Safaricom - 2020 Sustainable Business Report

SAFARICOM 2020 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 52 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONCLUDING REMARKS Innovation Mobile communications technology is already an essential part of many people’s lives and part of the fabric of the world in which we live. Our commitment to the SDGs and shared value thinking has helped us realise the tremendous potential that innovative mobile communications applications have in terms of addressing the challenges we face as a society. In addition, as a technology company, we consider innovation to be central to achieving our strategic objectives, retaining our competitive edge, and ensuring that we continue to grow. Constant innovation is an important aspect of ensuring our continued success and resilience. Managing innovation During the previous year, we restructured our Strategy and Innovation Division into the Business Development Division. The move consolidated different functions from across the business into the following six teams: Corporate Strategy, Products Innovation, Big Data and Analytics, Market Research and Consumer Insights, Strategic Partnerships & Engagement and Regional Expansion. The strategic Partnerships & Engagement department focuses on identifying opportunities for cross-business collaborations and partnerships. In FY20, we introduced a Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) department to support strategic acquisitions by the business. • All buy goods transactions below KSh 1 000 have been zero-rated to drive cashless payments during this period. • Zero-rating of hospital bill payment via paybill. • P2P transactions under KSh 1 000 have been zero-rated. • Transaction limits have also been increased from KSh 70 000 per session to KSh 150 000 and from KSh 140 000 a day to KSh 300 000 a day. • We supported the Matatus associations with collecting payments via M-PESA as a cashless initiative to minimise the increased risks associated with handling cash during the pandemic – 577 PSVs have enrolled for the cashless platform to date. Our response to COVID-19 Our approach to innovation continues to be guided by the four strategic priorities set by the Business Development Division last year: Becoming a digital company reviewing our operations, people and tools to be a more digitally in-tune company Expanding our partnership framework stimulating the wider ecosystem and development of a partnership framework Regional expansion deepening financial inclusion beyond Kenya Putting our customers first shaping products and services through data analytics and customer research Innovation provides an opportunity to increase our contribution to the SDGs. We are committed to developing, implementing and/or scaling innovations that contribute to affordable healthcare and medical insurance, increased productivity of SMEs and smallholder farmers, deepening access to financial services and enabling greater accessibility to data for all.