Iain Felipe

Is Michael Jackson really bigger than Eminem, Jay z, Lil Wayne, Taylor swift, Rihanna and Beyonce all put together?

1/3 The App Had a Rough Start. That Doesn't Make Ndegwa a Failure. I want to talk about something that has been bothering me this past week and I will be honest and direct as you all know me to be. Safaricoms My OneApp had a rough launch. Login failures, people locked out of their wallets, diaspora Kenyans unable to access their M-Pesa from London and Dubai. I won't sugarcoat it. For a platform that millions of us depend on daily, that was painful and unacceptable. Safaricom themselves admitted it fell short and apologised publicly. Fair enough. But then something happened that was very predictable. Very Kenyan, I must say social media erupted and suddenly from every corner, came the chorus. Bob Collymore was better. Bob would never have allowed this. Under Bob, Safaricom was run properly and then the one that truly gets under my skin. Kenyans cannot run a big company. Excuse me? Let me ask you something. When Bob Collymore was appointed CEO of Safaricom in 2010, a South African-born, Trinidad-raised British executive, where were these same voices? I will tell you where. They were on social media saying he was too foreign, not Kenyan enough, why are we bringing someone from outside? I remember it clearly. We gave Bob a hard time when he arrived. Only in death did he become the gold standard we now measure everyone against. Now we finally have one of our own from Ol Kalou, Nyandarua who went to Starehe Boys, studied at the University of Nairobi, worked his way up through EABL, Guinness Ghana, Guinness Nigeria, all the way to running Diageo's operations across more than 50 countries in Europe, and some of us are saying Kenyans can't run a huge outfit? Which Kenyans are you talking about? Because Peter Ndegwa is Kenyan. Last time I checked. Now let us talk numbers. Because numbers don't lie and they don't have tribalism. Let me take you back to the beginning quickly so we have the full picture. Michael Joseph, MJ as we called him, was the builder. The pioneer. The man who looked at a country where most people had never owned a bank account and said, let us give them M-Pesa. Banks were furious. They lobbied, they pressured. MJ didn't blink. He built Safaricom from scratch into a market giant, growing revenue from KShs 47.4 billion to KShs 84 billion in his decade at the helm. MJ was the one who laid the foundation and poured the concrete. Kenya owes him more credit than it gives him. Then came Bob Collymore. God rest his soul in peace. Bob was something else entirely. He walked into Safaricom already dominant and made it beloved. He was the one who gave this corporation a heartbeat. Warm, quotable, funny, deeply human. He would speak at a press conference and Kenyans would share the clips like it was entertainment. Under his watch from 2010 to 2019, revenue grew from KShs 94.8 billion to KShs 250.3 billion. Net profits went from KShs 13.2 billion to KShs 62.5 billion. Remarkable. He deepened M-Pesa, launched M-Shwari, Fuliza and DigiFarm, built the brand into something Kenyans were genuinely proud of. Bob was the soul of the company. We honour that legacy without hesitation. But if MJ poured the concrete and Bob decorated the house, then Ndegwa is the one who is now expanding the entire compound. Breaking walls, buying the plot next door, building something that will outlast all three of them. Let us be fair to the man now holding the fort. Peter Ndegwa walked into the CEO chair on 1st April 2020. His first day in office coincided with a global pandemic that was shutting down economies from New York to Nairobi. Baptism by fire doesn't even begin to describe it. The man didn't flinch.

I think we have oontz DJs who can now be considered to be “oontz casuals” Mtu anachezaje Kilimani after James & Jody have blessed us with some serious Anjuna vibes😭 Read the room!

I think we have oontz DJs who can now be considered to be “oontz casuals” Mtu anachezaje Kilimani after James & Jody have blessed us with some serious Anjuna vibes😭 Read the room!

The Wash Muthangari, Such a unpleasant car wash.

We were so fortunate to have been in the era when Jameson were bringing us hot hiphop artists at the time! Fortunate enough if you were working with them ;)

This man borrowed 10k from me and paid me 20k. borrowed 100k and paid 150k. Now he wants to borrow 200k. I like this business but why’s my mind telling me it’s Ponzi scheme and he might not pay me back this time.