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Here are the excerpts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are sustainable measures adopted by Safaricom\nfuelling profitability or is the profitability that\u2019s enabling the company to embrace\nsustainable practices? What comes first?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Safaricom, we believe that our purpose is to transform lives. And so with that at the centre, it makes us look at different ways of doing business. We also believe in the 3Ps \u2013 purpose, people and then profit in that order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And we strongly believe\nthat if you do the right thing, the numbers will follow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So in a nutshell, for\nus is first to be clear what our purpose is \u2013 which is to transform\nlives. Secondly, we want to be the kind of company that will serve Kenyans for\nthe longest time, which is why we integrated, among others, the ninth\nsustainable development goal in our sustainable strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I can say progressively\nintegrating SDGs (sustainable development goals) in our corporate strategies\nand having a clear purpose is helping drive our profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the same line, what has been the\nreturn on investment in sustainable activities not only for the company, but\nfor shareholders and customers as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Investing in\nsustainability practices yields a couple of things \u2013 we have gained a lot of\nproficiencies around certain things like energy savings, waste management, and\nremoval of plastics from our retail centers among others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In some instances,\nwe\u2019ve rolled out products and services that we believe demonstrate our\ncommitment to SDGs, aligning them with people needs and the strategy has proved\nprofitable. Still, we\u2019re not yet at the stage that we envision for ourselves in\nterms of sustainability adoption; it\u2019s an ongoing process, a journey. But what\u2019s\nclear is that if we don\u2019t take the sustainable business approach, we\u2019ll not be\nin business for the next 100 years or so which really is our long term\nintention. We want to be around for the longest time, improving lives and\nmaking the society a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Safaricom has been trialling wind\nturbines on two sites in Turkana as indicated in its Sustainability Report\n2019. What\u2019s the progress and what\u2019s the expected benefit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have trialled two\nsites in Turkana; for us it has been an extension of our commitment to reduce\nreliance on fossil fuel energy sources. That said, the two pilots have been\nhighly successful. We aim to continuously green our network. We are at a level\nperhaps not where we ideally like to be. But what\u2019s important about the pilot\nis that it demonstrates the tough sustainable decisions that the company needs\nto make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the cost of setting up the turbines\nand are there plans to install more, now that you\u2019ve been incrementally\ngreening your network through solar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In our area of\nbusiness, green sites cost significantly more than the traditional sites. But\nthe fact that we\u2019re willing to do the trials, to demonstrates that it works and\nthen use it as evidence to further look at how we apportion the Sh32 billion or\nso that we have committed to the network, demonstrates our long term commitment\nto further greening our network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if the pilot is\nsuccessful then the lessons gathered will help us look at financial decisions\nbetter on how we spend on growing our networks in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Safaricom looks to become a\nplastic-free environment by eliminating all single-use plastic at its\nfacilities and minimising plastics used in retail packaging. What\u2019s the\nprogress\u2026?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A few years ago, even before\nthe official ban on single-use plastic bags by Nema (National Environment\nManagement Authority), we made a commitment to ourselves to remove plastics\nfrom our operations and try and extend it to our supply chain. For us, this was\nin response to SDG 12 which encourages responsible production and consumption.\nThis was also due to the fact that we know plastics impact a lot of our marine\nlife around the country even though that\u2019s not directly related to our\nbusiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To this end, there are\na couple of things that we have done. \nFirst we entered an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the UN\nenvironment program (Unep) where we have committed to advance industry\ndiscussions, advocacy and work around the area. We have attended a couple of\nforums with the Unep and County Governments looking at how we can encourage\nmore businesses to adopt the plastic-free environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When exactly is Safaricom\u2019s\nplastic-free goal expected to be reached and what are the alternatives to\nplastics use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Internally, our first\naction was to remove plastics from our retail centers and shops. And it was a\nvery interesting business decision because we always