Safaricom CEO Robert William Collymore passed away at the morning of July 1st at his home after battling with Cancer for over 3 years. he died at the age of 61 and leaves Kenya’s largest telecom company with no top boss as his replacement has been delayed for sometime now.
Robert went to receive treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. in the UK in October 2017 , He returned to Kenya in July 2018 to resume his duties as CEO of Safaricom while undergoing treatment at a number of hospitals. His condition worsened in June 2019, a statement from the company said in part.
The 61 year old Safaricom CEO began is career in 1993 and has worked in various positions in the telecommunications industry in the UK, including work for Cellnet, Dixons Retail and Vodafone UK. In 2003 he moved to Japan to manage the integration of J-Phone into the Vodafone Group. In 2006 he became the governance director for Africa at Vodafone and subsidiary Safaricom. In 2010 he was appointed chief executive officer of Safaricom.
According to the reuters, Robert had said he would stay in his position for an extra year. He was set to step down in August after nine years at the helm, during which time Safaricom’s share price rose by more than 400%. The Kenyan government,which owns 35% of the company delayed the appointment of his successor, and has insisted that a local is picked to succeed him.
“As a country, we’ve lost a distinguished corporate leader whose contribution to our national wellbeing will be missed,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement posted on his office’s Twitter account.
The deceased Safaricom CEO helped to build the company into East Africa’s most profitable company, a popularized mobile money transfer service M-Pesa and a growing customer base. Mobile money is now the biggest means if transferring money in Africa. Bob has seen the company grow by 13% in its core earnings for the full year to end March to 89.6 billion shillings (689.44 million pounds), driven by growth in mobile money.
Safaricom, which is 35% owned by South Africa’s Vodacom, controls about 62% of Kenya’s mobile market, with 30 million subscribers. Britain’s Vodafone has a 5% stake and the Kenyan government owns 35%.
