Safaricom PLC has named Boniface Mungania as its new Chief Financial Services Officer, succeeding Esther Waititu who departed in July 2026.

Mungania inherits a financial services portfolio centred on M-Pesa, which generated KSh100.1 billion, representing 42.8 per cent of the listed group’s revenue in the first half of the financial year ending September 30, 2026.

In an interview he said, “You can be excited about the revenue and beautiful platforms, but how has this changed lives? For me, impact is when an M-Pesa overdraft to a trader enables them to record higher sales.”

He highlighted that data will continue to shape new products, pointing to Fuliza, which lent KSh1.15 trillion in the six months to September 2026, and Pochi la Biashara, now serving 3.2 million merchants, most of whom are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Explaining Fuliza’s success he noted, “The reason Fuliza is very successful is because it was built after we saw the number of transactions that failed for not having adequate balances in mobile wallets.”

Mungania described M-Pesa as a Techfin platform that enables financial services rather than a Fintech built on finance, and said he does not expect it to replace banks or insurers but to host their solutions.

Before taking the CFSO role he served as Director of Public Sector Digital Transformation, a post that earned him the Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) award.

He began his career after studying biochemistry at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, first working as a medical sales representative before applying for a customer-care position at Safaricom in 2007.

His interview was held on the ground floor of Safaricom’s headquarters on Waiyaki Way, and he later joined the “Bonga-9” team that handled general consumer queries on line 100.

A direct recommendation from former chief executive Bob Collymore led to a consultancy assignment for Vodafone in Qatar, after which he returned to Nairobi and continued to rise through the organisation.

Reflecting on his progression he said, “It’s important to have results and show what you have done. It's not just talking your way into positions.”