Kenyan operator Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore plans to step down in August for health reasons, but the government’s insistence he should be succeeded by a Kenyan has delayed the announcement of a replacement, Reuters reported citing two company sources. Collymore took a nine-month medical leave in late 2017 to return to his native England to battle cancer, and has now indicated he wants to step down, the sources said.
Collymore told Reuters on 29 April he was still in discussions with the board, adding it would make announcements on the chief executive position at a later date. He expressed confidence that Safaricom will run whether he is around or not.
Safaricom, which is 35 percent owned by South Africa’s Vodacom, controls about 62 percent of Kenya’s mobile market, with 30 million subscribers.
