A native of Kenya, he had been “Chief Corporate Affairs” of Safaricom, Kenya’s leading communications company and the pioneer of M-PESA, the world’s most widely used mobile payment system, since 2015.
South African operator Vodacom owns 35 percent of Safaricom. In 2019, Safaricom and Vodacom formed a joint venture and acquired the intellectual property rights to M-Pesa from Britain’s Vodafone.
The news of Steve Chege’s appointment was announced by Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom’s chief executive, in an internal memo to Safaricom staff.
Steve Chege will take up his position at Vodacom’s headquarters in Johannesburg in mid-November and will report directly to Vodacom’s group managing director, Shameel Joosub. Steve Chege will be responsible for group regulatory, external and corporate affairs, public policy, communications strategy, media relations, group social investment and sustainability. This role covers Vodacom Group markets including South Africa, Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho and Vodafone Ghana. He will also continue to support Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC and Safaricom PLC.
Strategic support for Safaricom
Until he assumes his new role, Steve Chege will continue to perform all of his duties at Safaricom, where, with his experience in regulatory and legal affairs, and as head of the Corporate Affairs division, he provides strategic support functions to Safaricom’s operations. These functions include regulatory and public policy services, legal and secretarial services, corporate responsibility (which includes the Safaricom and M-PESA foundations and sustainability reporting), corporate communications and international roaming.
Telecommunications Expert
Steve Chege has a wealth of professional experience in the telecoms industry, gained over nearly 20 years in various organizations, including Vodafone Group UK. He joined Safaricom in 2006 as in-house counsel and rose through the ranks over the years to become senior director, public policy and market regulation until 2011, when he was appointed head of regulation and public policy. In April 2015, he became the Director of Corporate Affairs, a position that has since been renamed Chief Corporate Affairs Officer.
Peter Ndegwa said, “Steve has had a distinguished and successful career guiding Safaricom’s legal, competition, regulatory and reputational position, developing industry policy, positioning Safaricom as a goal-oriented organization and making a significant contribution to Safaricom’s success.”
Providing access to education for disadvantaged young children
An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Steve Chege holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) in International Trade and Investment Law from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the same university. He was a chartered public secretary and trustee of the Safaricom Foundation, where he focused on providing access to education for underprivileged young children. Steve Chege is currently a member of the task force established by the Kenyan Ministry of ICT to develop the critical infrastructure policy framework and bill for critical infrastructure protection.
