Safaricom CEO takes home Sh202m

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

 

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa took home Sh201.5 million in annual pay in his first year at the helm of East Africa’s most profitable company. This means he was making about Sh16.79 million a month.

According to the company’s latest annual report, Ndegwa’s basic pay for the year ended March 31, 2021, stood at Sh102.3 million.

He also received a Sh90 million bonus and Sh9.2 million in non-cash benefits. Ndegwa’s annual pay is Sh590,000 higher than what the late Bob Collymore made and makes up 42 per cent of the telco’s Sh469.7 million annual pay to directors for the year ended March 31, 2021.

He ranks among the highest-paid executives of listed companies, only beaten by Equity’ CEO James Mwangi and Cooperative Bank’s Gideon Muriuki, who last year earned Sh278.5 million and Sh321.6 million respectively.

Even as Mwangi’s take-home pay increased faster among the country’s top executives, Co-operative Bank CEO remained the top-earning executive in the country with a haul of Sh321.6 million in salary and allowances last year (about Sh26.75 million per month).

Before joining the company on April 1, 2020, Ndegwa, 52 had served as the managing director for Diageo for Continental Europe.

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

According to Safaricom’s annual report, Ndegwa further purchased 895,500 shares in the company as of the end of March 2021, valued at Sh37.6 million as of the close of trading yesterday. At the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday, Ndegwa told shareholders that the company had registered strong performance despite the pandemic.

“Under the leadership of Michael Joseph, Safaricom had already embedded a clear strategy to transform lives through innovation and technology,” he said. “This year, the Covid-19 crisis proved to be the ideal opportunity for us to demonstrate how to lead from purpose.”

Safaricom Board Chairman Michael Joseph who served as interim CEO for nine months following the death of Collymore took home Sh127 million in bonuses for the year ended March 31, 2021.