At the beginning of a discussion on strategy in one of our programs in Kenya last year, I asked the following questions to a group of participants, “Out of all of the companies you deal with on a day-to-day basis, which company do you consider to be the most successful? And why do you think it is so successful?” Out of all of the possible companies to choose from, Safaricom (www.safaricom.com) was the number one answer in the group. The participants stated numerous reasons why Safaricom is as successful as it is:
- Wide coverage
- The reliability of its network
- The affordability of its services (you can send a free “please call me” sms text or call on credit of up to Kshs 50/-)
- The diversity of its product offering, the bundling of other products such as laptops with its services
- Its innovations
- Its responsiveness to customers
- Its dependability as a service provider
- Being “Kenyan” (many ordinary Kenyans own shares of the company)
- Its participation in corporate social responsibility (good corporate citizen)
- Its stability (Safaricom has consistently reported enviable earnings)
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