Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecom company has appointed board member Michael Joseph as the interim chief executive officer. His appointment comes days after its long-time executive Bob Collymore died of cancer.
Importantly, www.trendsnafrica.com & Africa4U have run an obituary on Collymore, who is popularly called Bubbly Bob. A long time player in the telecom domain, Joseph is expected to provide the necessary guidance and leadership to the company and its employees,, according to the company statement. Joseph served as Safaricom’s CEO between July 2000 and November 2010. An electrical engineer, Joseph had transformed the telecom from a subscriber base of less than 20,000 to over 16.71 million during his previous tenure as CEO. Safaricom is 35% owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and controls about 62% of Kenya’s mobile market with 30 million subscribers. Vodafone Group has a 5% stake.
Joseph is also presently chairman of Kenya Airways and he will continue in that capacity. Indications are that once a suitable candidate is identified to head Safaricom, Joseph may shed his additional responsibility. Among the various hats, Joseph is wearing now include Vodafone’s director of Mobile Money and a strategic advisor on the boards of Vodacom South Africa, Vodacom Tanzania VODA.TZ and Vodacom Mozambique.
Headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya, Safaricom is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central African region. Well known in Africa and outside, the company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, e-commerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. Its signature services include MPESA a mobile banking SMS-based apps. The company has more than 62% of the Kenyan market and is strategizing to corner more market share.
