KABUL (Roshan press serice) – Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider, announced that it has been named one of the World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Social Good by Fast Company business magazine. Fast Company recently released its annual Top 50 and Top 10 ranking of the Most Innovative Companies worldwide for various business and innovation categories.

The Top 10 Most Innovative Companies list usually includes very prominent international corporations, including tech giants such as Apple and Google. This is the first time that an Afghan company has been included in Fast Company’s ranking, bringing prestige and honour to Afghanistan and especially to the country’s telecom industry. In the Social Good section Roshan was ranked number seven alongside two of the most well-known global companies, General Electric and Intel Corporation.

When Roshan launched its operations in 2003 in Afghanistan, there were barely 100,000 people with access to a phone. Fast forward to over a decade later, Roshan has over 6.5 million customers and has invested more than $600 mln in telecom infrastructure in Afghanistan. Roshan has also created over 35,000 jobs both directly and indirectly and currently employs over 11,00 employees, of whom 20% are women. Fast Company recognized Roshan for its ethical business practices and work on social and economic development across Afghanistan.

“Being named one of the world’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Social Good is a proud moment for us as a leading Afghan telecom company and for Afghanistan that our innovative work and social contributions has been recognized globally,” said Karim Khoja, CEO of Roshan. “Roshan is not just a telecom company but a social enterprise, leveraging its robust nationwide network and innovative technology to empower Afghans across the country.”

Through their dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm, Roshan Community, theh have undertaken a number of programs, including the Roshan Telemedicine program which links 4 hospitals across Afghanistan to one of the best equipped and most modern hospitals in the region, the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.