Following the appointment of a new board chairman, Safaricom has made a number of changes to the senior executive roles inside the company.
Read: John Ngumi Exits Safaricom Board
Esther Masese Waititu
Esther Masese Waititu, director of KCB Corporate Banking, has been named Chief Financial Services Officer with effect from February 21 and will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight to the telco’s financial services business, according to the new appointments made public by CEO Peter Ndegwa on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
Ms. Masese, who joined the lender in 2011 as the East African head of transactional products and services, spent ten years with Stanbic Bank prior to joining KCB.
She has also had positions with the Commercial Bank of Africa and Stanchart in the past (which merged with NIC Bank to form NCBA).
She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of East Africa, Baraton, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool, UK.
Masese succeeds Boniface Mungania, who has been serving in the position since July of last year.
Read: Former KCB Boss Joshua Oigara Appointed Stanbic Bank CEO
Zizwe Awuor Vundla
Meanwhile, Diageo South Africa Marketing Director Zizwe Awuor Vundla has been appointed Director of Brand and Marketing.
Ms. Vundla, who will report to the CEO, will be in charge of strategic market and product leadership for the entire Safaricom brand, which includes M-Pesa, Safaricom Business, and the telco’s foundations.
Vundla spent 15 years working at Proctor & Gamble before joining Diageo. She started there as an assistant brand manager in 2004 and worked her way up to become the head of marketing for the South African branch.
She graduated from the University of Cape Town with a bachelor’s in business.
“Zizwe has 18 years of experience in Brand and Marketing. She joins us from Diageo, South Africa where she was the Head of Marketing and Innovation since 2019.” Safaricom wrote on Twitter.
Boniface Gitonga Mungania
Mungania, in turn, has been appointed Director of Public Sector Digital Transformation, effective April 1, and is tasked with creating public-sector partnerships and driving digital transformation for both the National and County administrations.
“In this role, he will collaborate with key functional owners including Enterprise, Financial Services, Technology, and Business Development to deliver solutions in an agile way,” Safaricom said.
Gitonga, an experienced insider, started out as a Customer Care Representative for Safaricom before being elevated to Dealer Account Manager.
In 2011 he became a Senior Officer, M-Pesa Business Development, in the Financial Services group. Since then, he has climbed the corporate ladder, holding a number of executive positions in the financial services industry, including senior manager, head of M-Pesa products and services development, and M-Pesa business development.
