2022 Sustainable Business Report

99 PARTNERING FOR GROWTH: TRANSFORMING LIVES | KPI SUMMARY OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR BUSINESS OUR STAKEHOLDERS MEDIA ISSUES FOR MEDIA • Access to members of the Exco team. • Information about key sustainability issues OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Intensified media engagement, including one-on-one interactions with the CEO. • Launch of the Safaricom Golf Tour in partnership with the Nation Media Group. MAINTAINING A POSITIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIP The media landscape in Kenya has shifted slightly with many global companies setting up sub-Saharan African headquarters, the decline of certain print media, a proliferation of digital channels and the convergence of news desks across all types. We are still gauging the impact of the latter development, particularly on our media relationships. Our positive working relationship with the media was enhanced when COVID-19 restrictions were eased and we could engage on a personal level. We continued to engage virtually, with our hybrid model enabling us to reach a wider audience. Our media team worked closely with our marketing team to facilitate a targeted focus on issues of interest. The team also used third-party experts like media lecturers to help us develop various narratives. We work with news, features, court, parliament, business and sports desks depending on the stories we promote. In support of several campaigns across the country which focused on Customer Value Management, we leveraged the power of radio to communicate across all 68 local languages. Our relationships with sports journalists were further entrenched with the Safaricom Golf Tour (see side bar) and our KSh 25 000 sponsorship of the Uhai Festival – a sports event for PwDs that was started by sports journalists. Generally, our conversations with media on brand, assets and sustainability were positive. The exception was confusion caused by the SIM validation deadline whereby Safaricom’s customers were requested to go to outlets to have their photos taken under the CA directive. This caused long queues that were negatively reported on all media before the CA allowed online registration.