Kenyan operator Safaricom is one of a number of technology companies that has joined an initiative for disability inclusion.
The initiative is the Valuable 500, a movement that brings together CEOs responsible for huge organisations to put disability inclusion on the global business leadership agenda. Safaricom is the first company in Kenya and the fourth in Africa to join the movement.
Its aim is to boost innovation in the accessible world and help advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact more than 250 companies, including operators BT, NTT Docomo, O2 UK, Orange, Telefonica, Beeline, and Vodafone Group, support The Valuable 500 campaign, which aims to sign up 500 global business leaders and CEOs before the UN General Assembly in mid-September.
The Valuable 500 also has automobile manufacturer Audi, IT service management company CGI IT UK, Mastercard, Sky and hotel booking website Trivago among its signatories. The campaign was launched at the 2019 World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting.
Commenting on the news, interim Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph highlighted the operator’s commitment to drive the disability inclusion agenda in the communities it serves, in alignment with the UN SDGs.
The Valuable 500’s founder Caroline Casey has called for the technology sector to prioritise inclusion for the 1.3 billion disabled people worldwide. Casey is an award-winning social entrepreneur. Over the past two decades she has set up several organisations and initiatives centred on disability business inclusion.
