In 2008 I had the privilege of joining the Safaricom Foundation board. At the time we had ambitious plans regarding how we would provide charitable support for individuals across Kenya. Fourteen years later I am happy to witness the achievement of our intent in numerous ways. Through our support of grassroots initiatives that are crucial to everyday life – whether its access to water, investing in livestock as a means of production or secure classrooms for learning.
Yet over the years we have also had several learnings that have been instrumental in shaping the way we work. Three years ago, we embarked on a new direction that carved out our opportunities for philanthropic support in new and distinct ways. We adopted a strategy that bucketed our support into Education, Health and Economic Empowerment.
Furthermore, when COVID-19 hit in March 2020 our partners were able to pivot to new delivery methods or dial down activities as needed and pick up once restrictions eased.
Partnerships have helped our delivery models become seamless and we look forward to delving deeper into this approach which has proved its worth in this difficult year.
As we step into the future we look forward to scaling our efforts in order to transform more lives guided by a critical review of our three year strategy and widened base of partners. In doing so we continue to grow into our future duly informed by the lessons of the past.
Joseph Ogutu
Safaricom Foundation Chairman