James Maitai Joins Safaricom As CTIO

James Maitai has returned from Safaricom Ethiopia to replace George Njuguna as CTIO at Safaricom.

In a move that accelerates Safaricom’s journey from a telco to a tech company, CEO Peter Ndegwa stated “I have appointed James Maitai as the Group Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) effective 1 November 2024. James will be responsible for the end-to-end performance of our network and all IT systems. He will also lead the technology function in line with best practice, and will play a key leadership role in ExCo, contributing to the overall business strategy.”

Maitai has over 23 years’ experience within the technology sector and re-joins Safaricom PLC from Safaricom Ethiopia where he was CTIO since January 2023. During his tenure, he led the rapid deployment of a comprehensive technology stack and acceleration of the network to 3,000 sites. Maitai was also instrumental in operationalising the m-Pesa ecosystem, implementing a next-generation digital infrastructure and core network, and driving strategic cost leadership by realising over 30 per cent savings in technology OPEX. As a leader, he has cultivated local talent, fostering a team of digital engineers who achieved recognition in Vodafone’s Hackathons.

Before joining Safaricom Ethiopia,, Maitai spent 16 years at Safaricom PLC serving across various roles including Director – Network where he provided overall leadership and accountability for Safaricom’s technology network and systems across the strategic, planning, building and operating phases. He was also a part of ExCo for two critical years before and during the pandemic between 2019 and 2021.

Maitai holds a B.Sc. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi, an MBA from JKUAT, and several industry certifications. He is also a certified coach and has undergone advanced management programmes at Strathmore Business School, Lagos Business School and IESE in Spain.

Ndegwa also thanked Njuguna for his role saying he was instrumental to Safaricom’s digital transformation journey from the moment he was anointed CIO of the Year in 2019. He joined as the Director of IT with an additional CTO role in February 2024. In an email to the Safaricom staff, Peter Ndegwa, the CEO of Safaricom, thanked Njuguna for steering and providing leadership to the Safaricom technology team.

“Subsequently, I wish to thank Njuguna for steering and providing leadership to the technology team since March 2024. Since joining Safaricom as Director IT in 2019, he has been instrumental in digitising our operations and has been key in the rollout of our telco to techco strategy growing talent in the technology team fourfold to over 800 while entrenching Agile ways of working in Safaricom.”

Njuguna, meanwhile, has decided to pursue other interests outside Safaricom.

The transition from Njuguna to Maitai will be bridged by Anthony Gacanja, the Director of Network, who will take the additional responsibility as the Acting Group Chief Technology Information Officer, effective 11 October 2024, until 30 October 2024 when Maitai reports to his new role.