Safaricom CEO to oversee marketing

Safaricom announced that its chief executive Bob Collymore will oversee the company’s marketing function as part of the firm’s reorganisation strategy, after the departure of Marketing Director Maurice Newa.

Newa, a Malawian, resigned last week as the company’s director of Customer Care and strategic marketing, just eight months after he took up the position in August 2011.

“Maurice has left for personal reasons. He used to report to Peter Arina (General Manager for the consumer business unit). But I will now take a more hands-on approach in the marketing arena,” CEO Bob Collymore told the Daily Nation in an interview during the Connected Kenya Summit 2012 in Mombasa.

Since he took charge, Collymore has been re-engineering top level management, merging some departments and creating others as he seeks to streamline the firm through an increasingly competitive environment.

Michelle Tongo