Safaricom has today announced the appointment of Sateesh Kamath as it’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Board Member of Safaricom Ltd effective from 1st August 2016. Kamath joins Safaricom from Vodacom Tanzania where he served as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director on the board of Vodacom Tanzania. Normally, Safaricom’s mother company, Vodafone appoints the CEO and CFO of the firm and Vodacom is owned by Vodacom Group (Pty) Limited with a 65%, while the remaining 35% is owned by Tanzanian shareholder, one Mirambo Ltd.
Kamath replaces outgoing CFO John Tombleson, who took up the position in 2011. Tombleson’s five-year term as CFO is coming to an end upon which he will return to Vodafone New Zealand to take up a new position as the Integration Director of the recently announced merger between Vodafone New Zealand and Sky New Zealand. During his tenure, the outgoing CFO saw the annual revenue growth compound by 16.3% while the firm’s market capitalization rose 555% from US$1.1 billion to US$7.1 billion. Tombleson joined Safaricom from Vodafone Qatar, where he held the position of Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
The New CFO has over 19 years’ experience in both mature and emerging markets across Asia, Europe and Africa. Kamath has a background in strategic performance management and building robust operations across the telecoms, FMCG and manufacturing sectors. At Vodacom Kamath held senior roles for the last 12 years at both a global and local level for Vodafone operations in London, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Fiji besides service as non-executive Director in other group companies and investments including Helios Towers Tanzania (the tower company with Vodacom stake), M-Pesa Trust Ltd ( Mobile Money services ) and the Vodacom Foundation Ltd ( Charitable organization).
