Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore back after nine months

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore (extreme left) before a Parliamentary Committee today. [File, Standard]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore is back after several months on sick leave abroad.

In his twitter handle, the Safaricom boss said he was back and thanked everyone who supported him over the past nine months.

“I am back. Thanks to everyone who supported me over the past 9 months especially the clinical team at @ULCH, my superb @SafaricomPLC team and of course my wife @WambuiKamiru,” reads the tweet.

Collymore appeared in Parliament on Monday morning before the Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation regarding inquiry into legislative and regulatory gaps affecting competition in the telecommunication sub-sector.

Collymore took medical leave in October 2017. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sateesh Kamath and Strategy Director Joseph Ogutu were left in charge of the giant East Africa telecommunication company.

In May 9, in a teleconference, Collymore announced an annual profit of Sh55.29 billion in the year ending March 2018 for Safaricom.

Speaking during the company’s Full Year investor briefing, Collymore, who has been away since October last year, noted that he was making good progress in his treatment.  “I look forward to being back in action in Nairobi soon,” Collymore said as he announced a 10 percent growth in revenue to Sh224.54 billion.

Safaricom reported net income growth of 14.1 percent to Sh55.29 billion for the year ending March 2018. Both M-Pesa and data grew in double digits. During the last financial year M-Pesa registered 2.1 million new customers and achieved revenue growth of 14.2 percent to Sh62.91 billion.