Nokia, was yesterday pronounced the 4th most sustainable company in the world in the 7th Annual rankings by Corporate Knights, a Toronto based media company. Sustainability is a blurred term to most of the world and Corporate Knights have adopted a wide range of aspects in their criteria for the rankings. These include the pay gap between the CEO and the average worker (This bit I am fascinated the most by), how the company manages energy use – or how it manages its contribution to global warming, whether it pays taxes and other factors.
This is good news. I have warm feelings for Nokia, and I am inclined to concur with the ratings – but for very local reasons. There is a criteria (at least in my books) that determines sustainability of a company and that is its direct meaningful investment in people. Nokia, in Kenya at least, has had an open policy towards growing the capacity of people – especially young people – to provide them with viable skills and a platform for innovation. The big deal here is that it gives Kenyan young people a fighting chance at growing globally competitive by sharing its technology and by enabling them to build applications and put them out there. Of course there is a selfish reason – they are after all a business. But it is a successful business that cares about people that ends up making those people successful and everyone involved is sustained.
And so,
- For supporting Mobile Monday in Kenya and around the world, elimisha_us forums and iHub fireside chats;
- For being a part of the technology innovations community in Kenya in an open way – Dorothy Ooko (@dorothyooko on twitter – Nokia’s EA marketing guru) has generally made herself terribly available to techpreneurs and the like in Kenya;
- For providing an equal platform for Kenyan and African young people to contribute to the global apps through the Ovi Store
This blog is happy to congratulate Nokia on being the world’s most sustainable technology company.
