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Maintaining reputation leadership
We use our annual Reputation Survey conducted with key internal
and external stakeholders to track our progress and benchmark our
reputation against our competitors and other leading brands. An
independent company conducts this survey on our behalf. This year,
we have again maintained the number one leadership position
relative to our competitors in the telecoms sector in South Africa.
During the year, we won various external awards, reflecting an
external perspective on our reputation leadership:
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Vodacom was voted Top Brand in the consumer and business
category by Sunday Times, and Vodacom Business received the
coveted Grand Prix Award for the overall favourite brand in
business.
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South African youth once again voted Vodacom as the
Coolest Brand in the Generation Next Awards.
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Our MyVodacom App won the Best Mobile App in the Digital
Impact Awards.
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Vodacom has been recognised as the Top Employer in the
telecoms industry and in the top ten across all industries by
the Top Employers Institute.
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Vodacom was awarded first position in the Mail & Guardian Top
Companies Reputation Index in the Telecoms industry and we
are in the top three across all industries in South Africa.
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Vodacom DRC won the VSAT Innovation for Africa Award at the
2015 AfricaCom Awards for its rural coverage system.
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The MyBroadband Awards, based on four consumer surveys,
voted Shameel Aziz Joosub IT person of the year.
Making a positive impact on society
The provision of reliable and affordable voice and data services is
a powerful driver of GDP growth and has enormous potential in
addressing key socioeconomic challenges. We have aligned our
strategic priorities with the national developmental objectives in
our countries of operation, and are partnering with a range of
stakeholders to deliver on these strategies.
Developing mobile solutions to address
socioeconomic challenges
Vodacom remains committed to working with governments and
communities to find innovative ways through which mobile
communication technologies can support financial inclusion,
food security, health, access to education and other priorities.
We are making a significant contribution to each of these areas both
through our core business activities and through the strategically
aligned work of the Vodacom Foundation.
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Promoting financial inclusion:
In Tanzania, Mozambique, the
DRC and Lesotho, our M-Pesa product – a key business growth
driver – is providing affordable access to banking to more than
9.2 million customers, many of whom live in remote rural areas.
M-Pesa continues to evolve beyond a traditional mobile money
transfer service to a service that enables people to save and
borrow, and to receive salaries and benefits in Tanzania.
1.6 million customers are now actively using our M-Pawa
savings and loans product. We are looking to expand these and
related services across our other International operations.
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Mobile agriculture solutions:
Through Vodafone – and in
partnership with the US Agency for International Development
(USAID) and the development NGO, TechnoServe we have been
implementing the Connected Farmer platform in
Tanzania and Mozambique. By promoting commercially
viable mobile agricultural solutions and enhanced connectivity,
we aim to increase the productivity, incomes and resilience of
half-a-million smallholder farmers across these countries.
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Education:
Our mobile education solutions, developed in
partnership with other ICT providers, is the cornerstone of our
investment in education. We have connected 2 194 schools and
81 ICT resource centres where we train teachers throughout
South Africa on using ICT in maths and science teaching, and on
integrating ICT in the classroom. Our e-school learning platform,
Vodacom e-school, provides more than 105 000 registered users
with content free of charge to their mobile device, tablet or PC.
We connected 3 087 schools with data access which includes our
universal service obligations target of 700 schools. In Tanzania,
we have partnered with Samsung to deliver the Smart Schools
programme that has installed ICT equipment in classrooms
and trained teachers on the integration of ICT into learning,
benefiting more than 6 000 students.
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Health:
Together with our partners, we have continued with
our nationwide ‘text-to-treatment’ campaigns to get the
message on treatment to as many affected people as possible.
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Vodacom Tanzania engaged the Moyo Fistula campaign with
2 274 women who suffer with obstetric fistula, benefiting
frommedical treatment and rehabilitation. The ‘Healthy
Pregnancy, Healthy Baby’ text messaging service offers free
text messages for pregnant women and mothers with
newborns with maternal health content. We have sent
55 million free messages to the one million women
registered on the programme.
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In Lesotho, we are using a text-to-treatment model to get
more HIV-positive pregnant women and children onto
effective care and treatment programmes, with M-Pesa
helping to facilitate transport for patients.
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In South Africa, we have rolled out our mobile application
solution in three provinces and 1 600 clinics to manage the
availability of chronic disease medication. Health workers
have been trained to use mobile phones to manage stock
levels of chronic medication.
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Safety:
The national gender-based violence command centre
in South Africa was named the Best Technology Innovation –
Small Centre of the World at the Global Best Contact Centre
Awards in the USA. The centre, developed in collaboration with
our associate Afrigis and subsidiary Mezzanine, provides support
and counselling to victims of gender-based violence.
Our performance
Our business
Governance review
Administration
Overview
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Reputation