Safaricom has raised the pitch for public private partnerships (PPPs) as a means to achieving faster economic growth.

According to the telco, the private sector should go beyond profit making, paying taxes and creating direct and indirect employment by also contributing to the social stability necessary for national development.

Joseph Ogutu, Chief Special Projects Officer at Safaricom, addressed delegates at the 6th Annual Devolution Conference at Kirinyaga University, Kirinyaga County and said: "With the implementation of the Big Four Agenda now at the top of everyone's mind, there is a huge opportunity for partnerships between us in the private sector and both levels of government to help accomplish the noble objective of improving people's lives."

The Big Four Agenda, spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta, is described as the country's growth and development plan, and is focused on manufacturing, housing, health and food security.

Ogutu said, "We cannot be successful when the very people we expect to consume our products and services are struggling to put food on the table and are unable to access affordable healthcare."

The company has rolled out M-TIBA, a private-sector driven initiative designed to enable citizens save for their healthcare.

According to Safaricom, the solution was developed by the PharmAccess Foundation with backing from the M-PESA Foundation. It has been deployed in Kisumu, Machakos and Nyeri in the pilot phase launched last year.

"In the first three months, M-TIBA was used to register 2.6 million residents of the three counties on to the platform. This means that there are now an additional 2.6 million people who are in a position to set aside a small amount of money regularly to cater for their healthcare," said Ogutu.