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Zain’s Response to COVID-19

The pandemic continued to disrupt societies across the world, causing serious economic downturns and further exacerbating social inequalities. Moving forward with our commitment to provide meaningful connectivity and as part of Zain’s social contract, the company continued to build resilience across its footprint.

Through Zain’s digital transformation strategy, the company played a significant role in enabling and accelerating access to connectivity in the communities in which we operate.

Zain ensured that all its employees and their family members had access to COVID-19 vaccines and continued with the implementation of health and safety protocols across its value chain.

The following is a summary of the various COVID-related activities carried out by Zain during the course of the year:

Zain & UNICEF Ramadan Commercial

The annual Zain Ramadan commercial was executed in partnership with UNICEF. The campaign entitled “No one is safe, until we are all safe” addressed the challenge of vaccine hesitancy across the region, so as to encourage the public to take the COVID-19 vaccine and help curb the transmission of the virus. The commercial was broadcast on MBC 1, MBC Drama, Al Rai, KW TV and Shahid TV during the holy month of Ramadan and uploaded to Zain’s YouTube channel, exceeding 10 million views.

Health & Safety

To support governments where Zain operates and grant people access to vaccinations, the company organized vaccination drives for employees and their family members in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. In total, 4,794 people were vaccinated. In addition, Zain Jordan lent its mobile clinic to the National Center for Security & Crisis to facilitate vaccination drives to the public in the Kingdom. By the end of 2021, 6,900 people had been vaccinated through the Zain Mobile Clinic.
Zain Saudi Arabia hosted a sleeping disorders session for employees to mitigate some of the mental health impacts of the pandemic. More than 300 people attended.
To ensure Iraqi residents were able to reach government entities and health sectors at all times, Zain provided a free short code to enable users to call at no cost.
Zain Kuwait continued to assist the Ministry of Health through the Shlonik application, which is used to ensure residents adhere to quarantine regulations and safety precautions. Since its launch, 1.77 million people have registered on the app. In addition, 630,000 people benefited from the in-app telehealth platform that provides people in quarantine a medical pass if required, access to doctors for medical consultation, and delivery of medication.

Education

Due to abrupt lockdowns and social distancing practices, the education sector has faced significant challenges throughout the pandemic. These developments required a rapid response to ensure young people continued their education. As governments were already overstretched, Zain saw this as an opportunity to provide students access to educational platforms and information relevant to their studies.

Through Zain Jordan’s partnership with UNICEF, the B12 educational platform was launched to support virtual learning. Currently, 5,000 students are benefiting from the service.

To facilitate remote learning and support the educational sector in times of crisis, Zain Iraq offered data packages at no charge for students and teachers to access online educational platforms.

For the Sudanese Certificate Exam, Zain disseminated a bulk SMS to 5 million customers to raise awareness about the exam to students and their families.

Public Awareness Campaigns

The pandemic demonstrated how the spread of false or misleading information regarding health and safety can hinder the efforts to combat COVID-19. Zain’s response to this was to work with governmental agencies to ensure access to the correct information.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Zain Iraq installed 14 billboards in strategic locations across Baghdad to raise awareness about the vaccine. The billboards contained information on preventative measures individuals can take to avoid contracting the virus.

Financial Inclusion and supporting Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs)

To provide support and build much needed resilience across the startup community, Zain introduced new cashless payment streams to alleviate financial pressures and support capacity building.

In Zain Jordan, Zain Cash, an electronic mobile payment service, provided:

New customers the ability to open their own wallets virtually from home, without the need to visit Zain shops or dealers, benefiting more than 100,000 people
Zain customers were provided the option to recharge their line balance online at a discounted rate during quarantine
A channel was established to accept donations from subscribers to support the Ministry of Health’s efforts
Zain Cash customers were given access to cash-in their wallet through the Zain Jordan website using a quick-pay service through a credit card, impacting 8,000 people
Zain Cash in Jordan was used as a main channel for processing bulk payout transactions, including government subsidies, salaries and other aid funds through e-wallets. Zain Cash handled 400,000 bulk payout transactions, totaling JOD 59 million, impacting more than 20,000 people.

Zain Jordan’s Innovation Campus (ZINC) launched “Zain Al Mubadara 5”, a program that supports startups’ recovery during COVID-19. The initiative offers two tracks, one for entrepreneurs with a business idea and one for existing startup businesses. In total, 144 ideas and 32 startups were supported through financial and capacity building initiatives.

To support social distancing requirements, Zain Iraq launched new online payment gateway channels available through the company website and the Zain Iraq B2B mobile app.

To support enterprises of all sizes in meeting remote communication needs, Zain Saudi Arabia offered unlimited closed user group calls at no charge for one month, with the option for autorenewal.

Further details of Zain’s response to the pandemic may be found here:

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