By Nora Wahby, Vice President and Head of Ericsson West Africa and Morocco
Be it working on the latest tech, designing solutions for our customers, or contributing to the next big innovation – we are all committed to what we do at Ericsson. This commitment is what makes us accountable and responsible to conduct our business responsibly. We work continuously to improve and strengthen our business practices, with a focus on building and maintaining trust, transparency and integrity.
Ericsson takes pride in being a responsible, relevant driver of positive change within the communities and societies we impact. To succeed, we must set a high standard for winning business on merit, ability and fairness, and when needed, remediate compliance-related risks.
Codes of Ethics
When we join Ericsson, we make a personal commitment by signing our Code of Business Ethics (CoBE) document. This is our guiding framework to be a trusted partner, to conduct business responsibly and to remind us that every action count.
Following our Code of Business Ethics in everything we do is an oath we all take year-on-year to conduct ourselves and do our business responsibly and to live up to our purpose of empowering an intelligent, sustainable and connected world. We create intelligent technologies that connect societies and industries, driving positive change.
We require our business partners to commit to our standards as defined inThe Ericsson Code of Conduct for Business Partners. This document outlines Ericsson’s expectations and requirements in key areas such as anti-corruption, labor and human rights, occupational health and safety, environment and climate change.
The Ericsson Code of Business Ethics and Code of Conduct for Business Partners go beyond fulfilling a legal requirement. It is a commitment to do the right thing, the right way, always.
I have seen this strong commitment being reflected across Ericsson. This is whathelps us attract talents and business partners, which in turn inspires us to empower our people, not just to make ethical decisions but also the right ones.
AfricaInMotion
Our #AfricaInMotion campaign is something that I often talk aboutand take as an example. The key vision behind the campaign was to drive our “accelerate Africa strategy”, enabling social, technological and financial inclusion for a young, dynamic and growing population. The foundation of this vision lies in conducting our business responsibly so that our end-users can benefit from the full potential of connectivity and secure sustainable development.
Africa in Motion: Accelerating Africa’s digital future – Ericsson
The Effort
We have been making significant efforts to strengthen our Ethics & Compliance program with policies, processes and tools for preventing, detecting, reporting and remediating non-compliance. We have therefore put our focus on four areas:
- Leadership and culture
- Third party engagements
- Compliance and Investigation capabilities
- Internal controls
I have seen the quest of driving business responsiblybeing followed and implemented in our daily work. That is why I am proud to say that demonstrating strong ethics and integrity is the cornerstone of our culture. These are as critical to our business as technology and innovation.
Ethical businessfor us is not just about complying with legal obligations. We are equally committed to ethical conduct and acting with integrity in how we interact with our colleagues, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, and how we engage with the communities at large.After all, it’s all about doing the right thing.