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Safaricom Announces Leadership Change, Appoints James Maitai As New CTIO
Safaricom New CTIO: James Maitai has been appointed as the Group Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO) at Safaricom PLC, effective November 1, 2024.
The announcement was made by CEO Peter Ndegwa C.B.S., who emphasized that this move accelerates Safaricom’s journey from a telco to a tech company.
CEO Peter Ndegwa stated “I have appointed James Maitai as the Safaricom New CTIO effective 1 November 2024. James will be responsible for the end-to-end performance of our network and all IT systems.”
Additionally, he will also lead the technology function in line with best practice, and will play a key leadership role in ExCo, contributing to the overall business strategy.”
About Safaricom New CTIO
With over 23 years of experience in the tech sector, Maitai rejoins Safaricom PLC from Safaricom Ethiopia, where he has served as CTIO since January 2023.
Before joining Safaricom Ethiopia, Maitai spent 16 years at Safaricom PLC serving across various roles including Director of network.
During his tenure, he led the rapid deployment of a comprehensive technology stack and acceleration of the network to 3,000 sites.
Maitai was also instrumental in operationalizing the M-Pesa ecosystem, implementing a next-generation digital infrastructure and core network, and driving strategic cost leadership by realizing over 30 percent savings in technology OPEX.
As a leader, he has cultivated local talent, fostering a team of digital engineers who achieved recognition in Vodafone’s Hackathons.
The Safaricom new CTIO holds a B.Sc. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi, and an MBA from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
He is also a certified coach and has undergone advanced management programs at Strathmore Business School, Lagos Business School, and IESE in Spain.
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Ndegwa also thanked Njuguna for his role saying he was instrumental to Safaricom’s digital transformation journey from the moment he was anointed CIO of the Year in 2019.
He said, “Subsequently, I wish to thank Njuguna for steering and providing leadership to the technology team since March 2024.”
“Since joining Safaricom as Director IT in 2019, he has been instrumental in digitizing our operations and has been key in the rollout of our telco to techco strategy growing talent in the technology team fourfold to over 800 while entrenching Agile ways of working in Safaricom.”
Maitai replaces George Njuguna, who has decided to pursue other interests outside Safaricom. CEO Ndegwa thanked Njuguna for his instrumental role in Safaricom’s digital transformation journey since joining as Director of IT in 2019.
