The country on Monday woke up to the saddening news that Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore was no more after fiercely battling blood cancer.
Collymore lives behind a rich, almost surreal, story that very few people in the world will ever be able to say about their careers or even achievements.
When he first arrived in Kenya in 2010 to take over from the then outgoing Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph, very few people had heard of Collymore. Naturally, eyebrows were raised, how could we trust this little known Guyanese-born Briton to take over the helms of one of our most successful blue chip company?
In the present day, Safaricom remains one of the most prestigious corporations in the country if not the best.
Some of his notable achievements include:
Helped boost Safaricom's mobile subscribers from 9.2 million to 30 million, accounting for over 200% growth in a span of 9 years.
Grew M-pesa subscribers from a little over 700,000 in 2010 to over 31.6 million today.
Oversaw the growth of the corporation’s share price from a paltry Sh5 (IPO price) to the current Sh28.10 a growth of over 460%.
Safaricom's latest product, Fuliza, is reported to have disbursed a total of Sh6.2 billion to Kenyans in its first month alone.
In what was to be his final year, Bob Collymore helped the company achieve a 7% top-line growth, 14.7% in net profit and a bumper payday to its shareholders
Collymore is also the brains behind the annual Safaricom Jazz Festival.