Education, Health propels Safaricom’s value Kenyan society in FY2016/17

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) created Kshs 486 billion total value for Kenyan society during the 2016/2017 Financial Year, 17 percent higher than the total value it created in the last Financial year.

This was revealed on Wednesday when the telco launched its sixth Sustainable Development report with a promise to fight corruption and promote ethical behaviour at the firm.

“As part of our SDG integration, we have this year aligned our efforts with five of the goals and committed to promote ethical business practices and fight corruption in all its forms within Safaricom and the wider business community,” disclosed Nicholas Ng’ang’a, Safaricom Board Chairman.

The company’s two charitable arms, M-PESA and Safaricom Foundation saw their contributions to society almost double in the past year, from KSh3.6 billion to KSh6.6 billion. The greatest growth has been in the areas of education and health.

“The social value of M-PESA remains a significant creator of value for Kenyan society, increasing by 12 percent in the last financial year. The major driver of this growth has been the increase in customer, agent and merchant numbers,” said Bob Collymore, the CEO.

Safaricom assesses the significant indirect value contribution to the economy, society and environment in Kenya using the KPMG “True Value” methodology. When monetised, the net value of the most material social, environmental and economic impacts of the company both positive and negative gives an indication of the total value that the company creates for the people of Kenya.

During the year, the company also successfully completed the first phase of integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its business and corporate strategy.

“The integration of SDGs has helped us appreciate that lasting solutions need to be commercially viable and based on feasible economic models if they are to be scalable and sustainable,” Collymore said.

During the year, the company was fined KSh270 million by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) for failing to meet its quality of service requirements.

Nicholas Ng’ang’a, Safaricom Board Chairman, however, disclosed that the regulatory environment has remained an important area of their operation with heightened concerns from investors on the likely impact of regulatory interventions in the telecommunications sub-sector.

“Our goal is to ensure that we remain compliant with all regulatory requirements by continually assessing our processes against all applicable laws and regulations,” he said.