Former Safaricom Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Michael Joseph has been appointed as the Board Chairman effective August 1, 2020.

Safaricom’s CEO Peter Ndegwa announced the appointment of Michael on Thursday as the current chairman Nicholas Nganga heads for retirement.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish to announce the retirement of the current long-serving Chairman Mr.Nicholas Nganga and the appointment of Mr.Michael Joseph,” Said Peter Ndegwa in a statement.

Mr. Ndegwa praised the outgoing chairman for serving the board since 2007, a period which he said steered the company through notable milestones.

Top among his achievements, Nicholas Nganga was praised for increasing the shareholder value by a record 607 percent from 2008. In his tenure, Safaricom’s market value rose to Sh1.075 trillion, half the combined worth of all NSE listed firms.

In May 2020, Safaricom Plc was ranked tenth in the top 250 companies in Africa by African Business Magazine, and the most profitable firm in the East African Region.

The CEO also commended Mr. Nganga for seeing the increase in Safaricom’s customer base (from 6 million to 35.6 million), employees(from 1000 to 6500), and outlets (from eight[8] to 50).

In his tenure, Safaricom also invested heavily in network infrastructure, recently being Sh36 billion for network expansion.

Safaricom also prides a fair gender distribution of staff with 51 percent female and 49 percent male. In management, the distribution stands at 35 percent(female) and 65 percent(male). For its 131 staff of people living with disabilities the male population is 47(percent) and female 53.

The giant Telco bagged several awards and prestigious partnerships during Mr. Nganga’s tenure with Mpesa fronting most of the recognitions.

Mr.Ndegwa welcomed the Michael Joseph tasking him with digital transformation, improving customer sentiment and broadening the brand.