Peter Ndegwa Makes A Raft Of Changes In Safaricom’s Management

Safaricom CEO Mr. Peter Ndegwa has made a raft of changes in the top management of Safaricom in what he says is tailored towards making him realize the dream of turning Safaricom into a tech business.

The new changes at Kenya’s giant telco will see both old and new employees change roles as Ndegwa strives to steer the telco through the set traditions of those before him such as Bob Collymore.

Mr. Ndegwa has merged the Information Technology and Network departments into one, with the head of the new unit joining the Safaricom exco. The reorganization will also see two new members, both tech-oriented join Safaricom Executive Committee (exco).

“I have merged Information Technology and Network departments to form Technology and Information Organization that will be led by the Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO),” said Ndegwa in a letter to his employees.

In the new changes, Morten Bangsgaard, who is the current Chief Technology and Information Officer at Malaysian telco, Maxis Berhad, will take up the new position starting January 2021. Sitoyo Lopokoiyot, formerly Sadaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer is the M-Pesa Chief Executive.

Ndegwa has also merged Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Business (FTTB) departments under the Fixed Business Unit (FTTX). The unit will be led by the Director, Fixed Business, and will also be a member of Safaricom’s exco.

Mr. Ndegwa has also created another position known as Head of Productivity whose main role will be to mainstream continuous cost optimization across the company. The person in charge will be reporting to the Chief Financial Officer.

“This new role will help us (Safaricom) drive more savings in our operations to fund additional initiates to meet our objectives to generate 24 percent share of growth from the new business by the end of the financial year 2022,” said Mr. Ndegwa.