Kenya’s leading telecommunications company Safaricom sustained more than one million direct and indirect jobs in the last financial year and contributed 6% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the company’s 9th Sustainable Business Report, released earlier on Wednesday, it sustained 1,013, 728 jobs up from 979,000 which is a 4% increase from the previous financial year.
During the period under review, Safaricom‘s revenues of KSh 262.6 billion resulted in an estimated KSh 549.8 billion contributions to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This GDP impact can is separated into a direct impact of KSh 152.7 billion, an indirect impact of KSh 94.7 billion and an induced impact of KSh 302.4 billion.
In the report, the company seeks to show that embracing the ideals of sustainable business, shared value thinking and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is essential to cultivating the resilience necessary to combat large-scale crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our theme highlights how we faced significant disruption during the year, but the fundamentals of the business proved to be resilient and strong. Against the backdrop of the continued disruption we face in the telecommunications industry, we also had to contend with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the later stages of the year”, Said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom
The company’s social impact was valued KES.654billion in the 2019/2020 financial year, nine times the financial profit the company earned during the same period. The report also shows that 74% of the telco’s total spend in the period under review went to supporting local suppliers up from 67% in the previous financial year.
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