MTN POSITION STATEMENT

Diversity and inclusion

Introduction

MTN’s purpose is driven by the strong belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern, connected life. Our inclusive purpose is the cornerstone of our vision, business choices, market presence and strategic intent. Our organisation and culture are defined by the rich and organic diversity of our business, people, markets and ecosystems. At the same time, our sense of inclusion is reflected in our choices, actions and way of life.

Our business is enabled by a global ecosystem extending far beyond our footprint with partnerships spanning almost every continent. Our people interact and work seamlessly across borders daily to connect and delight customers across our business. This makes us one of the largest and among the most diverse home-grown African companies. At MTN, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our identity, values and culture.

Purpose

• Our vision is to be the most inclusive and successful organisation across Africa and the Middle East, putting diversity into action to help employees, customers and communities thrive. Our diversity and inclusion philosophy gives credence to our purposeful actions that guide our actions:
  1. We respect one another for our shared humanity.
  2. We are connected for our shared purpose.
  3. We recognise and celebrate our individuality and uniqueness.
• Our vision is supported by guiding principles and values, which seek to place demonstrated commitment, contextual recognition of diversity, accountability, and conscientious action at the forefront.
• The following globally defined standards guide MTN’s purpose and vision:
• Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work - International Labour Organization.

• United Nations Global Compact Principles.
• Women’s Empowerment Principles.
• Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights United Nations.
• United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights United Nations.
• OECD Responsible Business Conduct & Human Rights Principles.
• King IV Code of Corporate Governance.
• Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards.

Key principles

• We believe diversity and inclusion are evolving constructs that need continuous reflection, transformation, and action. We have deliberately widened our diversity outlook to consider gender, generation, thought, race, ethnicity, social status/background, abilities, personalities, sexual orientation, age, nationality and religion.
• We recognise that diversity needs serious actionable targets, while inclusion needs mindful, conscious behaviours and strong championing across diversity segments.
• Our diversity and inclusion mission and agenda are leader-led. At MTN, our Group President and Chief Executive Officer are accountable for spearheading, inspiring and achieving our mission. At the same time, our Executive Committee and leaders across all our businesses and markets serve as chief champions to foster an environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion.
• The tenets of diversity and inclusion are embedded in our workforce and leadership practices. The employee conduct pledge, a part of each employee’s contract of employment, requires all employees to respect age, colleagues, suppliers, and those we serve, regardless of gender, race, religion, culture, mental and physical abilities, sexual orientation, disability, nationality and to treat them with dignity, respect and compassion.
• We constantly strive to build and enhance our practices, policies, initiatives, and measures to promote our diversity and inclusion principles. We continuously evaluate and scan our environment to undertake deliberate action for progress on our targeted commitments.

Our approach

Our diversity and inclusion vision and principles are supported by core fundamentals that embody our culture and affirm our progress towards higher levels of diversity and inclusion across the Group:

• Our Live Y’ello Values: These values underpin our cultural ecosystem, legacy and brand. We refreshed our values to express our purpose and what we strive to be as individuals and as an organisation. Our five core values and behaviours affirm our inclusion, respect, care, integrity and agility culture.
• Our diversity and inclusion philosophy and wireframe: We established our position and commitment to diversity and inclusion as core to our identity and purpose. We enhanced our philosophy with a global wireframe, which includes operating principles, accountability framework, tactical programmes, and group-wide interventions to foster diversity and inclusion.
• Our communities of practice and forums: We continue to drive our leadership commitment, governance and strategy for diversity and inclusion through our Group diversity and inclusion committee responsible for execution alignment across our diverse footprint. In addition, localised committees across several countries champion and deliberately focus on diversity and inclusion in the context of geography.
• Our measures of success: We focus on measuring diversity and inclusion progress through our standardised qualitative and quantitative metrics and measures across the Group.
• Our accountability for progress: Accountability for progress is essential in our mission for authentic inclusion. To this end, we have established short and long-range diversity and inclusion performance targets to channel efforts and affect meaningful change across our organisation.

