The death of Safaricom  CEO Bob Collymore, one of Kenya’s most iconic business leaders, brought to an end an illustrious career spanning three decades.

Until his death, Collymore  was the second and longest serving CEO of Safaricom, a position he was appointed to in 2010 and to which he injected a fresh and dynamic perspective that will define the region’s leading telecommunications service provider in years to come.

His appointment

Collymore  was Vodafone’s Governance Director for Africa and had been sitting on the board of Safaricom since his appointment in 2006 and in 2010 was picked to replace Michael Joseph as CEO.

At the time, Safaricom was on the cusp of a radical growth sprout, having completed a successful initial public offer and introducing the revolutionary M-Pesa mobile money service.

When he took over office, Safaricom was valued at Sh222 billion, its share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rising 88 per cent in 2010 from Sh2.9 to Sh5.55.

Since then, Safaricom  has grown exponentially and is now valued at more than Sh1.1 trillion, with the number of active subscribers doubling from 15 million to 30 million.

A big part of this value addition is credited to the strategic management and tireless efforts of Collymore.