Resilient Leadership The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the economy, but businesses have learnt some important lessons that will benefit them beyond the pandemic. Ryland Fisher investigates
Shameel Joosub Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO, says that partnerships were important in dealing with the lockdown from a commercial and social perspective. “The Vodacom Group stepped up immediately to accelerate the delivery of our social contract with various stakeholders in the markets where we operate through strategic partnerships with the likes of Discovery Health and Microsoft. Initiatives included free devices and airtime for healthcare workers, accelerating support to governments via donations of handsets, connectivity and medical equipment, and making contactless payments more accessible through zero-rated services and an expanded M-Pesa ecosystem to address social distancing challenges. “During the hard lockdown in 2020, some retail outlets were initially closed which meant that our customers were unable to repair their phones or take out new contracts, upgrade or do sim swops. From a network perspective, there was an extraordinary increase in data network traffic at the start of the national state of disaster lockdown of around 250 per cent for fixed and 40 per cent for mobile.”
Shameel Joosub
Joosub says Vodacom recently delivered a “pleasing set of annual financial results in difficult circumstances”. “We are acutely aware of the financial and personal pressures that individuals and businesses across our markets are currently facing, as global uncertainty continues in the midst of the pandemic.” He says the company conducts regular surveys among staff to gauge how their employees are doing. “This also helps us to better understand how we can best support them to remain safe and productive during this time, whether they are working from home or the office.” Vodacom’s “commitment to delivering on our purpose and social contract played a critical role in informing our response” to the pandemic. “The primary objectives of our COVID-19 crisis response was to help curb the spread of the virus and then assist with the economic recovery across our footprint through a six-point plan. This included to expand and future-proof our network infrastructure, accelerate support to governments - especially in eHealth and eEducation - enhance digital accessibility and literacy for the most vulnerable, promote widespread digital adoption for business, help countries exit lockdown through targeted digital adoption and enable cashless payments and financial services through M-Pesa.” Joosub adds that the safety of Vodacom’s staff and customers was their number one priority when the lockdown began. “We immediately implemented a work from home policy for all of our staff, which largely remains in place today as we take a hybrid approach to returning to the workplace according to government directives.
“The coronavirus has, as we all know, affected everything - economies, working patterns, travel and retail, socialising and entertainment. Among the many things that the pandemic has taught us is that collaboration and partnerships are crucial to help address problems and challenges as effectively as possible.” Ndivhuho Norman Munzhelele
Ndivhuho Norman Munzhelele Ndivhuho Norman Munzhelele, eNCA MD, says that interest in news “increased significantly” during lockdown. “This meant that as a news channel we had to be more agile and focused. “We have a strong, adaptable team who deliver quality content and that helped us achieve our business objectives. In the past year, we were innovative in terms of what we offered our audience and this sustained us commercially.” Munzhelele says that eNCA, like many other organisations, lost staff members due to the pandemic. “This has been a challenge for all of us. Our management team prioritises staff support and their well-being remains of paramount importance.
“Among the many things that the pandemic has taught us is that collaboration and partnerships are crucial to help address problems and challenges as effectively as possible.” – Shameel Joosub 6
THE NEW NORMAL
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2021/06/02 11:42 AM
