Safaricom CEO named Africa Investor CEO of the Year

 Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment and communications group has named Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore as the CEO of the Year. 

Mr. Collymore was awarded with the title of Ai SRI 30 CEO of the Year in the awards at the just concluded 11th Africa investor (Ai) Institutional Investment and Capital Markets Awards in New York that hosted over 150 CEO’s from across the continent.

The award recognizes and rewards CEOs who have shown commitment to sustainable development, pitting performance against their peers across the continent with the individual’s ability to effectively communicate their company’s vision and strategic initiatives against the backdrop of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Our purpose is to Transform Lives, and beyond creating solutions that aim to make a difference in our customer’s lives, we are also fully focused on building a sustainable enterprise that can meet the challenges of business in a rapidly changing world,” said Bob Collymore, CEO Safaricom.

Exceptional Talent

In addition, Mr. Collymore was a finalist for the Ai 40 CEO of the Year Award. Safaricom was a finalist for Ai Best Performing Company Award as well as the series’ Most Innovative SRI 30 Company. The awards have a strong reputation for uncovering highly innovative work, exceptional talent and ingenuity.

The 11th Ai CEO Institutional Investment Summit was held this week in New York and hosted a series of market changing announcements and initiatives at NASDAQ and the CFA New York Society in New York.

This year’s summit was themed ‘African Regional Growth and the Role of Long-Term Capital’ and brought together CEOs, institutional investors, capital market leaders and regulators to discuss institutional allocations, infrastructure co-investments, initiatives to improve access to data and support for the emerging investment management industry.

The 2017 Ai Capital Market Index Series Awards Winners Were:

Most Innovative African Stock Exchange 
Stock Exchange of Mauritius

Best Africa Investment Bank
Deutsche Bank

Best Africa Research Team
Exotix

Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator
Capital Markets Authority, Kenya

Best Performing Broker in Africa
CM Trading (Global Capital Markets Trading) SA

Best Africa Fund Manager
Coronation Fund Managers

Best African Listing
Dis-Chem Pharmacies

Best Performing Ai100 Company
Guaranty Trust Bank -Nigeria

Best Performing Ai40 Company
Kenya Commercial Bank

Most Innovative Ai SRI 50 Company
Standard Bank

Most Innovative Ai SRI 30 Company
Dangote Sugar

Ai100 CEO of the Year
Segun Agbaje, Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria

Ai40 CEO of the Year
Joshua Oigara, Kenya Commercial Bank, Kenya

Ai SRI 50 CEO of the Year
Jean-Marc Harion, Orange Egypt

Ai SRI 30 CEO of the Year
Robert Collymore, SafariCom, Kenya

International Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative of the Year
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC)

African Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative of the Year
Gabonese Strategic Investments Fund

International Pension Fund Initiative of the Year
PensionDanmark/ PKA/ Lægernes

African Pension Fund Initiative of the Year
Natal Joint Municipal Pension Fund (NJMPF)

Ai Capital Markets Personality of the Year
Dr. Mohammed Omran

Transforming Lives

Safaricom has emerged as a company that transforms lives through its core operations of providing voice, data, financial services and enterprise solutions for a range of subscribers, small businesses and government, using a variety of platforms. Its subscriber base stands at an average of 28 million subscribers, providing over 200,000 touch points for its customers and offering over 100 different products under our portfolio.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues in excess of Kshs 150 Billion, Safaricom invested Kshs 38 billion in infrastructure this year, providing over 80% of Kenya’s population with 4G and 3G coverage and providing 2G coverage to 95% of Kenyans. Safaricom has harnessed its proprietary fibre infrastructure to build a dedicated enterprise business, which provides managed IT services to clients in the East African region.

Safaricom pioneered commercial mobile money transfer globally through M-PESA, the most successful service of its kind anywhere in the world.  Launched in March 2007, M-PESA now has over 26 million customers and over 170,000 M-PESA Agent outlets countrywide.