ShareKuwait: Zain, a leading provider of innovative technologies and digital lifestyle communications operating in seven markets across the Middle East and Africa, continues to be recognized for its pioneering endeavors in the areas of sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Zain was presented with the Leadership in Sustainability Award 2023; and Championship Award in Women’s Empowerment 2023 at the annual Global Good Governance Awards recently held in Dubai and organized by Cambridge IFA, a UK-based think tank. The Awards celebrate individuals, governments, public and private sector institutions and NGOs that exhibit governance and sustainability as their strategic priority.
Zain remains one of the most active organizations in the region with respect to delivering meaningful connectivity through its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives, with the company playing a crucial role in empowering the markets in which it operates to reap the benefits of digital transformation for the benefit of the communities it serves and beyond.
The recognition of these prestigious awards is testament not only to how much Zain believes in its purpose, but how relentless the company is in driving systemic change and providing meaningful connectivity to the communities it serves. Zain is among the most engaged organizations across the globe with respect to ensuring its operations are a positive, inclusive force for good, with a commitment to continuing to instill these principles at the heart of the organization.
Sustainability
Recently, Zain joined the United Nations (UN) Global Compact initiative, a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible business practices. Annually, the company publishes its sustainability report, where it details the progress and strategic efforts undertaken across Zain’s footprint as it continues to execute on its five-year, 2025 Corporate Sustainability strategy.
During the course of 2022, Zain cemented the four pillars of its sustainability strategy through a comprehensive engagement process with various stakeholders. This extended to climate change where the company plans to decarbonize the business and transition towards net-zero by 2050.
It also includes operating responsibly, whereby Zain will embed ESG principles across the entire value chain, inclusion, whereby the company will reduce the digital gap, and generation youth, which involves building resilience across Zain communities by targeting 16 million children and youth.
Women’s empowerment (WE)
Within the WE gender initiatives under Zain’s DEI activities, the company has been working on narrowing the gender divide in leadership roles at the company. With the development of a year-long middle management succession program, Zain is looking forward to drawing closer to 25 percent of its leadership consisting of women by 2025, against a background of just 14.5 percent when the program was first introduced in late 2017.
Zain firmly believes that the talent, creativity, and passion women bring to their roles is undeniable, and believes developing a WE program to initiate and measure actual progress achieved in this respect over time will reap benefits for the organization as a whole. Notably, Zain is focusing on addressing headcount gaps in technical and revenue-generating divisions through the development of women from STEM backgrounds.
During 2022, women made up 42 percent of Zain’s total recruitment, and the company recently revolutionized its staff-friendly family leave policy clauses, reinforcing its position as one of the most impactful DEI organizations in the region, if not the world.
