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Safaricom names Ilanna Darcy as interim CFO

Tuesday June 30 2020
safcom

Safaricom PLC headquarters in Westlands, Nairobi. Safaricom has appointed its head of investor relations, Ilanna Darcy, as its new Chief Finance Officer (CFO) in an interim capacity effective July 1, 2020. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

Safaricom has appointed its head of investor relations, Ilanna Darcy, as its new Chief Finance Officer (CFO) in an interim capacity effective July 1, 2020.

Ms Darcy replaces Sateesh Kamath, who was promoted to the Vodafone Business CFO. The CFO position at Safaricom is the second most powerful role.

Announcing the appointment on Tuesday, Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said she would be responsible for the overall financial planning, management and oversight of the organisation.

Ms Darcy joined Safaricom in February 2017 as the head of Finance Planning, Analysis and Investor Relations. She previously worked for Digicel Group in South East Asia as its CFO.

“Ilanna has more than 20 years’ experience, 13 at senior level, and has worked across three continents in the retail, FMCG and telecommunications sectors,” Mr Ndegwa said.

He added that as the head of investor relations, Ms Darcy, a graduate of the University College Dublin, has helped strengthen Safaricom’s position as a stock of choice in the international investment community. When she joined Safaricom, its shares were trading at Ksh18.57 ($0.18) compared to Ksh28.9 ($0.28) at the moment.

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“I would like to thank Sateesh for his continuous support through the transition period,” Mr Ndegwa said.  

In his new role, Mr Kamath will be reporting to Vodafone CEO Vinod Kumar and serving as a member of Vodafone Group Finance Leadership.

Safaricom's net profit for the full year that ended March 2020 jumped 19.54 per cent to Ksh74.7 billion ($747 million) on strong M-Pesa and mobile data revenue growth that offset a decline in voice and messaging (SMS) revenues.

During the period, Safaricom's M-Pesa revenue grew by 12.6 per cent to Ksh84.44 billion ($844.4 million) as mobile data revenue increased by 12.1 percent to Ksh40.67 billion ($406.7 million).

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