Peter Ndegwa, the CEO of Safaricom, saw his total annual salary drop by 19.4% to $1.97 million from $2.42 million the previous year.
This marks the first time his earnings have declined since he took over as CEO in 2020.
The decrease is primarily attributed to a significant reduction in his annual bonus, which fell by $480,000 to $1 million, down from $1.5 million in FY 2022/2023.
Ndegwa’s pay structure for the year included a basic salary of $728,000, bonuses totaling $1 million, and non-cash benefits valued at $224,000.
This decrease came despite Safaricom achieving significant milestones, including being the first company in East Africa to surpass the billion-dollar mark in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT).
In addition to his salary, Ndegwa increased his stake in Safaricom, growing his shareholding from 895,000 shares in 2023 to 6.21 million shares in 2024.
Based on the trading price of KSh 17.30 per share at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, his stake is valued at approximately $829,000 with potential gains depending on the market.
The decline in Ndegwa’s pay reflects the challenges Safaricom faced during the year, including a drop in profits from $405 million to $328 million, partly due to currency fluctuations related to its Ethiopian operations.
Despite these hurdles, the company recorded a 13.4% increase in service revenue to $2.5 billion.
Ndegwa’s tenure as CEO has seen fluctuations in earnings.
In FY 2020/2021, he earned $1.6 million, which rose to $2.2 million in FY 2021/2022 and peaked at $2.4 million in FY 2022/2023 before the recent decline.
