In this guide, we shall give you the full history of Safaricom Plc.
History Of Safaricom Plc
Safaricom is a top-notch mobile network operator with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the biggest telecommunication provider and among the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region.
It offers mobile money transfer, e-commerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fiber optic services. It is popularly known for its Mpesa services, a mobile banking system.
It started with 12,00 0 subscribers from KPTC, which was no longer in use after Kenya Information and Communication Amendment Act was passed in 1998. It controls around 64.5% of the Kenyan market, having 35.6 million subscribers. \
Safaricom was formed in 1997 as a subsidiary of Telcom Kenya. In 2000 Uk base organization Vodafone acquired a 40% share of the company.
In 2008, the government offered 25% of its share via the Nairobi Securities exchange. It was ranked as the best employer in Africa and 67th by the Forbes Global 200 list.
In 2020 Safaricom employed more than 4,500 people permanently and over 1,900 on contract. 75% of the employees are based in Nairobi, while others are based in other cities, including Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Eldoret, operating in retail outlets.
Safaricom introduced a toll-free customer line on the service line on 100 that allows customers to call for inquiries.
Thus, its customer care is a significant feature in the Kenya corporate scene that other players in the ICT sector imitate. In November 2012, Safaricom partnered with NCBA Bank and established M-Shwali which allows its customers to follow money via Mobile phone.
Michel Joseph was the CEO between July 2000 and November 2010. He transformed Safaricom subscribers to over 16.71during his tenure.
In his last year as the CEO, Safaricom posted a rise in before-tax profit of 37%. He is still the board chairman of Safaricom PLC.
Bob Collymore took over the leadership of Safaricom as the CEO in November 2010 to replace Michel joseph. He oversaw the introduction of numerous money products to enable it to outstand its competitors.
Because of its size and dominance, Michael Joseph was also in charge of regulatory efforts to fasten Safaricom’s wings. However, after two years of battle with cancer, he died in July 2019. The company had increased its profit by 380%, and users had doubled, making it worth $10.8 billion.
Following his death, Michel Joseph was appointed as the interim CEO. Later on April 1st, 2020, Peter Ndegwa was appointed CEO. He continues overseeing the company’s operations and managing all the company’s operations.