Over half of Safaricom’s top executives have quit in the last two years.
Some of Safaricom’s top executives who have left include Sylvia Mulinge who was the chief customer officer, Debra Mallowah who was the chief business development officer.
Joseph Ogutu who was the chief special projects, and Kris Senanu and Rita Okuthe who were the chief enterprise business officers.
Sateesh Kamath who was the chief financial officer (CFO), and Thibaud Rerolle who was the chief technology officer. Steve Chege who was the corporate affairs officer, also left to become the corporate affairs officer at Vodacom South Africa.
Ms. Mulinge left Safaricom after serving in top positions for a period of 16 years. She left to take a position as the chief executive officer of MTN Uganda.
After leaving Safaricom, Debra Mallowah took a position as the vice-president and general manager at Coca Cola East and Central Africa.
According to Safaricom chief executive officer Peter Ndegwa, these changes are normal and have allowed Safaricom to tap in new talent.
“When you are from outside you might see change and think a lot is driving it but many times, change in leadership is an evolving thing. It is not usually something that is necessarily planned,” said Ndegwa.
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“It is both looking for new skill sets as the strategy changes and people moving on with their careers, and promotions. Of course, you need new skills, if the vision has changed like I talked about business development skills, M&E, strong financing skills people like Michael Mutiga have come in.”
The executive changes at Safaricom have occurred under the reign of Ndegwa who became the first Kenyan chief executive officer at Safaricom in April 2020. Ndegwa joined Safaricom from Diageo, where he had been holding the position of managing director for continental European business since July 2018.
