Ndegwa Takes Over From Michael Joseph as Safaricom CEO

Mr. Peter Ndegwa will today officially take over the reins at Safaricom as the CEO from Michael Joseph who has been holding the office on as a caretaker CEO following the death of Bob Collymore who died on July 1 July last year from Cancer.

 “It is time to serve my country. There are two things that I value most, and that is humility and integrity. Integrity is about doing what you say and humility is knowing that there is always something more you can do,” said Mr Ndegwa.

He also noted that there are still great opportunities in data, M-Pesa and geographical expansion at a time when Safaricom has announced plans to enter Ethiopia and other markets, with the aim of liberalizing its telecommunication services.

Safaricom is more than just a telecommunications company. Voice is saturated but that what is happening everywhere in the world. Best companies renew themselves,” he noted.

Mpesa Factor

Mpesa has been Safaricom’s biggest earner and the company is looking to upgrade it to allow users to buy insurance and investing in wealth management.

Currently, Mpesa users can send and receive money, access banking services on M-shwari and KCB Mpesa and also Fuliza when they fall short of cash and need to complete paying for good and services.

Mpesa accounted for the company’s revenue of Sh240.3 billion, an increase of 19.2 percent to account for 31.2 percent. This was a significant growth considering that M-Pesa accounted for 23.3 percent of Safaricom’s annual revenue in the past three years.

Currently, transaction below Ksh. 1000.00 are free as the company looks for ways to mitigate the effects of the Corona virus on its customers. However, this could hurt Mpesa earnings as most of the transitions referred to as the kadogo economy are below Ksh.1000.00

First Kenyan

Mr. Ndegwa takes over as the first Kenyan to lead the company. His predecessor Bob Collymore was a South African while the first CEO Michael Joseph is an American.