Michael Joseph: What you didn’t know

Sitting across from Michael Joseph in his office, I see little of the oft talked about intimidating aura wafting around the CEO of Safaricom Limited.

Instead, he radiates an air of restless energy, of an alert, driven and intensely private man, constantly on the go, but keen to listen, and be listened to, only relaxing now and then to touch his sandy, rugged beard, his penetrating glance rarely leaving my face.

He is dressed smartly, but soberly, with the expensive silver-colored Seiko watch the only indication to his status as CEO of the most dynamic firm in the region. While the understatement could be deliberate on his part, I doubt it.

First earnings

Perhaps it has something to do with his background.

Thirty-eight years ago, Michael Joseph, while a student at a technical college in South Africa — equivalent of any national level polytechnic — was earning just Sh750 (75 rand South African under current exchange rates) a month, as a technician fixing old manual telephone headsets.

"You have made me remember something I had not thought about for long," says Joseph, now 63, smiling as the memories of the old days trickle in.

He proceeded to the University of Cape Town where he graduated with a cum-laude in electrical engineering but not before meddling in student politics and the usual campus frenzy. Curiously, Joseph says he was saved the usual embarrassing memories of a campus night out with friends.

"I don’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary as a student. I was not a party animal, but a very private person."

He still is. In his own words, unless it is an official function or a cocktail, it would be impossible to find him ensconced at some five star hotel bar chatting the night away with friends or cheering his favorite football club.

Rather, he prefers the wine at home, and dinner with his wife and three children, and also enjoys private functions at his residence with close friends.

Upon graduating from the University of Cape Town, Joseph worked with a telecommunications cable company laying a fibre optic cable connecting South Africa to the world.

Years later, he would carry out the same task in East Africa, but now as the Chairman of The East African Marine System (Teams).

Safaricom job

His salary as a project manager at the time was just over Sh15,000, with which he bought his first car, a DKW (Dampf-Kraft-Wagen — German for steam-driven car) that had features like front-wheel drive, transverse mounting and an electrical clutch.

"Thank God they do not make them anymore," he says jokingly.

He landed his job as the chief executive of Safaricom while at a telecommunication conference in Madrid, Spain. During time, he was the chief technical officer of telecommunication in Hungary.

"I was seated next to this big fellow, while having dinner, when he mentioned they had just concluded a deal between the Kenyan government and Vodafone, and were looking for somebody to head the outfit. I jumped at the offer and here I am."

His typical weekday starts at 5:30 am when he wakes up,

arriving at the office by 6.00 for the routine checking of mails, reading the dailies and preparing for meetings.

Official office work starts at eight, and normally involves a flurry of meetings. The dynamism and innovation often linked with Safaricom are linked to his firm belief in constant market research, and he does not entertain shoddy work.

"I am a hands-off person, but quite dictatorial with immediate staff. You see ultimately, I head the organisation and, in the shareholders’ eyes, I am responsible when anything goes right or wrong."

He is not particular about what the staff wears, as long as they are smart and decent, and deliver quality.

Under his watch, Safaricom has grown by leaps and bounds.

His plan for the future in his eyes is simple: Establish a fully market leading telecommunication company that offers all services for data and voice.

And Safaricom is doing just that. The company currently controls over 70 per cent of the voice services market share in Kenya and is snapping up the market for money transfer services at breakneck speed. It recently moved to increase its services, by launching products aimed at increasing its market share in the data services industry, that currently stands at just over half of the market share.

And it is a no wonder that Safaricom managed to consistently post over Sh10 billion in profits year after year.

Tax revenue

For the third time in a row, it emerged the biggest overall taxpayer, giving Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over Sh20 billion each year. To put it simply, Safaricom could have afforded to

give every Kenyan Sh500 last year and still made billions in profits.

So what is the success formula according to Joseph: Understand your subject matter, work hard, take every experience as a step in the ladder, be ambitious and have a bit of luck.

Safaricom has one of the most dynamic social responsibility programmes in the country that improve lives of ordinary folk

However, I ask him what more he would like to do if given the chance. "Politics," he answers, without a pause.

"The Members of Parliament should be more accountable to their constituents, instead of the poker games they play day in, day out. There is too much obsession with politics, with little to show for it at the expense of what really matters, the economy."

maron@eastandard.net

 

 

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