This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
On July 2, 2019, the news of Bob Collymore's passing sent shockwaves through the business community, marking the end of an era for Safaricom, the company he led for nearly a decade.
Collymore joined Safaricom in November 2010, when the company had just under 16 million subscribers, with about eight million customers using M-Pesa and a net profit of Sh15 billion.
Under his leadership, the company's profit grew fourfold, and its annual revenue reached Sh240 billion, making it the most profitable firm in the region.
Collymore was not new to Safaricom; he had been on the firm's board for five years and had experience as the Vodafone governance director for Africa, as well as 15 years at British Telecommunications.
He plunged straight into his role, driving innovation and growth, with the launch of Fuliza, the call-back service, and Okoa Jahazi in 2010.
The company's M-Pesa platform, which allowed person-to-person payments, became a game-changer, with over 10,000 agents across the country and 1,200 transactions happening every second.
Collymore's vision for Safaricom was to make it an essential part of its customers' lives, and he succeeded in making the phone a significant gadget that occupied every facet of their lives.
With a population of 31.8 million subscribers, the technology, and more than Sh500 billion flowing on its M-Pesa platform every month, Treasury raised concerns of a possible crisis should the money transfer service halt in January 2017.
Collymore's demise marks the end of an era, one that was full of progress and success for the firm whose shareholders have enjoyed enormous payouts that cumulatively hit Sh301.2 billion since the Initial Public Offering in 2008.
