Safaricom 2023 Sustainable Business Report

60 OUR BUSINESS OUR STAKEHOLDERS KPI SUMMARY SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2023 OUR MATERIAL TOPICS issuing, redemption and reconciliation of vouchers on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture. Over five million farmers have been registered in the system, with their cellphone numbers recorded to ensure smooth communication and transparency of the programme, which targets 10 million farmers when fully rolled out. The fertiliser is being distributed in 12 priority ‘breadbasket’ counties including Narok, Bungoma, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Migori, Kakamega, Bomet, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi. Distribution of the 71 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser valued at KSh 35 billion is being implemented by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and Kenya National Trading Corporation We are proud to have been chosen to collaborate in this effort whereby over 490 000 bags of fertiliser had been redeemed as of 1 March 2023. ENABLING OUR VISION Our strategic partnerships enable our vision to be a purpose- led technology company by the end of 2025. To cite a few examples: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has helped us to deploy best-in-breed cloud infrastructure and platform for innovation and service delivery. More than 750 Safaricom employees AWS certified or accredited. Our aim is to build a Safaricom AWS Business Group that is the first African-born premier AWS partner, demonstrating innovation leadership on next-generation technologies to provide compelling solutions to East African enterprises and customers. Another example is our collaboration with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to bring more people online by showing the value of being connected. Meta supports the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo (LMM) service, which aims to promote the uptake of smartphones in the low-income market segment. LMM offers affordable smartphones in installments from as little as KSh 20 daily, with over 900 000 customers benefiting in FY23. One of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs in Kenya face is access to capital. It can be difficult for new businesses to secure the funding they need to get off the ground, and this can limit their ability to grow and create jobs. To address this challenge, we need to encourage the development of alternative financing options, such as venture capital. Under the umbrella of the Spark Fund, the Ajua, Eneza, iProcure, Sendy and SokoFresh startups continued to demonstrate growth. In addition to the growth in valuation, the portfolio companies have had a multi-faceted positive impact on Safaricom: • Delivered revenue for Safaricom of US$3.45 million across M-PESA, SMS, data and billing. • Following investment from Safaricom, gone on to cumulatively raise more than US$50 Million in follow-on investment from leading venture capital funds such as TLCOM Capital, Novastar, I&P Global, Toyota Tsusho, DoB quity among others • Continue to be key catalysts across the Kenyan tech- ecosystem providing direct employment to more than 500 staff and impacting more than 50 000 individuals and businesses indirectly FUTURE FOCUS • Enhance use of the SDGs as a framework for driving user-centric design and collaborative ecosystems • Impact inclusive communities through our products and services that are geared to social impact, targeting to reach one million lives. • Continue to focus on education, humanitarian aid, health and agriculture as our main pillars targeting to implement at least six products and services that cut across the pillars. • Enhance sustainability of our initiatives throughout the product development lifecycle by investing and ensuring our profitability across our products anchored on purpose. • Provide relevant integrated solution partnerships to ensure Safaricom’s position as partner of choice to SMEs. • Expand partnerships to help drive Government digital transformation initiatives.