Safaricom has announced the return of Steve Chege as its Group Chief External Affairs Officer, a role in which he will support both Safaricom Kenya and Safaricom Ethiopia.

• Chege will oversee critical functions including Regulatory and External Affairs, Public Policy, Communication Strategy, and ESG and Sustainability.
• He returns to Safaricom after serving as Chief External Affairs Officer at Vodacom Group since 2021, where he supported eight markets across Africa.
• During his time at Vodacom, Chege led initiatives like resolving operating licence renewals and driving policy reforms in mobile money.

Safaricom, through the M-PESA Foundation, has launched a new education initiative called "Citizens of the Future." This program aims to revolutionize Kenya's education and training sector over the next five years.

• The program will invest approximately Ksh 30 billion to upgrade infrastructure in over 600 basic and tertiary institutions, provide more than 10,000 scholarships, and equip teachers with digital skills.
• Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, stated that the initiative consolidates efforts to ease access to education from early learning to technical and vocational training.
• The program will develop "Schools of the Future" featuring modern, sustainable infrastructure, technology integration, and inclusive learning spaces, with Kenyans encouraged to nominate institutions via citizenofthefuture.org.