“For Africa, inclusion cannot wait”

GRANDSTAND. While waiting for the Zlecaf to materialize, the continent needs high-impact initiatives that companies must build through inclusive solutions.

Par Hassanein Hiridjee*

For Hassanein Hiridjee, president of the Axian group based in Madagascar and co-creator of the ESCP Business School’s “Responsible Innovation in Africa” ​​chair, while waiting for the realization of the African Free Trade Zone (Zlecaf), companies must build inclusive solutions to increase their impact beyond the economic.
© DR

Published on 03/24/2023 at 5:58 p.m.

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Le 36^e African Union summit reaffirmed in Addis Ababa a few days ago the strategic importance of creating the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlecaf). He demonstrated the unanimity of Heads of State behind this ambitious initiative, which will revolutionize the continent’s economic development by increasing accessibility to essential goods, services and infrastructure for 1.3 billion inhabitants. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. The Zlecaf will take time to be operational. However, inclusion cannot wait, the continent cannot wait and we entrepreneurs do not need Zlecaf to lead the battle for accessibility on the ground.

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Inclusion, a crucial need…

Almost five years ago, I decided to put positive impact at the heart of the group’s business model with the aim of increasing tenfold access to essential goods such as energy, financing and digital technology. After spending months listening to our customers and analyzing their needs, whether they are consumers, microentrepreneurs, SMEs, large companies, start-ups, we understood that they were sorely lacking in solutions adapted to their daily lives and capable of simplifying them. . We have therefore evolved our infrastructure and service offer towards a value proposition focused on financial, energy and digital inclusion.

It was a profound strategic shift, a precursor to a time when impact and CSR were not yet as popularized as they are today. It was a transformation at all levels, a transformation that will never be completed, because the speed at which the African continent is changing and advancing forces us to perpetually reinvent ourselves. But the B-corp label of WeLight obtained a few weeks ago – a great source of pride! – and the recruitment of our Chief Impact & Sustainability Officer at the end of December invite me to draw up an initial assessment of our impact trajectory.

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…on the road to business impact…

The hardest part is not developing a value proposition. We certainly have to take risks, get out of our swim lane, dare to launch new offers, but innovation, audacity and creativity being anchored in the group’s DNA, this part is actually the most exciting. . Every day, we ask ourselves the question of how to meet this or that new need, clearly identified but not addressed until now.

The most complex thing is probably to change our governance and our managerial culture. We asked our managers, almost overnight, to review the way they assess their performance – their own and that of their employees – by integrating non-financial criteria, such as reducing the carbon footprint of their activities. , the promotion of parity and diversity in their teams, etc.

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… that should be planned and measured

The creation and implementation of reporting processes and tools, both by our teams and by our suppliers, our partners, our customers, was and continues to be a difficult undertaking, but certainly not impossible! The proof ? At the end of 2022, we published the second opus of our annual impact report and set up an internal impact scoring on which part of the managers’ remuneration is directly indexed. We are also the first pan-African group to carry out a Scope-III audit in 2021, because there is no impact without the ability to measure it.

To all African bosses, and whatever the size of your business, get started! You will quickly be addicted to the virtuous dynamics and positive change that you will generate around you: the mobilization and pride in the eyes of your employees, the happiness of your customers, the energy and support of your partners, the increased confidence of your investors, but also confidence in the future and, above all, a response commensurate with the challenges and expectations of our continent.

* Chairman of the Axian group, creator, with ESCP Business School, of the “Responsible Innovation in Africa” Chair