Safaricom’s Steve Chege to head Vodacom’s external affairs unit
South Africa headquartered telco giant Vodacom Group has picked Safaricom’s chief corporate officer Stephen Chege as its new chief external affairs officer.
Mr Chege, who will take up the new job starting mid-November, will be working from Vodacom’s Johannesburg headquarters where he will be in charge of the Group’s regulatory, external and corporate affairs.
He will also be executing roles in the Group’s public policy, communication strategy, media relations, corporate social investments and sustainability programmes while also supporting Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC and Safaricom PLC.
In a note to staff yesterday, Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa said in his new role, Mr Chege will oversee affairs in Vodacom Group markets of South Africa, Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho as well as Vodafone Ghana.
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Mr Chege, who joined Safaricom in 2006 as an in-house counsel rose through the ranks and has been serving as the telco’s chief corporate affairs officer since 2015.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of laws in international trade and investment law, and is an advocate of the high court of Kenya and notary public as well as a certified public secretary.
At the moment, Vodacom Group is one of the biggest telco’s in Africa offering wide range of communication services, including mobile voice, messaging, data, financial serving roughly 116 million (including Safaricom) customers.
According to Business Daily, the South Africa based company has started talks with the UK’s sovereign wealth fund, CDC Group, with a view to acquire its stake in Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia.
Vodacom Group is readying $1.74 billion (Sh191.2 billion) for CDC Group’s 10.9 per cent share in Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, in a deal that will increase Vodacom’s shareholding the new telco to 17.1 per cent.
