Section 172 statement
This section explains how the Board engaged with stakeholders’ interests and concerns and considered them when making business decisions in 2024/25, in relation to their duties under Section 172 (a) to (f) of the Companies Act 2006.
We aim to consistently apply our purpose, vision and core values (particularly ‘respectful’) when making decisions and delivering our strategy. This helps us meaningfully engage with all of our stakeholders, regardless of the outcome of any particular decision.
Stakeholder engagement takes place at both Group and local operational level. Directors are kept informed about our stakeholders’ views in a number of ways, including through their own direct interactions.
In 2024/25, the Board and its committees considered information from across Airtel Africa and received presentations from management. All Board papers include stakeholder interests relevant to the decisions being considered. Directors regularly visit our local operations, and we hold Board meetings at regional offices to hear from representatives from the local business.
These measures enabled the Board to consider the likely consequences of decisions over the long term, and any potential impacts on stakeholders. We know our stakeholders will hold a range of views about the decisions we take – and that not everything we do will please everyone, all the time.
Our chair is committed to ensuring that the Board hears both positive and negative stakeholder views and is supported in this by the executive team. The chair, the chairs of each committee, senior independent director, CEO, CFO and our company secretary are all available to address concerns raised by stakeholders.
All engagements with stakeholders by anyone at Airtel Africa are underpinned by our set of business standards, which have stakeholder interests at their core. Our Code of Conduct sets out our high expectations for how all of us should behave, including respect for human rights, data privacy, and always acting lawfully. This underpins our belief that the value we create as a business must ultimately be shared between all stakeholders and contribute towards renewing and reaffirming the trust they have in us – and that we have in them.
How we work to understand our stakeholders
Identifying our key stakeholders and their interests, needs and level of influence is fundamental to successfully engaging with them.
Our approach to identifying stakeholders is led by the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard developed by AccountAbility as a guiding framework. This defines key stakeholders as ‘individuals, groups of individuals or organisations that affect and/or could be affected by an organisation’s activities, products or services and associated performance with regard to the issues to be addressed by the engagement’.
We recognise stakeholders on whom we have the most significant impact and who have the most material influence on our activities. The priority stakeholders as identified in our matrix are:
Our customers
Our people
Our communities
Our partners and suppliers
Governments and regulators
Shareholders
Media
NGOs