think we could have done\nit earlier because in the end it actually costs the same \u2013 using plastics\nversus the non-woven bags. Since the government\u2019s official ban, we have removed\nclose to seven million bags from our ecosystem and our retail centers across\nthe country at actually no additional cost. Safaricom headquarters, for\ninstance, has managed to completely remove the plastic cups that are usually at\nthe water dispenser, in the gym, and other areas. In the cafeteria, our staff now\nuse glasses or water bottles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The most challenging\nissue, however, is removing plastics within our supply chain. We have a large\nnumber of suppliers but we have started having discussions with them along this\nline. For our international suppliers, it\u2019s something that they are actually\naware of and so discussions are ongoing too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we have also\ndone, if you look at our SIM cards, is that we have reduced their sizes. It may\nseem very small if you look at one sim card but actually that reduction multiplied\nby the number of SIM cards we have in the market, makes a significant impact on\nour plastic footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With regard to\ntimelines, we haven\u2019t set an ultimate goal; what we have identified instead are\ntouch points where plastic is in circulation and in use. And we\u2019re going to\ncontinue to eliminate them as we go along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much is being saved in costs as a\nresult of waste recycling?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Safaricom, we have\nadopted and integrated a waste management approach. At our headquarters for\nexample, we segregate and either recycle or reuse at least 97 percent of our\nwaste. We segregate into plastics, food items and we\u2019re working with a local\npartner- Taka Taka Solutions. I think it\u2019s an interesting initiative because we\nknow that this has also created employment downstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another area of\ncollection that is important to us as a mobile operator is e-waste management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The cost savings\naspect isn\u2019t as important to us as the aspect of being a responsible operator.\nWhat\u2019s important is that we\u2019re doing our part in terms of segregating our waste\nand being sure that it\u2019s appropriately managed and taken care of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The telco introduced the staff carbon\nfootprint calculator. What is expected to be achieved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The carbon footprint\ncalculations for us are very important. At Safaricom, continuing to measure our\ncarbon footprint annually is key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We examine our carbon\nfootprints to determine whether or not we are efficiently using our resources\nincluding energy. We look at the balance between diesel and other renewable\nsources used to run our sites with a view to continuing to change that energy\nmix in favour of renewables. We acknowledge that due to the instability of the\ngrid, there are some sites that we have to use diesel. To this end, we\u2019re working\nwith Kenya Power and green power providers to make sure that we can continue to\ntilt our mix towards clean energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, another important\ncomponent of the carbon footprint is the personal carbon footprint. We set a\nchallenge for our staff; the first direct challenge actually went to our\nleadership team to see how we could manage and mitigate their own carbon\nfootprint, at an individual level. This is because we\u2019re not just here to\npractice sustainability for Safaricom. Safaricom comprises 6,000 individuals,\neach of whom needs to play a key part in promoting green behaviour. Then\ncollectively, the compounding results start showing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Safaricom plans to achieve ISO 50001\nEnergy Management certification by March 2020. What will this mean to the\ncompany, shareholders and customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our company relies\nquite heavily on energy to power the network, to power our data centres and our\nfacilities. So for us this ISO certification is very important to demonstrate\nour commitment to effectively and efficiently manage our energy resources. It\u2019s\nvery important to our investors and other shareholders and indeed even to\nourselves internally that we run as efficiently and effectively as we possibly can.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n What takeaways can other companies gather\nfrom Safaricom in integrating sustainability in their operations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The thing is, you\u2019re never too small or too big to be a sustainable company. The greatest opportunity to set up a sustainable business is right from the start. It\u2019s very important for a business to review and examine its purpose \u2013 how it wants to engage its customers, its shareholders in the long-term for the time it\u2019s in business. For Kenyan businesses, I think our biggest challenge is that we\u2019re yet to learn that sustainability cannot be practiced in isolation. The thing is, it\u2019s not only the big business that will tackle the climate crisis alone. What we need instead is the entire business ecosystem to take a stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n