to a high-quality education through world-class learning facilities, focused on building leadership and entrepreneurship skills.

Affordable and Clean Energy: “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Our contribution: Transitioning to the use of clean energy at our sites and leveraging technology to provide clean energy solutions, including payment solutions for local and renewable energy solutions.

We have introduced science-based carbon reduction targets to help us plan our progress towards becoming a net-zero carbon emitting company by the year 2050.
We have transitioned 196 (3.7%) of our sites to renewable and hybrid energy sources – up from 155 (2.5%) in FY18.
In partnership with M-Kopa Solar, we have provided access to solar energy to over 500,000 households with a positive impact on 2.4 million lives.