Kenyan telco Safaricom has appointed former CEO, Michael Joseph as the firm’s Chair after the retirement of long-serving Chair, Nicholas Ng’ang’a.

In a statement earlier today, Safaricom’s CEO, Peter Ndegwa said Joseph’s appointment will take effect as from August 1st, 2020.

Ng’ang’a had held the position for 13 years, having joined the Safaricom board in January of 2007. Before this he had been a member of the board since May of 2004 as a non-executive director.

CEO, Peter Ndegwa, said, “Mr Ng’ang’a took up the leadership reins at a time when the government was starting the process of offering 25 percent of its shares to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2008. He has managed to grow shareholder value by 607 percent since listing.”

Ng’ang’a is credited with steering Safaricom through various milestones among them the rapid network development in the country, diversity and inclusion at the telco, and growing the company’s fortunes.

“At the time of his appointment as chairman, Safaricom had slightly over six million customers, 1,000 employees and only eight Safaricom shops across the country. Mr Ng’ang’a retires from the telco that now serves over 35.6 million customers, across 50 shops and hundreds of service desks across the country, with a staff force of over 6,500 employees,” added Ndegwa.

The appointment marks Michael Joseph’s return to Safaricom’s higher management. He previously served as the telco’s CEO between 2000 – November 2010, and was also as the acting CEO after the passing of Bob Collymore due to cancer in July 2019. He has also served as a non-executive board member since September 2008.

Safaricom appointed Peter Ndegwa as CEO to replace Collymore from April 1st of this year.

“Michael is not a stranger to the Safaricom family… and joins with a mandate to improve customer sentiment, greater brand consideration and to bolster our digital transformation agenda,” said Mr Ndegwa, “I look forward to continue working with Michael in his new role.”