Michael joseph safaricom biography of george michael

Kenyan business executive

Peter Ndegwa is a Kenyan businessman, accountant and corporate executive, who is the chief executive officer at Safaricom, the largest telecommunications company in the countries of the East African Community, with approximately 35.6 million subscribers in December 2020.

Before his current appointment, he was the Managing Director for Continental Europe and Russia, at Diageo. He was responsible for Diageo's spirits and beer business across more than 50 countries in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia, excluding the United Kingdom and Ireland. The business comprises six business units each with a General Manager.

Early life and education

Ndegwa was born in Kenya circa 1969. He attended Starehe Boys' Centre and School, where he obtained a High School Diploma. He was admitted to the University of Nairobi, where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Economics. Later, he graduated from the London School of Business with a Master of Business Administration. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Career

Before EABL, he worked as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, based in the United Kingdom. Ndegwa joined East African Breweries (EABL) in 2004 as the director of strategy, based in Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. After eight years at EABL, he was appointed as the Managing Director of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL), in December 2011. He worked there until August 2015, when he was appointed to head Guinness Nigeria. Partly on account of his successes in Ghana and Nigeria, in July 2018, he was appointed General Manager of Diageo’s business in Western and Eastern Europe, including Russia. He was based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

On 24 October 2019, the board of directors of Safaricom appointed Peter Ndegwa as the next CEO, effective 1 April 2020. He is the first Kenyan in tha

Acting Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph shed light on the special relationship that he shared with the late Bob Collymore who served in the capacity until his demise.

In an interview with Jackson Biko for Business Daily published on Friday, March 6, Joseph made clear that his very intimate relationship with the late Collymore opened room for misinterpretation from many who knew them.

"He used to send me books to read. I loved him. People misinterpreted it, they thought it was some other kind of relationship, but it wasn’t.

"It was always about two guys getting together and spending so much time talking about serious honest topics that guys don’t talk about especially when death was all around," he opened up.

Safaricom PLC, Board Member Michael Joseph during a media briefing on July 1, 2019.

Daily Nation

Joseph added that he and Collymore shared so much in terms of life circumstances that their lives became intertwined.

"I was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, I went through this life-threatening disease, and some tough emotional times. I promised to live the rest of my life to the fullest because I might have died in 2003," he told the reporter.

He further explained that while his struggles with the debilitating disease had taught him not to fear death, he always feared for Collymore given his relatively young age and family.

"With Bob, I was worried for him because he was younger, he had so much to live for, he had young children. And, he was just a good guy. A guy who read all these books. He had thousands of books," Joseph recalled.

He added that despite his experience at the helm of the giant telco, he found it hard to confide in people or seek help from them because many do not fully comprehend the nature of the decisions he was tasked with making.

He, however, praised Collymore as one of those people who he could approach with an issue and get a solution given the understanding they