Safaricom is the reason why more than one million people have secured jobs due to its contribution to the economy of Kenya as revealed by the company’s 2019 Sustainable Business Report.
The company’s 2019 business report showed that the Safaricom employment creation had increased by nine percent where about 979,000 individuals secured jobs either directly or indirectly.
11 percent of the jobs created resulted from the contribution of the telco company to the country’s economy which was poised at 601 billion shillings, 9.6 times the profit earned in FY2018-2019.
Safaricom’s 8th annual report, whose theme this year is “Towards Reducing Inequalities” seeks to illustrate how it is using a sustainable business model to address society’s needs and goes beyond the company’s financial performance to give a more intimate and accurate description of its business.
“Our business continues to contribute towards successfully improving the quality of life for Kenyans across the country, creating sustainable livelihoods and delivering a wide range of products, services, and initiatives that support businesses, and families,” said Mr. Stephen Chege, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Safaricom.
The company’s initiatives included a sustained focus on increasing the number of people with disabilities within Safaricom’s workforce from 1.7 percent in FY2017/2018 to 2.1 percent last year and growing the number of women-owned and women-led businesses within the company’s supply chain as part of the Safaricom Women in Business initiative.
This resulted in the telco increasing its expenditure on goods and services supplied by these business from 1.9 billion shillings to 2.4 billion shillings within the period under review, contributing to growth in the number of jobs sustained by Safaricom by over 80,000 from the previous year, and setting the record as the highest number of jobs the telco has supported both directly and indirectly in one year since 2016.
The country’s leading telecommunication company has also announced the commitment it has for the environment. The company announced that it plans to plant five million trees in gazetted forests across the country over the next five years.
Planting trees will be done in partnership with Kenya Forest Service and Community Forest Associations, as part of a carbon offset program designed to help the company achieve net-zero carbon-emitting status by 2050.