Peter Ndegwa

Peter is the CEO of Safaricom PLC, a leading communications company in Africa. Safaricom is also the pioneer of M-PESA, the world’s most developed payment system.

Peter joined Safaricom on April 1st, 2020. He is an experienced Board level leader with a wealth of experience in General Management, Commercial and Business Strategy, Sales and Finance Operations, having spent over 25 years in various roles within the Financial Services and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors in Africa and Europe.

He holds an MBA from the London Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).

In his most recent role, Peter was responsible for Diageo PLC operations in 50 countries in Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Middle East and North Africa regions. Previously, he served as CEO in Guinness Nigeria PLC and Guinness Breweries PLC, transforming the two operations to deliver a double-digit growth by investing in people, introducing new brands and re-organising the businesses.

As a Chief Executive in several markets within the Diageo Group, Peter demonstrated ability to transform businesses and organisations to deliver superior results. He has a real passion for delivering value to customers (with his principle of customer first), investing in talent and getting things done.

Peter served for eight years across a range of senior Executive Director roles at East Africa Breweries Limited (a Diageo subsidiary) based in Nairobi. Serving as the Group Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Group Strategy Director, Sales Director, and as an Executive Director on the EABL Board, he was part of the team that saw the EABL business more than doubled in value – and winning the coveted Most Respected Business Award in East Africa for five years in a row.

Peter is credited with the development of an affordable-beer strategy for EABL resulting in the production of new brands such as Senator beer which became one of the of the most successful innovations by Diageo. He started his career at PwC, the global consulting firm, where he worked for 11 years. Peter draws his inspiration, in particular from his early upbringing laying the foundations for his strong value set, from his teachers and the legendary Dr Geoffrey Griffin - the late founder of Starehe Boys Centre- his alma mater, and his parents.