Bob Collymore era Safaricom director steps down
Till Streichert also served as Vodacom’s finance chief, a position he has also departed. Streichert sat on Safaricom board on behalf of Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub and played a role in Vodacom’s deal with Vodafone for Safaricom shares.
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| Till Streichert represented Vodacom Group boss on Safaricom board. |
A Safaricom PLC (SCOM) director who joined the board during the era of the late former Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has stepped down. Till Streichert departed Safaricom’s board at the end of last month, the company said in a notice filed with the stock market operator Nairobi Securities Exchange. Streichert, who doubled up as Vodacom Group’s chief financial officer or CFO, sat on Safaricom’s board audit committee.
Streichert joined Safaricom board in August 2017, sitting there on behalf of Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub. Notably, Streichert’s exit from Safaricom board coincides with his exit as Vodacom CFO as well. Vodacom announcedStreichert’s planned exit in November last year, saying the executive was departing to pursue other opportunities outside the company.
Till Streichert joined Safaricom board at the time Vodacom purchased 35% stake in Safaricom stock through a deal with Vodafone. Vodafone still maintains a minority holding of 5% in Safaricom stock.
Safaricom board had 11 members including Streichert. Therefore, the exit of Streichert leaves the board with 10 members, a list that includes Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa and Esther Koimett, who represents the government on the board.
Bob Collymore was appointed Safaricom CEO in 2010, taking over from Michael Joseph who led the company to its IPO. Collymore ran Safaricom until his death in July 2019. Safaricom brought back Michael Joseph to run its affairs as interim CEO following Collymore’s death as the board searched for a substantive chief executive. In October, Safaricom named Peter Ndegwa its new chief executive. Ndegwa started in his new role on April 1, 2020 to coincide with the beginning of Safaricom’s financial year.
Notably, the departure of Till Streichert from Safaricom board comes as CEO Peter Ndegwa tries to put together his team to run the telecom giant. Sateesh Kamath recently stepped down as Safaricom CFO and Ndegwa replaced him with Ilanna Darcy in an interim role.
Safaricom shares closed at Ksh29.65 last Friday after gaining 2.24% for the day. However, Safaricom shares are down about 6.0% this year as the stock market continues to see Covid-19 driven selloff.