Bob Collymore’s Tenure At Safaricom Extended By One Year

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore will stay at the helm for an extra year, to compensate for time he spent away on medication.

“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.

Earlier on Reuters had reported that the CEO would leave the company in August over health issues, that saw him take a nine-month leave in 2017.

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.

Read: Safaricom Downplays Bob Collymore’s Exit Reports

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.