Kenya’s most profitable company, Safaricom’s hold on the economy is getting stronger as it contributes about 6.5 per cent of GDP

According to the company’s latest annual sustainability report, Safaricom grew its value chain by Sh57 billion to Sh543 billion in the year ended March 2018.
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.
The firm had 5,556 employees as at March 2018, who earned a total of Sh10.23 billion in salaries, bonuses, pension contributions and employee performance share awards.

Kenya’s most profitable company, Safaricom’s hold on the Kenyan economy is intact, stronger and only continues to increase and deepened with time.

According to the company’s latest annual sustainability report, Safaricom grew its value chain by Sh57 billion to Sh543 billion in the year ended March 2018.

At Sh543 billion, Safaricom’s contribution to the Kenyan economy is equivalent to 6.5 per cent of GDP and sustained nearly 897,372 jobs.

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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.

“When monetised, the net value of the most material social, environmental and economic impacts of the company, both positive and negative, gives an indication of the total value that Safaricom creates for the people of Kenya,” the company says in the report prepared by consultancy firm KPMG.

As per the report 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.

Also read: All you need to know about profitably running Kenya's largest mobile network money service, M-Pesa outlet

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The firm had 5,556 employees as at March 2018, who earned a total of Sh10.23 billion in salaries, bonuses, pension contributions and employee performance share awards.After paying all its employees handsomely, the firm still made a Sh55.3 billion profit in the year to March 2018.

The Kenyan government also had a piece of Safaricom’s cake and the firm paid a total of Sh40 billion to the exchequer for the financial year ended March 2018 — Sh24.6 billion in tax and Sh15.4 billion in dividends for the Treasury’s 25 per cent stake.

In addition to the traditional voice, messaging and data services, Safaricom has used its mobile money platform M-Pesa to extend its economic reach.

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M-Pesa alone employs thousands of agents and is used by a large number of merchants to process payment, making it a key player in the national payments system.

The company also recently set up its online shop dubbed ‘masoko’ in a bid to diversify its portfolio and tap into Kenya’s fast-growing e-commerce market.

In an effort to continue remaining as the market leader, besides all the expenses the company undertook, it further pumped Sh36.4 billion into capital expenditure, mainly deployed to expand its fibre network for high-speed data to homes and businesses.

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Latest data from Communications Authority of Kenya shows that Safaricom has a market share of 71.9 per cent in mobile subscriptions followed by Airtel with a 14.9 per cent market share and Telkom Kenya which has 8.4 per cent.

Safaricom, which will be celebrating its 18th birthday this year, is the largest listed firm on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) with a market capitalisation of Sh941.5 billion and Kenya’s most profitable.