In Summary
They will also put paid to speculators--including prominent politicians--who use the wrong data to tarnish their business image.
Vodacom Tanzania’s decision to openly announce
its revenue, expenditure, investment and profit as well as operational
challenges for the 2014 calendar year sets high standards for companies
in all sectors. As a private firm, Vodacom is not obliged to meet the
strict conditions of capital markets and securities--including the one
that compels firms to publish their financial results. But,
understanding that they do business with people and people have the
right to know, the leading mobile phone firm--in terms of subscriber
numbers--decided to open up on its financials.
Transparent companies win more trust from the
public, both internal and external, including customers and investors.
No customer wants to be associated with a company whose deals are a top
secret known only to a handful of beneficiaries.
The fact is that the more companies disclose about
where they are making money and how they are spending their resources,
the more confident investors and customers can be about their
fundamentals.
At a time when the government is struggling with
budget execution amid dwindling revenues, fuelled by donor reluctance to
honour their pledges, it can only be a good move for local companies
that are deemed to be making a lot of cash to openly declare how much
they earn and how the money is shared among stakeholders.
We live in hope, therefore, that other companies
in telecommunication, mining, real estate, media and manufacturing will
go the same route as Vodacom.
In doing so, they will be sending a strong message
that theirs are credible outfits that have nothing to hide and that
they are here to stay for the general good of the country and the
people. They will also put paid to speculators--including prominent
politicians--who use the wrong data to tarnish their business image.
We do not expect them to reveal their business
strategies, of course. We only want them to put out data that will
entice Tanzanians to continue doing business with them while, simult
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