Safaricom named UN Global Compact LEAD Company

Safaricom has been recognised for the ongoing commitment to the UN Global Compact and its Ten Principles for responsible business.

The mobile telecommunications company was identified as being among the highest-engaged participants of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

“LEAD companies represent the highest level of engagement with the UN Global Compact.

“Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and creating the world we want will not happen without bold action from the responsible business community.

“We need companies like those recognised today as LEAD to be an inspiration to other companies, large and small, across the world,”UN Global Compact CEO and Executive Director, Lise Kingo said.

Kingo encouraged more companies to follow in Safaricom’s example during the announcement that was made at the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit 2018 in New York this week.

According to Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, the company took active steps towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for Vision 2030.

“By integrating a principles-based approach to sustainability, we are taking shared responsibility for achieving a better world. In 2016 we began the process of integrating 9 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into our business operations and our business sustainability framework is now anchored around the SDGs,” he said.

To be eligible for LEAD recognition, companies must:

• Be a participant in at least two Action Platforms; demonstrate the company’s engagement with the UN Global Compact and commitment to defining and fostering leadership practices in line with the Ten Principles and Global Goals; and Submit or commit to submitting an Advanced Communication on Progress — an annual sustainability report detailing progress on implementing the Ten Principles — within the same calendar year.

Safaricom now joins corporates like Unilever, Accenture and Nestle among others who have been named Global Compact LEAD companies.