The Safaricom board has extended Bob Collymore’s term by another two years to 2019, two years after the same board extended Collymore’s tenure in May 2015. Collymore took over from Michael Joseph in August 2010 and has lead Safaricom to the giant it’s today.
Speaking during the announcement of the firm’s full year results today, Safaricom board chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a said, “Sustaining this growth is key to the Board. This is why I am very pleased to announce that the Board has decided to extend the contract of our CEO, Bob Collymore, for an additional two years.”
“Bob has successfully navigated our company through some of its most difficult years, even as he explored new areas of business that will shape this company’s future in the decades to come. He has our full confidence and support. It is my great pleasure and privilege as the Chairman of the Safaricom Board, to formally welcome you to the announcement of our full year results for the financial year ending 31 March 2017,” Ng’ang’a added.
Under Collymore’s watch, Safaricom has been at the forefront of transforming lives by installing the world’s first aerial water piping system in Kibera in partnership with SHOFCO. The telcos has also partnered with the Flying Doctor’s Society to help Fistula patients and through its foundation invested in over 120 projects that aim to impact Kenyan lives beyond the network.
Through products like M-TIBA, for instance, the firm is enabling over 500,000 people to access inclusive healthcare services and through a partnership with PharmAccess and CarePay, it has on-boarded over 380 clinics in Nairobi.
Over the past decade, for every Sh1 revenue generated by Safaricom over the past decade, an additional Sh2 was added to the economy and for every Sh1 million of revenue generated by Safaricom, four jobs were sustained per year. Safaricom’s contribution to the national GDP has averaged at about 6% and M-PESA has lifted roughly 2% of Kenyan households from extreme poverty. In terms of products, Safaricom last year launched Hakikisha to provide more transparency on M-PESA, BLAZE, a youth friendly sub-brand, and recently M-Pesa Kadogo for free transfers below Ksh 100. Safaricom M-PESA App which was recently launched last week crossed one millionth downloads. The firm says 5 million customers have signed up for My Data Manager, which allows them to manage their internet use more effectively.
Safaricom also spent Sh35 billion this year to build the most robust network in the region and now has over 4,600 base stations on its network, covering over 90% of the population. The firm also rolled out a record 1,100 4G stations in the year, marking the most rapid rollout of base stations in this company’s history.
Other achievements under Bob include Safaricom’s new ‘Home’ department, tasked with delivering fibre which has already passed 53,000 homes and the new M-PESA One Tap which will reduce the number of steps that a customer must undertake to pay for goods or services from the current eight steps to just one tap.
