Milestones Safaricom Plc Has Achieved Under Bob Collymore
Bob Collymore, the man at the pinnacle of Safaricom PLC. His background story might sound ordinarily relatable to others, but in the business world, he is on a whole other level.
Collymore is the current Chief Executive of Safaricom, a position he took over from Michael Joseph in 2010. His assuming the position at the time sparked some frowns from some individuals who expected less of him. In fact, few people believed he would outperform Michael Joseph, but look at Safaricom now!
Under Bob Collymore’s stewardship, the company has grown exponentially. It hasn’t been easy, and there certainly were turbulences and tempestuous storms that were threatening the telcos market in Kenya. However, instead of choosing to run with the hares, Collymore, with a fine-tooth comb chose to stand for what the company was meant to do, be successful.
Recently, the media has been running reports that Collymore is going to leave Safaricom and that the company was hunting for a new CEO, however, the company has not made any official report on the issue.
Meanwhile, let’s go back a little and count his milestones since he took over from Michael Joseph close to nine years ago.
Read: Safaricom’s Fixed Data Market Share Rises to 29.6%
Safaricom 2.0
Not long after he joined the company, Collymore introduced Safaricom 2.0; a second phase of the company after the first CEO. Safaricom 2.0 was all about change and focus; changing the company’s structure, culture, and mindsets and focusing on delivering superior customer service. But did he deliver? Of course, he did.
Joseph who came before him made some contrarian decisions that cemented Safaricom’s presence in the Kenyan telecommunication industry. However, the tech, the innovations, the abnormal profits, and the community development happened majorly under Collymore’s reign.
Nonetheless, Collymore once said in an interview that Joseph told him when he was taking over as the CEO that everything would be all right. He offered Collymore support and promised to continue doing so, which is such a courteous thing to do. Collymore took the challenge, and so began his journey at Safaricom PLC.
See Also: Equity and Safaricom Partner to Revolutionize Critical Service Access Through Technology and Finance
Price Wars
Not long before Collymore joined Safaricom, a series of regulatory actions had erupted and facilitated a war that reduced call rates by up to 75 percent. At this time, some people thought Safaricom had matured, and that the telcos industry was saturated.
Then came India’s Bharti Airtel which negotiated to buy Zain Africa as a move to beat Safaricom shamelessly. This was the time that Collymore joined Safaricom.
The price war scared investors of Safaricom’s shares at the Nairobi Stock Exchange – now Nairobi Securities Exchange – and they sold their shares reducing the company’s value by half the amount it had initially announce in the first initial public offering (IPO).
With the market thought to be saturated, some folks thought that Collymore was joining the company only to steer it to its death. But as a veteran businessman, Kenyans were soon to learn that Collymore was no man to joke with.
Having witnessed how technology innovation and massive investment in broadband internet can revolutionize mobile phone and mobile phone markets, he saw Safaricom having the potential of immense growth opportunities.
His strategical plan, Safaricom 2.0, Collymore reorganized the company’s key management and business units around crucial customers they were hoping to woo.
Although he knew that consumers like free things, he was not shaken by the price wars. In fact, Collymore increased the prices and risked it all.
Although it was a tough call that could send the company downhill, he was looking out for its future and its obligation to shareholders.
To the surprise of many, the move paid off and the company began building reserves for growth to where it is today.