Nationality, generations and ethnicities

• We support equal employment opportunities and diversity and inclusion for our employees.
• We believe in treating each employee and applicant for employment fairly and with dignity.
We base our employment decisions on merit, experience and potential without regard to race, colour, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by law.
• We make every effort to attract, invest in, and develop the talents of diverse people who reflect the society and community in which we live. We welcome and support people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and religions and seek to foster teamwork and effective partnerships among our employees.
• The strength of our geographic and ethnic diversity is integral to our business and empowers us to foster and promote an inclusive culture for our people, markets, and communities. We ensure that our organisations reflect a variety in age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic/racial/religious groups, persons with disabilities and those with HIV.

Differently abled persons

• We believe that differently abled persons contribute to the richness and diversity of our organisation. We are committed to promoting and protecting the rights and upholding the dignity of persons with disabilities.
• We are committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities enjoy the same rights and opportunities as everyone else and are treated equally.
• We have repositioned our hiring strategies to consciously improve talent acquisition of differently abled persons while continuing to invest in infrastructure to create conducive- work environments.
• We strive to reduce stigma and discrimination that leads to excluding persons with disabilities from the workplace.
• We have undertaken initiatives to open doors for their participation and recognition as active contributing members of society who must not face discrimination.
• We strive to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, including implementing measures that facilitate and support capacity building, including exchanging and sharing information, experience, training, programmes, and best practices.

Women equality

MTN is committed to the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the workplace and society. We believe that this is morally right and that there is a business imperative for women’s empowerment.

• We are committed to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and eradicating all forms of unfair gender practices. We have zero tolerance towards all forms of discrimination or violence in the workplace and society.
• We strive to maintain just and favourable working conditions, ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of all women and men workers.
• We promote education, training, and professional development for women.
• We establish company-wide goals and targets for gender equality. We measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.
• We have adopted an ‘’equal pay for equal work’’ philosophy to address gender parity.
• We implement gender-sensitive recruitment and retention practices and proactively recruit and appoint women across all levels of the organisation.
• We offer flexible work options, leave and re-entry opportunities, and equal pay and status positions. We support child and dependent care access by providing services, resources and information to both women and men.
• We invest in workplace policies and programmes that open avenues for the advancement of women at all levels and across all business areas and encourage women to enter non- traditional job fields.
• We strive to address the inequalities that hinder girls and women from fully participating in and benefiting from the bold, new digital world.
• We engage internal and external stakeholders in developing company policies, programmes and implementation plans that advance equality.

Diverse work environment

• We are committed to fostering a work environment where everyone is included and has equal opportunity to thrive, grow, succeed, and truly belong.
• We strive to create an enabling environment that addresses our diverse workforce’s needs and promotes the advancement of all persons and authentic belonging in the workplace.
• Every person associated with MTN has the fundamental right to gender equality and human dignity. We treat all employees fairly at work, respecting and supporting their basic human rights and their right to non- discrimination.
• We firmly adopt a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of harassment and discrimination and adopt decisive steps to foster an inclusive and safe culture for our employees and extended ecosystem at MTN. We regard harassment and discrimination as a serious offence and a gross violation of fundamental rights detrimental to the MTN Group’s status. Transgressors are, therefore, subject to our disciplinary procedures.
• We ensure all our people's health, safety, and wellbeing through workplace and employee support benefits/programmes/initiatives across our markets.
• We ensure that work-life balance is enabled through policies that support all persons' educational, career and occupationally directed development.

Roles and responsibilities

• Our Board, through the Group Social, Ethics and Sustainability Committee, oversees the Company’s actions and performance regarding diversity and inclusion.
• The Group's Executive Committee is responsible for policy implementation and managing organisational diversity and inclusion aspirations and risks, driven by the Group Human Resources function.

Applicability and transparency

• Our diversity and inclusion framework and related policies apply to all our directors, officers, employees, and representatives of the Company, whether permanent, temporary or on contract.
• We expect our intermediaries, agents, contractors, suppliers, and business partners to uphold the same standards.
• We are committed to transparency and disclosure regarding diversity and inclusion at MTN.

Communication and training

MTN’s diversity and inclusion framework and related policies are shared with all employees of MTN’s operating entities, subsidiaries and partners. Policies and guidances may be localised and translated into local languages to support implementation, as required. Digital learning content is available to our employees and partners to ensure awareness and sensitisation (on an annual basis).

Definitions

• Diversity – an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures, the presence of difference.
• Inclusion - a concept related to the effective integration and active participation of all employees, which considers the uniqueness of each individual's characteristics, ways of thinking, skills, capabilities, and experiences as an opportunity to make better decisions and create value for the business.