By The Weekly Vision Business Desk
Safaricom has announced the resignation of its Chief Financial Services Officer, Esther Masese Waititu, marking the third senior executive departure from the telecommunications giant in five months. While the company has described the transition as part of normal executive succession, the timing and concentration of leadership changes within its financial services and strategy functions are likely to attract close attention from investors and industry analysts.
The company confirmed that Waititu’s last working day will be 31 July 2026, the same day Safaricom is scheduled to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting will be the first since Vodacom completed its acquisition of an additional effective stake in the company, increasing its shareholding to approximately 55 per cent and becoming Safaricom’s majority shareholder.
Although there is no indication that Waititu’s departure is connected to the ownership changes, the coincidence of the two events is likely to fuel discussion about the company’s leadership transition as it enters a new phase under its new shareholding structure. Waititu’s exit follows two other high-profile departures announced earlier this year.
In March 2026, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit stepped down as Managing Director of M-Pesa Africa before joining Absa Group in Johannesburg as Chief Executive of Personal and Private Banking. More recently, Safaricom’s Chief Strategy Officer, Michael Mutiga, announced he would leave the company to become Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan from 1 August 2026.
While executive movement is common among large listed companies, three senior departures within a relatively short period inevitably raise questions about succession planning, leadership continuity and talent retention at one of Kenya’s largest listed firms. Although the title of Chief Financial Services Officer may suggest a traditional finance role, Waititu was responsible for overseeing Safaricom’s financial services business, including M-Pesa, Fuliza and the broader digital payments ecosystem.
The portfolio is widely regarded as one of the company’s most strategically important businesses, with M-Pesa continuing to generate a significant share of Safaricom’s revenues and profitability. During her tenure, Safaricom completed the rollout of its Fintech 2.0 platform, a cloud-native technology upgrade designed to enhance system capacity, improve resilience and support the continued growth of digital financial services.
She also oversaw the expansion of the Daraja developer platform, which enables banks, fintech firms and other businesses to integrate with M-Pesa through application programming interfaces (APIs). In addition, Waititu presided over the launch of Ziidi Trader, an investment mini-application within M-Pesa aimed at broadening access to investment products for retail customers. Waititu joined Safaricom in February 2023 after an accomplished career in banking spanning more than a decade.
Before joining the telecommunications firm, she served as Director of Corporate Banking at KCB Group and previously held senior positions at Standard Bank. She began her career as a corporate finance analyst at Commercial Bank of Africa, now part of NCBA Group. Safaricom has appointed Boniface Mungania, currently Director of Public Sector Digital Transformation, as Interim Chief Financial Services Officer. Industry observers will be watching closely to see whether the company confirms Mungania in the role permanently or opts to recruit externally, as it did when appointing Waititu in 2023.
The appointment will provide an early indication of Safaricom’s succession strategy at a time when the company is undergoing broader leadership changes. For shareholders, the focus is unlikely to be on any single executive departure. Rather, attention will centre on whether Safaricom can maintain momentum in its financial services business, particularly the continued expansion of M-Pesa, the Fintech 2.0 platform and its digital payments ecosystem.
Leadership transitions are not uncommon in large corporations, particularly where executives are recruited for more senior opportunities elsewhere. However, the departure of three senior leaders within five months places added emphasis on succession planning and organisational stability.
As Safaricom embarks on its next chapter under Vodacom’s majority ownership, investors will be looking for reassurance that its leadership pipeline remains strong and that the strategic direction of one of Kenya’s most valuable companies remains firmly on course.
