Peter Ndegwa replaces Michael Joseph as Board Chair in Ethiopia operations
Ndegwa, who is currently the chief executive officer of Safaricom Group, steps into the role after four years of Joseph’s leadership.
Peter Ndegwa has been appointed as the new chairman of the boards of the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE) and Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC (STE), following the retirement of founding chair Michael Joseph.
The transition took effect on May 22, 2025, according to a statement from the GPE board.
Ndegwa, who is currently the chief executive officer of Safaricom Group, steps into the role after four years of Joseph’s leadership.
He joined Safaricom as CEO in April 2020 and was also appointed to the company’s board of directors that year.
He later became a member of the Vodacom Group Executive Committee.
During his time as CEO, Safaricom achieved a major milestone in 2024, crossing the $1 billion (Sh129.2 billion) mark in earnings.
Michael Joseph, a central figure in Safaricom’s growth, played a key role in Ethiopia’s telecom transformation.
As founding chairman of the GPE and STE boards, he oversaw the acquisition of Ethiopia’s first private telecom licence and helped expand services to cover more than half the population.
Under his guidance, Safaricom Ethiopia reached over nine million customers and built a network of more than 3,000 sites across the country. Joseph’s leadership dates back to Safaricom’s early days in Kenya, where he grew the company from fewer than 18,000 subscribers in 2000 to over 17 million by 2010.
The Global Partnership for Ethiopia is a consortium made up of Safaricom PLC (Kenya), Vodacom (South Africa), Sumitomo Corporation (Japan), British International Investment (UK), and the International Finance Corporation (USA).
Ndegwa now brings his wide experience to the board chair role, leading Safaricom Group—a $3 billion (Sh387.7 billion) tech company known for M-Pesa, a globally recognised mobile payment system.
Safaricom currently serves over 50 million customers across Kenya and Ethiopia and is regarded as one of Africa’s top employers.
The GPE board thanked Joseph for his contributions, stating, “On behalf of the Global Partnership for Ethiopia and Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC, the board thanks Michael for his dedicated service, sound advice, and unwavering commitment.”
Joseph will continue to support Safaricom Group in other roles, including as a trustee of the MPESA Foundation.
