The Fortune Change the World list recognizes companies that have had a positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy. The list prioritizes companies with annual revenues of $1 billion or more and this year, Safaricom has been recognized as one of the companies that is tackling public health, environmental, economic and other society challenges as part of its every day operations.
According to Fortune Magazine’s ‘Change the World’ list, Safaricom — with an estimated market value of $11,339 million (Sh1.13 trillion) — has used its M-PESA platform to impact millions of people’s lives.
“It is indeed a great achievement for us to be recognized alongside global firms that are making a remarkable difference in the society. M-PESA continues to transform millions of lives not just in Kenya but across the world. We believe that it is our role to bring products and services that will be innovative enough to address the day to day economic and social issues in our society,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
Mr. Collymore is a member of the B-Team- that brings together a group of global leaders from business, civil society and government to catalyze a better way of doing business that prioritizes the wellbeing of people and the planet.
The American Fortune business magazine says the mobile money transfer service Safaricom and Vodafone launched in 2007 now claims more than 30 million customers in 10 countries, mostly in remote areas far from banks.
The Change the World list recognizes companies that have had a positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy. Fortune prioritizes companies with annual revenues of $1 billion or more, then evaluates and rank the companies based on Measurable Social Impact, Business Results, Degree of Innovation, and Corporate Integration.
Since its launch in 2007, M-PESA has created an efficient payment platform enabling person to person, and business to business transactions.
Some of the products that use M-PESA include M-Tiba, a mobile phone service that allows people to send, save and spend funds specifically for medical treatment, M-KOPA, M-Shwari, Lipa Na M-PESA among many others.
Safaricom is the second firm in the telecoms industry to feature on the top 50 list beating global brands such as Apple, Toyota, Microsoft, Barclays, Hilton, Siemens and Deloitte.
