Michael Joseph Safaricom: Safaricom has appointed Michael Joseph as the new board chairman. Joseph takes over from long-serving Nicholas Ng’ang’a, who has retired. Nganga was at the helm of the Safaricom board for 13 years.
“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,” said Safaricom chief executive officer Peter Ndegwa.
Ndegwa added that 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,” he said.
As the chairman, Joseph will be tasked with overseeing the operations, leadership and governance of the Board, ensuring effectiveness and setting the agenda. He joined the board on September 8, 2008.
He will assume the role effective August 1, 2020 with a mandate to ‘improve customer sentiment, greater brand consideration and to bolster the firm’s digital transformation agenda.’
Joseph previously worked as the CEO of Safaricom from July 2000 when the company was re-launched as a joint-venture between Vodafone UK and Telkom Kenya until his retirement in November 2010.He saw the firm grow company from a customer base of less than 20,000 to over 16.71 million subscribers.
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“He brings a wealth of skills and industry knowledge given his contribution to the growth of Safaricom from very humble beginnings to becoming one of the most innovative, influential and profitable companies in the East African region,” said Mr. Ndegwa.