Peter Ndegwa named new CEO of Safaricom

Peter Ndegwa has been named as the new Safaricom Chief Executive Officer. The Safaricom PLC Board of Directors in a statement on Thursday said Ndegwa’s appointment will take effect from April 1, 2020.

Ndegwa joins Safaricom from Diageo PLC where he is the Managing Director of Diageo Continental Europe.

“Peter brings a wealth of experience in General Management, Commercial and Business Strategy, Sales and Finance Operations, having spent over 25 years in various roles within the Financial Services and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors in Africa and Europe,” Safaricom said in a statement by Chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a.

Ndegwa will take over from Michael Joseph who made a comeback in an acting capacity at the helm of East Africa’s largest telco in July following the death of Bob Collymore.

Collymore, passed away in June after battling cancer. The late Collymore had himself took over from Joseph as Safaricom CEO in November 2010.

“We are confident that Peter will carry on our vision of transforming lives while keeping us focused on meeting our customers’ needs and holding us to our new commitment of being simple, transparent and honest,” the statement from Safaricom read.

Safaricom is 35 per cent owned by South Africa’s Vodacom, the Kenya government has a 35 per cent stake, 25 per cent is traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange while  Vodafone Group has a five per cent stake.

The giant telco controls about 62% of Kenya’s mobile market with over 30 million subscribers.