Peter Ndegwa is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of leading telecommunications giant, Safaricom Plc. He was appointed to the role in 2020, and assumed leadership on April 1, the same year.
The Safaricom CEO job is among the most lucrative corporate jobs in Kenya as the firm controls about 60 per cent of the bourse at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE).
Over the years former CEOs at the company have taken home some of the most lucrative bonus packages in the corporate world, and Ndegwa would follow suit after his appointment.
Whownskenya.com looks at the lucrative earnings Ndegwa made for the fiscal year ended March 2021.
Salary
Following his appointment last year, The Standard and Business Daily reported that Ndegwa would be entitled to a Ksh9 million salary per month.
This ranked him among the highest earning CEOs of any companies in the country.
Fiscal Year Ended March 2021
On July 31, the Standard reported that Ndegwa was paid Ksh201.5 million in annual pay in his first year in charge of one of the most profitable entities on the continent.
The payment equates to a Ksh16.79 million pay per month.
According to an annual report posted by the company, Ndegwa made Ksh102.3 million in terms of basic salary.
He was paid a further Ksh90 million bonus and Ksh9.2 million in non-cash benefits. Ndegwa’s annual pay exceeded his predecessor Bob Collymore’s by Ksh590,000.
Ndegwa’s pay constituted 42 per cent of the total Ksh469.7 million the company paid out to directors for the year ended March 31, 2021.
Following the massive pay out, he ranked at number three on the list of highest paid CEOs in the country only behind Cooperative Bank CEO Gideon Muriuki and Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi who made Ksh321.6 million and Ksh278.5 million respectively.
The report further revealed that Ndegwa bought 895,500 shares in the company for the year ended March 2021, which re currently valued at Ksh36.7 million.
Ndegwa told shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday, July 30, that the company had registered strong performance despite the pandemic.
“Under the leadership of Michael Joseph, Safaricom had already embedded a clear strategy to transform lives through innovation and technology.
“This year, the the Covid-19 crisis proved to be the ideal opportunity for us to demonstrate how to lead from purpose,” he said.
Board remunerations
Safaricom Board Chairman Michael Joseph was paid Ksh127 million in bonuses for the year ended March 31, 2021. He earned a further Ksh6.3 million as director’s fee.
The company’s total executive remuneration for the year ended March 2021 was Ksh469.74 million, a 44 per cent increase from Ksh324.75 million the telco paid out for the year ended March 2020.
Safaricom Profits
Safaricom registered Ksh68.67 billion in profit after tax for the year ended March 31, 2021, representing a 6 per cent drop compared to Ksh73.6 billion for the year ended March 2020.
