Meet the Executive Team of Safaricom Ethiopia

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC ( Safaricom Ethiopia) has announced last week a countrywide staff recruitment drive and introduced its leadership team as it affirmed its commitment to investing in Ethiopia’s digital future ahead of its commercial launch.

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Below are the members of the Safaricom Ethiopia Executive Committee (EXCO) and they will be reporting directly to Anwar Soussa, the Managing Director who also was appointed in July 2021. Anwar Soussa was previously the  Managing Director of Vodacom DRC and the Chairperson of Vodacash (M-PESA) a position he has held since 2017. Before that, he was CEO of Airtel Rwanda and Chada while also worked in MTN.

The Executive team is composed of individuals from various and they are mainly drawn from the Consortium partners including Sumitomo Corporation, Safaricom, Vodafone, and Vodacom. One Ethiopian National, Andarge Kabtimer, has also joined the Executive team as Chief Sales and Distribution Officer from Diageo where he was the Commercial Operations and Sales Transformation Manager.

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Chief Strategy Officer

Masahiro Miyashita has been appointed as the Chief Strategy Officer. Miyashita, a Japanese national, brings on board vast experience in telecommunication having worked for Sumitomo Corporation for over 30 years, where he is currently the General Manager of the Smart Communication Platform Business Division. He also sits on the board of multiple telecom companies in various countries such as Myanmar, Guam (USA), Uzbekistan, Russia, China and Japan to supervise management and strategy.

Chief Technology Officer

Pedro Rabacal has been appointed as the Chief Technology Officer. He has been with Vodacom Group for 22 years, spending his last seven years as the and has been the CTO for Vodacom Mozambique.

Prior to joining the Mozambique leadership team, Pedro led several key portfolios within Vodacom South Africa as well as Vodacom Group that pushed forward technology evolution from the early years of GPRS, on to 3G, 4G and recently the first deployment of 5G in Mozambique.

Before joining Vodacom, Pedro was the Regional CTO for the South African Telecommunications Regulator.

Chief Consumer Business Officer

Charles Wanjohi has been appointed as the Chief Consumer Business Officer. A professional with over 19 year’s commercial experience gained working for Multinationals focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, he carries a broad international perspective having worked in Kenya, South Africa, Bahrain, and experience working with 17 geographies across Sub Saharan Africa.

Charles has a telco career spanning more than 15 years across Celtel Kenya, Zain Kenya, Zain Group, Airtel Africa, Airtel Kenya and Safaricom, where he was the Director of Consumer Business.

Charles has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce, is a Certified Public Accountant and is an alumnus of the Vodafone Inspire Leadership program.

Chief Enterprise Business Officer

Chris Lazarus has been appointed as the Chief Enterprise Business Officer. Currently the Managing Executive for KwaZulu Natal Region, Chris has been part of Vodacom South Africa since 2005, where he has held various roles within the Consumer and Enterprise Business Units.

He brings onboard over two decades of experience in the Information and Communications Technology and Financial Services sectors.

Chris has an MBA from Henley Business School (UK), Advanced Executive Programme with the University of South Africa and Telecoms Certification from the North-West University (South Africa).

Chief Financial Services Officer

Paul Kavavu has been appointed as the Chief Financial Services Officer. Currently the Head of M-PESA new Business Ventures at Safaricom, Paul has 19 years of progressive experience in mobile money innovation, strategy formulation and execution, performance change management and negotiation across financial services, telecom, and banking industries.

He joined Safaricom in 2002 from Absa Bank, formerly Barclays Bank of Kenya. Paul holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Nairobi, is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya, CPA (K) and Certified Oxford Fintech Program alumni.

Chief Sales and Distribution Officer

Andarge Kabtimer has been appointed as the Chief Sales and Distribution Officer. Andarge brings on board over 20 years’ experience in various sectors in Ethiopia including FMCG, oil & gas and financial institutions having worked with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Shell, and Diageo in different senior roles.

He joins us from Diageo – Meta Abo Brewery, where he was the Commercial Operations and Sales Transformation Manager and a member of the Company’s Leadership Team.

Andarge holds a Degree in Accounting from Addis Ababa University and master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Indra Ghandi National Open University, India.

Chief Finance Officer

Stanley Njoroge has been appointed as the Chief Finance Officer. He joins us from Guinness Nigeria PLC where he was the Finance & Strategy Director and a member of the Board. Stanley has been in Diageo for over 13 years where he held various senior roles in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Prior to joining Diageo, Stanley spent eight years in Deloitte in tax consultancy in Kenya and Ethiopia and has also worked at Barclays Bank Kenya as Head of Business Performance Analytics & Tax. He is a graduate of University of Nairobi and a qualified accountant.

Chief Human Resource Officer

Mokaya Mokaya has been appointed as the Chief Human Resource Officer. Currently the Head HR Business Partner for the Customer Organisation at Safaricom, he brings on board over 16 years progressive experience in Talent Management, Capability Development, Organizational Effectiveness, Change Management and HR Business Partnership.

He joined Safaricom in 2007 in the HR function where he worked in different roles, including a 2-year stint in Vodafone India as the head of Organizational Effectiv