Report
Vodacom Community Services, a program of Vodacom, South Africa’s largest cellular phone company, is a successful example of how business and government can work together to achieve significant social and economic goals. Community Services began under a 1994 government mandate to provide telecommunications services in under-serviced, disadvantaged communities. Vodacom’s development of an innovative way to meet this mandate, via entrepreneur-owned and operated phone shops, has both provided affordable communication services to millions of South Africans and empowered thousands of previously disadvantaged individuals with income-generating opportunities and lasting business skills.