'The time feels right for a new chapter': Esther Waititu speaks after Safaricom exit announcement

In a LinkedIn post published on Tuesday, Waititu reflected on her career journey from joining the then Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) as an analyst more than two decades ago to becoming the Chief Financial Services Officer of Safaricom, overseeing M-PESA, and the other telco's financial services.

"When I started as an analyst at CBA Group over two decades ago, I could never have imagined where this journey would take me," she wrote.

She said a recent mentorship session with children at the Hope Care Centre's Heart to Heart Mentorship Programme reminded her of her own early aspirations to build a career in finance.

"The analyst I was could not have imagined joining Safaricom PLC as Chief Financial Services Officer, leading one of Kenya's proudest achievements and a true engine of financial inclusion: M-PESA," she added.

Her remarks come a day after Safaricom announced that Waititu will leave the company at the end of July after serving as Chief Financial Services Officer since February 2023. The company said Boniface Mungania, currently Director of Public Sector Digital Transformation, will serve as interim Chief Financial Services Officer pending the appointment of a substantive replacement.

Before joining Safaricom, Waititu held senior leadership positions in Kenya's banking sector, including roles at KCB Group, Stanbic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

In her post, Waititu highlighted several initiatives launched during her tenure, including Pochi la Biashara, Tuunza Mapato, device insurance, Ziidi and Ziidi Trader.

Pochi la Biashara was developed to help small businesses separate personal and business finances, while Ziidi is an investment product that allows M-PESA users to earn daily interest on their savings. Waititu said the platform has attracted more than five million users.

She also pointed to the launch of Ziidi Trader, developed in partnership with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), KASIB Kenya and the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC), allowing M-PESA customers to purchase shares listed on the NSE through their mobile phones.

Waititu further cited the implementation of Safaricom's Fintech 2.0 platform and the rollout of Daraja 3.0, the company's application programming interface (API) platform, as key milestones during her tenure.

"With the ecosystem now firmly established, the time feels right for a new chapter. I am stepping down from Safaricom with enormous pride in what we built as a team, and with the conviction that drew me here: that finance should serve everyone," she wrote.

She thanked Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa, the company's board, investors, colleagues and customers, adding that she would share details of her next career move "very soon."

Waititu leaves at a time when Safaricom continues to expand its financial services business, with M-PESA remaining a key contributor to the group's revenue. The company has in recent years continued to broaden the platform beyond payments into savings, wealth management, credit, insurance and investment products through partnerships with financial institutions and capital markets players.

Her departure also comes weeks after the Government of Kenya completed the sale of its remaining 15 per cent stake in Safaricom to Vodacom Group, increasing the South African telecommunications company's shareholding to 59 per cent, while the government ceased to be a direct shareholder in the company.