Telecoms operator Safaricom deepened its contribution to the Kenyan economy in the year ended March 2018, having grown its value chain by Sh57 billion to Sh543 billion, the company’s latest annual sustainability report says.
The latest report says Safaricom’s economic activities sustained nearly 897,372 jobs, bucking the trend in corporate Kenya that saw many businesses freeze employment or send hundreds of workers home as profitability fell in a tough economic environment.
Safaricom says that 171,369 jobs are directly related to the company, while the rest are derived from indirect activities such as suppliers and users of the company’s various products.
At Sh543 billion, Safaricom’s contribution to the economy was equivalent to 6.5 per cent of GDP, the report says of the value that the telecoms operator creates outside of its bottom-line.
This is an improvement from last year when Safaricom said its activities supported more than 682,000 jobs and contributed Sh486 billion to the economy.
