Safaricom - 2020 Sustainable Business Report

SAFARICOM 2020 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 34 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONCLUDING REMARKS Governance, business ethics and risk We consider sound corporate governance, ethical behaviour, and robust risk management to be fundamental to our commercial sustainability. We must operate ethically, transparently, and accountably if we are to avoid legal and reputational risks and maintain the high stakeholder trust and confidence required to maintain our sustainability and success. Corporate governance We ensure that Safaricom is run in an ethical, transparent and accountable manner by having strong governance processes and structures in place, along with explicit guiding principles and clear lines of responsibility. The Board of Directors of Safaricom is, ultimately, responsible for corporate governance throughout the organisation and the behaviour of members is governed by an explicit Governance Charter. Members of the board also undergo collective and individual performance assessments at least once annually. The board meets at least four times a year. Ethical behaviour We recognise that acting ethically, as an organization and as individuals, is the foundation upon which all of our governance and risk management processes and ambitions rely. We continue to take steps to cultivate awareness and put anti-corruption monitoring and corrective measures in place, and to drive behavioural change within society through collective action initiatives. We use an independent ethics perception survey and preventative measures like our continuous ethics awareness and employee anti-corruption training programmes to monitor and manage the ethical culture across all our operations. We use our supplier Code of Conduct and the Code of Ethics for Businesses in Kenya to manage the ethical culture of our business partners. • We activated the crisis management team in January when it became evident that we were dealing with a global pandemic. Scenario planning, testing and supply chain reviews were conducted, along with partner engagements, to ensure that we were well prepared to deal with the pandemic. • As part of supporting the continuity of business operations, arrangements were made to ensure staff would continue to deliver remotely while taking adequate IT security precautions. • We have ensured that our employees are continuously aware of the pandemic through various channels and that they are offered all the necessary support during this difficult period. Our response to COVID-19 Please refer to the ‘Our Governance’ section of the 2020 Safaricom Annual Report a t https://www.safaricom.co.ke/investor-relation/financials/reports/annual-reports for more information regarding our governance structures and reporting processes. As part of our ongoing commitment to the SDGs, we continued to align our efforts regarding ethics, governance, risk and regulation with four of the goals that represent areas over which we are able to achieve significant impact in our own business and amongst our stakeholders: promoting ethical business practices and fighting corruption in all its forms within Safaricom (SDG16), our value chains and within the wider business community (SDG17) and pledging to create a non-hostile and secure workplace (SDG8) within which all employees are treated equally (SDG10).