M-Pesa Boss, Ronald Webb, Quits After A Year

Safaricom, Kenya’s giant telecommunication firm, says that it has parted ways with M-Pesa boss Ronald Webb. Webb exits Safaricom at a critical time when the firm kick started a major upgrade of the mobile money platform.

Ronald Webb, who has been the director of financial services at Safaricom following his poaching from Equity, stepped down from the position, barely a year after taking charge.

Safaricom chief executive officer Bob Collymore on Monday informed employees of Webb’s imminent departure to the UK citing family issues.

“I wish him all the best as he returns following 18 productive years in Kenya,” Collymore said in a memo to the staffs. “In the meantime, I would like to ask that we all give our usual support to Brian Wamatu, who will be standing in as interim director, financial services.”

Safaricom in August 2016 appointed Mr Webb from Equity Bank, where he was the director of payments, stepping up the mobile money rivalry between the two companies. Mr Webb had been instrumental in driving the growth of Equity Bank’s mobile money payments platform, Equitel, which he had headed for one year before being poached. Prior to joining Equity bank Mr Webb was co-founder and chief architect of the Paynet and PesaPoint payment platforms in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Mr Webb leaves Safaricom at a time when the company is undertaking a phased upgrade of its M-Pesa platform.

The improvement, which began on June 30, will see new M-Pesa features added, some functions automated and reduce the need for customers to make requests at its call centre. It is the third major M-Pesa upgrade in the 10-year existence of the pioneering mobile money service. Safaricom’s revenue from M-Pesa stood at Sh55.1 billion in the year to March, a 32.7 per cent year-on-year growth. The telecom firm recorded Sh1.84 trillion in deposits in the year to March compared to Sh1.6 trillion in withdrawals.