Safaricom boss Bob Collymore extends stay in office by one year

The chief executive of Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Bob Collymore has said he will stay on for an extra year in his role.

“I am actually not going anywhere. I owe the company about one year. I am here until the year 2020,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting.

His term was due to end in August.

Collymore said he owes the telco for time spent away from office during the time he was battling with cancer.

Last month, Reuters reported that Collymore planned to step down in August for health reasons but that the government’s insistence he should be succeeded by a Kenyan had delayed announcing a replacement.

Collymore’s tenure at Safaricom has extended beyond what may seem sentimental, to be heavily backed by an exemplary performance.

He ensured that the firm’s continued hold on the Kenyan telco sector and return on investments for shareholders.

At the start of his now nearly nine-year tenure, Collymore was tasked with expanding the firm’s M-Pesa services by increasing on the infant’s product offering and consolidating on the company’s fixed and mobile data growth.

Safaricom had at this time a total of 15.79 million customers, and a service revenue of Ksh.83.96 billion having just paid out a dividend of Ksh.8 billion.

M-Pesa users stood at 9.48 million with a total of 17,652 agents.

A year into his tenure, the firm paid out an increased dividend pay-out of Ksh.8.8 billion as revenues rose by 14 percent to Ksh.107 billion while both subscribers and Mpesa agents soared.

M-Pesa revenue was up to Ksh.16.9 billion as registered users on the platform rose to 14.9 million with mobile and fixed data revenues rising to Ksh.6.59 billion.

Fast forward to eight years later, service revenue sits at Ksh.240.3 billion with M-Pesa rivaling voice to contribute to 31.2 percent of the company’s earnings.

The mobile-money transfer service further has a total of 31.8 million 90-day active customers and data has transcended beyond the third generation network as the firm’s 4G network coverage surpasses the 50 percent mark.