Safaricom CEO is not relenting in his quest to see that cartels which has been operating in the company are dismantled.The new CEO looks to purposefully cement the presence of Safaricom in the hearts and minds of customers. He is presenting what he calls “Safaricom 2.0”. It is a new leaner, meaner and more efficient Safaricom. On March 10th, Bob Collymore presented the new organizational structure which created the Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and streamlined the supporting Corporate Centre.
But there were also some investigations of corrupt practices on some senior employees. Mr Collymore seems to have forced two very senior managers out of the company. Safaricom says that the two resigned but they might have just been the first victims of the new CEO’s no nonsense approach to business. Mr John Barorot has been the Safaricom Chief Technical Officer. He was one of the longest serving employees having joined the company in 2000. Mr Barorot has literally been the Safaricom Network.
The other person who was reportedly sacked by Safaricom is the Chief Information Officer. Mr Robert Mugo was formerly the CEO of Flashcomm and had previously worked with UUNET (now MTN Business) as the Technical Director, Africa Online as Head of Technical Operations as well as the CTO of Telecommunications service providers of Kenya (TESPOK).
Mr Collymore has, in a move which seems to be geared towards seeing a smooth exit of the two, announced that he had accepted the decisions of John Barorot and Robert Mugo to transition out of Safaricom Ltd as they seek new opportunities. The statement from Safaricom says “Robert Mugo’s stint at Safaricom has been shorter but just as impactful in the IT front”. He joined the company in 2008.
The new structure presents 3 Revenue Centres: Financial Services, Enterprise and Consumer business and 6 Function positions.
After a week of talent assessments of the leaders and in consultation with the Board, Mr Collymore has today announced his new leadership team:
• Peter Arina – General Manager, Consumer Business
• Betty Mwangi-Thuo – General Manager, Financial Services
• Chris Tiffin – CFO
• Joe Ogutu- Director, Resources
• Ivor Wekesa – Director, Risk Management
• Nzioka Waita – Director, Legal, Regulatory and External Affairs
In addition to the above appointments, Pauline Warui will continue to Head Customer Service, Clare Ruto will head the Legal and Regulatory Affairs and Wangari Murugu will continue to Head Marketing. Francis Murabula will also continue with the company as Head of Procurement and Logistics, while Les Baillie will continue managing Investor Relations reporting to the CFO.
Safaricom has the following positions vacant though it says that the process to fill them has already been initiated.
• General Manager/Enterprise Business
• Technical & IT Director
• Director – Marketing & Customer Service
• Executive Business Analyst
Safaricom new CEO’s goal is to see that it is the right people with the right experiences, in the right roles who will do the right work.
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