01 July 2019

Collymore was 61

 

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Kenyan telecom company Safaricom, Bob Collymore, has died at the age of 61.

A British businessman born in Guyana, Collymore had been suffering from an acute form of leukemia and passed away while at home on the morning of July 1st. 

He was well known in Kenya and east Africa for championing M-Pesa to Kenyans, the mobile money transfer platform that began as texting money between users, but has now evolved to cover billions of financial transactions in the country.

Collymore took over as CEO of Safaricom after nine years in Africa and Asia with British mobile giant Vodafone, which partly owns Safaricom together with the Kenyan government and South African mobile operator Vodacom.

During his tenure, Safaricom grew into one of the largest and most profitable companies in East Africa.