Ideas & Debate

Let every company join UN Goals race to transform lives

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Businesses have to build culture of regular self assessment in the quest to serve everyone better. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Six years ago, Safaricom launched first sustainability framework, which is a critical part of our business.

Since then, every year, we invite key stakeholders to share the highlights of our latest Sustainability Report. It gives us a sense of where we are, makes us more accountable, and gives us a target to beat every year. It also helps us keep track of what we need to do when no one else is looking.

However, different people interpret the purpose of this report their own way. Some look at number of people fired in the year for fraud or how much is paid in fines to the regulator.

But, Safaricom’s Sustainability Report is much more than that. We do it because it is the most intimate and accurate account of our business. It goes well beyond the financial numbers to explain the why and the how behind those figures.

There is no legal or regulatory obligation to state how many women we have in the organisation compared to men, or how many base stations are on green energy.

Therefore, it would be very easy for us to keep secret some of the embarrassing figures and facts in the report.

For instance, this year we reported that we have increased our water and electricity consumption by two per cent and eight per cent respectively and that just 1.4 per cent of our workforce are persons with disabilities.

Most companies would shy away from reporting these numbers. However, to us they speak to the very essence of why we must report on these facts and figures, which is why we do not see them as numbers, but milestones.

Two years ago, the United Nations promulgated the 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals aim to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice. They also seek to tackle, among other important initiatives, climate change.

When the then UN Secretary- General officially launched the SDGs he said: “This is the people’s agenda. It is a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, leaving no one behind.”

For Safaricom, leaving no one behind means two things: ensuring that every individual achieves the full set of rights and opportunities the Global Goals express.

It also means that we can only successfully implement the SDGs with the inclusion of all segments of society, including governments, civil society, women, youth and the private sector.

Safaricom exists for a purpose and that purpose is to transform lives. We believe in the 3Ps of Purpose, People and Profits, in that order.

The fact is, profits and growth remain the main reason for majority of business operations. But to remain relevant and to thrive in the long- term, businesses need new ways of thinking that go beyond looking for short-term profit.

We cannot continue to transform lives if we are not commercially sustainable.

Equally, we are unlikely to transform lives in a meaningful, lasting manner if we focus solely on profits and dividends.

Last year Safaricom started the process of integrating nine of the 17 Global Goals into the business and now we are busy making it a way of life. That is our story.

Yours could be different. For the banking sector, for instance, it could mean measuring how many unbanked people it has enabled achieve greater financial access, the ease of doing this and deepening financial inclusion.

For security companies, it could mean setting an industry standard around how well employees are paid, and ensuring that their basic human rights are met.

READ: Why achieving SDG goal on decent work and economic growth is critical for Kenya

For advertising companies, it could be a measure of their impact on the environment and steps taken to mitigate this — for instance, how many trees they are planting alongside billboards.

Every company and organisation has a story. We believe it is possible, using the lenses of the Global Goals, for each organisation to achieve success by employing sustainable practices.

For Safaricom, the SDGs offer us a path to transform lives.

However, we realise that sustainability remains a journey, not a destination and integrating Global Goals into our daily operations has been both an inspiring and a humbling process.

This being our 6th Report, in the next phase, we will start monitoring our progress against SDG-related targets and report progress.

We are also keen to engage with corporates who may want to join us on this journey and have a meaningful dialogue.

If we continuously monitor our steps, we can all do our part to collectively meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Steve Chege is Corporate Affairs director, Safaricom.