The Chief Executive of Kenya’s most profitable listed company Safaricom is set to leave office in August when his term of service at the telco comes to an end. However, it seems there is no consensus on who will succeed Mr. Bob Collymore.
Sources at the mobile services firm have informed Reuters that the government is insistent on having a Kenyan succeed Bob Collymore who joined Safaricom in 2010 and has successfully steered the company to a KSh1 trillion market valuation. He also managed to ward off regulatory pressure aimed at reducing the company’s dominance in the market.
Safaricom is 35 per cent owned by the Kenyan Government, 35 per cent by South Africa’s Vodacom, 5 per cent by the UK telecommunication firm Vodafone and the remaining 25 per cent is held by retail and institutional investors.
Talking to Reuters, Mr. Collymore said, “I have every confidence that whether I’m here or not, that this company will run….This is an institution. It is not a company which is just ran by a single person.”
As per Reuters, Safaricom’s board interviewed several candidates including a Banking executive and finally picked a foreigner to head the Telco. However, the government opposed the decision citing an earlier agreement between Safaricom and its shareholders to have a Kenyan succeed Mr. Collymore.
Adding to the succession debate, the Cabinet Secretary in charge of ICT Mr. Joe Mucheru told Reuters, “I would be very surprised if they can’t find a Kenyan. It will be hard for them to justify, what is so special about telecoms?”
Safaricom’s CEO noted that skills are more important than an individual’s nationality.
“I don’t think the government is qualified to select who will run that company. I would expect that there would be qualified Kenyans but as government, we want to get the best person for that business.” Joe Mucheru told the Financial Times.
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