NAIROBI, KENYA: The appointment of Michael Joseph as an interim Chief Executive Officer of Safaricom has elicited a succession debate on social media on who will be next honcho at East Africa’s largest telecommunication company.
The position of Chief Executive Officer fell vacant on Monday following the death of long-serving CEO Bob Collymore who died of cancer in the morning of July 1, 2019.
A special board meeting resolved to have Michael Joseph, a board member of the company, as temporary chief executive officer.
Shortly after the announcement, Kenyans took Twitter with suggestions on who was the most suited to succeed Collymore. Kenyans on Twitter (KoT) extensively discussed Michael Joseph and Sylvia Mulinge making the two personalities the top Nairobi trends on the better part of Tuesday.
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Other names discussed by the ‘Twitter employment panel’ included Joseph Ogutu, Head of Business Strategy and Innovation.
Notably, some of the contributors termed the debate premature asking contributors to let the dust settle first before opening the succession topic.
Gabriel Oguda asked Kenyans to let Safaricom Board handle the succession process smoothly noting that KoT suggestions may not form part of the final decision in the appointment.
Bravin tweeted
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Collymore appointed Sylvia Mulinge as the director of special projects in October last year months after her appointment as the Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania failed to take off.
Sylvia Mulinge was named Vodacom Tanzania MD early 2018 after the position was left vacant following the exit of Ian Ferrao, a Briton who saw the telco listed in the country’s stock exchange in 2017.
However, the government of Tanzania dragged in clearing Ms Mulinge’s work permit in what was believed to be a non-issue by the Immigration department.
Before her appointment to the big position in Tanzania, she was the director of Safaricom’s consumer business unit.
She joined Safaricom from Unilever in February 2006 and rose to the position of director, Consumer Business. She is credited with, among other achievements, overseeing the growth of the telco’s enterprise business, spearheading regionalisation strategy and leveraging industry trends to deliver customer-focused products and services.
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In April this year, sources informed Reuters that the board interviewed candidates for Safaricom’s top position, including a senior Kenyan banking executive, before settling on an unidentified foreign national from within the Vodafone group to succeed Collymore.
But the government objected, citing an agreement supporting the appointment of a Kenyan as CEO, adopted at a shareholder meeting in 2017.
“The state has said ‘no’. They might have to negotiate,” said the source with knowledge of the succession process.
Reuters further wrote that Joe Mucheru, the Minister for Information Communication and technology, said there had been no formal communication from the company on Collymore’s successor.
However, he said he would be surprised if the board could not find a Kenyan to run the company, adding that part of Collymore’s remit was to groom a local successor.
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“I would be very surprised if they can’t find a Kenyan. It will be hard for them to justify, what is so special about telecoms?” Mucheru told Reuters.
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