Kenyan operator Safaricom announced that its head of M-Pesa has exited the company, just as the operator is undertaking a major upgrade of the mobile money platform, reports Business Daily. Ronald Webb, the company’s director of financial services stepped down from his position on 25 July after a year in charge of M-pesa. Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s chief executive, informed employees of Webb’s imminent departure, saying he was moving back to the UK "for family reasons".
Collymore urged the staff to give their usual support to Brian Wamatu, who will be standing in as interim director, financial services. Safaricom in August 2016 appointed Webb from Equity Bank, where he was the director of payments. Prior to joining Equity bank Webb was co-founder and chief architect of the Paynet and PesaPoint payment platforms in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Webb leaves Safaricom as the company is undertaking a phased upgrade of its M-Pesa platform. The improvement, which began on 30 June, will see new M-Pesa features added, some functions automated and reduce the need for customers to make requests at the call centre. Safaricom’s revenue from M-Pesa stood at KES 55.1 billion in the year to March, a 32.7 percent year-on-year growth.
