Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa has increased his stake in the telecom giant by 40% to 8.7 million shares in the year ended March 2025, according to the company’s latest disclosures.
Ndegwa, appointed Safaricom CEO in April 2022, has significantly increased his stake in the company over the past two years, from 895,000 shares in 2021, a holding that had remained unchanged since he first acquired it.
At the Monday closing price of $0.2 (KES 25.70) per share, Ndegwa’s 8.7 million‑share stake in Safaricom is valued at approximately $1.73 million (KES 223.59 million), highlighting the growing value of his stake as he deepens his investment in the company.
The rise in the value of Ndegwa’s stake suggests he purchased additional shares and benefited from Safaricom’s Employee Performance Share Award Plan (EPSAP), which was awarded as part of his performance-based compensation.
In the year ended March 2025, he received $349,955 (KES 45 million) worth of shares as part of his total pay package of $2.2 million (KES 294.2 million), cementing his position as the highest-paid chief executive among companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Under Safaricom’s employee performance share award plan, the company purchases its shares from the open market and allocates them at no cost to selected employees. These shares vest after three years, after which employees can sell or retain them in their accounts.
Listed companies and startups widely use share-based compensation as an extra incentive to align employee interests with those of shareholders and the company. It also helps companies retain high-performing staff.
Safaricom CFO Dilip Pal also increased his shareholding by 65% to 2.2 million shares, up from 1.3 million the previous year. His holding is valued at approximately $436,787 (KES 56.54 million).
The surge in executive rewards, including EPSAP, follows a recovery in Safaricom’s earnings. For the year ending March 2025, the telco reported an 11% increase in net profit to KES 69.8 billion ($540 million), driven by strong growth in mobile money and data services, as well as reduced losses in Ethiopia.
The performance signals a return to growth after two years of flat profits, weighed down by the high costs of entering the Ethiopian market. Still, Safaricom is betting on East Africa’s most populous country, which sees long-term potential despite a slow start.
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