M-PESA, launched in March 2007 by Safaricom, has fundamentally transformed mobile money transfer in Kenya.
It allows users to send and receive money using their mobile phones, effectively functioning as a digital wallet.
This innovation arose from the need to facilitate microloans in rural areas where traditional banking was inaccessible, leveraging the widespread adoption of mobile phones—54% of the population had access at the time.
By 2017, M-PESA processed transactions worth nearly 49% of Kenya’s GDP, demonstrating its critical role in the economy.
This was made possible by top experts in the industry including Esther Waititu who is Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer (CFSO).
Having joined Safaricom in 2023, she is responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight to Safaricom’s Financial Services Business.
Waititu oversees financial services teams and tribes, focusing on the creation of financial products, services, and solutions tailored for both consumers and enterprises.
Rise to the top
Before entering the corporate world, Waititu engaged in menial jobs to make ends meet and actualise her career dreams.
In a recent interview, she stated that before all the glamour, she worked as a cashier at a local coffee shop at some point.
Waititu noted that her first paid job was working as a cashier in a coffee shop called Vanilla at the Sarit Center.
“I used to serve coffee and I used to wonder how people can afford 200 shillings for a cup of coffee. Now I know how they come,” she said.
Career experience
With more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, she joined Safaricom after serving as the Director of Corporate Banking at KCB Bank Group since 2021.
Before her tenure at KCB, Waititu spent a decade at Stanbic, where she began her career in 2011 as the Regional Product Head for Transactional Products and Services in East Africa.
In 2017, she advanced to the position of Executive for Strategy Development and Enablement within the Corporate and Investment Bank, ultimately becoming the Country Head for Client Coverage at Stanbic Bank Zambia in 2020.
Waititu’s career also includes a five-year period at Standard Chartered Bank from 2006 to 2011.
At Standard Chartered Bank, she held roles in Relationship Management and Product Management, as well as experience at the Commercial Bank of Africa, which later merged with NIC Bank to create NCBA, marking the start of her banking career.
She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of East Africa, Baraton, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool in the UK.
Additionally, Waititu is an AoEC Accredited Executive Coach.
