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Kenya’s leading telecom, Safaricom’s social impact programmes during the financial year 2019/ 2020 was valued at Sh654 billion, it has announced.

The announcement was made yesterday even as the telco launched its Sustainable Future thought leadership series, which focused on the role of business in building resilient societies as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis.

Formerly a department of the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation in 1993, Safaricom is now regional corporate behemoth.

It has a client base close to 20 per cent of the Kenyan population, and impacting Kenyans lives by supporting initiatives in education, community development , the environment, Health, disaster funding and arts, culture and sports.

Speaking during the virtual release of the 9th Sustainable Business Report, chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the East Africa’s leading company by revenue sustain over one million direct and indirect jobs in the last financial year, up from 979,000 the previous year.

The report, whose theme is “Resilience Through Transition” also shows that 74 per cent of the telco’s total spend in the period under review went to supporting local suppliers, up from 67 per cent in the previous financial year.

“Our theme highlights how we faced significant disruption during the year, but the fundamentals of the business proved to be resilient and strong,” said Ndegwa.

“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.”

The thought leadership series was launched in recognition of the importance of the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

It will bring together business leaders to discuss how to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of this decade such as climate change, gender, inequalities and ecosystem degradation.

The inaugural edition of the series was held during the launch of the report and focused on the role of business in building resilient societies as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis.

The discussion explored opportunities for supporting small businesses bounce back given the vital role they play in the economy.

Also in the discussions were Ndegwa, Nairobi Securities Exchange chairman Kiprono Kittony and Melvin Mash International chief executive Flora Mutahi.