Liquid Telecom Kenya reveals its sustainability gains

Liquid Telecom Kenya, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, has today published its second annual Sustainability Report revealing the internal re-organisation and value initiatives that have helped it drive the company’s rapid revenue and profit growth.

Having has invested heavily in its countrywide infrastructure and product offering to achieve a consistent strong sales growth of 20 percent annually, the company’s sharpest growth was in its business internet services, which accounted for 56 percent of total sales last year, compared with 47 percent the year before.

“We believe the strength of this business performance reflects the better value and wider range of services we have been able to offer as a result of the financial, transparency and efficiency gains from our sustainability initiatives,” said Adil Youssefi, Regional CEO of East Africa, Liquid Telecom

Globally, a commitment to sustainability has been found to increase sales growth by as much as 20%, according to Harvard University.

Liquid Telecom Kenya adopted KEPSA’s Code of Business Ethics in 2015. It has since focused intensively on eliminating conflicts of interest, upholding integrity in business, ensuring efficient use of resources, and reducing its environmental impact.

In 2017, the company reduced its diesel use by 35% by installing solar panels, deploying voltage regulators on generators, and building a power substation to reduce diesel use triggered by grid power outages. The introduction of energy saving bulbs saved a further Ksh2m in electricity costs.

“As a recognised innovator and ISP of choice in the Kenyan telecoms market, we believe that our ongoing commitment to building a strong and socially responsible business is, furthermore, delivering accelerated economic development for Kenya as well as expanded job opportunities for the youth.” 

Ben Roberts, Chairman of Liquid Telecom Kenya

The company also undertook an internal audit of suppliers to achieve improvements in the value delivered and introduced tougher measures to eliminate and prevent conflicts of interest and inappropriate pricing. The overhaul led to substantial savings.

“As a recognised innovator and ISP of choice in the Kenyan telecoms market, we believe that our ongoing commitment to building a strong and socially responsible business is, furthermore, delivering accelerated economic development for Kenya as well as expanded job opportunities for the youth,” said Ben Roberts, Chairman of Liquid Telecom Kenya.

Other initiatives carried out by Liquid Telecom Kenya in the last 12 months include:

A ground-breaking 10-year partnership with Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO), which will enable Liquid Telecom Kenya to operate KETRACO’s Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) fibre cable and expand  East Africa’s internet network.

The completion of an advanced fibre network across Kenya’s 47 counties providing a ten-fold increase in speeds and sharply reduced downtime. This has included the installation of more than 1,200 new edge switches in Nairobi.

Supporting Kenyan customers with their digital transformation. For example, Umoja Rubber factory now has a turn-around time of 24 hours for a truckload of shoes ordered based on electronic ordering, while St Francis Community hospital in Kasarani has cut the cost of X-rays and CT scans to less than a quarter of the normal price by using a Liquid Telecom Kenya connection to roll out new telemedicine services.