Peter Ndegwa reports today as the new Safaricom CEO. Ndegwa was appointed in the position in October 2019 following the demise of the companies CEO Bob Collymore in July 2019.
He takes over the position from the interim CEO Michael Joseph. Mr Ndegwa will also become Safaricom’s first Kenyan CEO. Taking up the position when the world is undergoing a critical moment with the coronavirus pandemic.
Businesses have closed down globally and even locally some struggling to stay afloat during the Coronavirus pandemic. Which might affect his first period in office. He believes that the pandemic will change the way Kenyans interact with one another. And it will create opportunities in Agriculture, health and education.
Before his appointment at Safaricom, Peter Ndegwa was the managing director of Continental Europe at Diageo. Managing the spirits and beer business across 50 countries in Western and Eastern Europe and Russia.
He has worked for Guinness Nigeria a subsidiary of Diageo as the company’s CEO. Has served for eight years in senior director role at the East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) a subsidiary of Diageo. He started his career at the PWC where he worked for 11 years before joining Diageo.
Mr Ndegwa is an Alumnus of the Starehe Boys Center. He holds a bachelors degree in Economics at the University of Nairobi and an MBA at the London School of Business. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).
Speaking on his strategy, Mr Ndegwa plans to do things more differently despite the COVID-19 crisis. “It is time to serve my country. There are two things that I value most, which are humility and integrity. He talks on Integrity as doing what you say and humility as knowing that there is always more that you can do,” said Mr Ndegwa.
As he takes over the new position, he asks Kenyans to expect him to help Safaricom define its next phase of growth adding that his DNA is getting things done. The company currently boast of about 60 billion in profits per year and revenues of about Sh250 billion annually.
Deploying the 4G network across the country is one of the company’s strategies as he takes over the new position.