Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom to transform itself into a tech company, says new CEO Peter NdegwaPeter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
Kenyan telecoms giant safaricom is seeking to transform itself into a technology company, offering new financial solutions to anyone from small businesses to farmers, new CEO Peter Ndegwa said.
Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of th toe most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region.
The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of Mpesa, a mobile banking SMS-based service.
Listed on the Nairobi stock market, Safaricom is one of the biggest companies in East Africa, its success fuelled by its mobile money service Mpesa, which was launched in 2007 and has become indispensable in Kenya.
Ndegwa, who was named the group’s new CEO following the death of Bob Collymore, said the future of Safaricom would come from “combining technology and innovation.”
“We want to move away from being a telecom business into a purpose-led technology company,” he said.
“That will mean that we will use technology to create change in other ecosystems in the same way that we have done with Mpesa in the financial services area, in areas such as agriculture, health, and education.”
