Safaricom has brought in Adil Khawaja as chairman of the board in what is being touted as a necessary adjustment to the departure of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his replacement by William Ruto.
The election took place on January 26, 2022. A lawyer by training, the new PCA is an associate director of Dentons Hamilton Harrison & Mathewset, the oldest law firm in the country, established in 1902. Successful businessman in real estate, having served on numerous boards of Kenyan companies such as Kenya Commercial Bank and Kenya Power, the newcomer replaces John Ngumi, a political ally of the former Kenyan president, who resigned last December following only 6 months of practice.
Adil Khawaja will coordinate with Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa to develop East Africa’s most profitable business in Ethiopia. Established in this neighboring country since last year, Safaricom wants to move up a gear.
Safaricom’s net profit for the six months ended September fell 10% to 33.5 billion shillings (1 USD = 120.3 Shillings) under the impact of a reduction in the mobile termination rate (MTR) and higher costs associated with entering Ethiopia. Total revenue increased 4.6% to 153.4 billion shillings during the period, helped by an 8.7% increase in M-Pesa revenue to 56.9 billion shillings and an increase of 11.3% of data revenue to 26.3 billion shillings.
