Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Bob Collymore:
It’s a gloomy Monday morning for Kenya as Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore was reported dead. Bob Collymore died of cancer at his home in Nairobi as it was reported by Safaricom Chairman Nicholas Nganga. Ng’ang’a said his condition worsened in recent weeks. Below are moments when Bob Collymore melted Kenyan hearts:
1. Bob the ‘Donda’; in December 2015, Bob was at Kencom a few days before Christmas and he paid fare for the public. Not only did he pay the fare, he had to call them, literary the way Matatu touts do. And so the Kenyans took to social media to take down the challenger. It was a hard one from the onset of the things.
2. Bob the Furi furi dancer-Do not sit back and act like you were not the least bit surprised about how Jimmy Gait managed to get the CEO of Safaricom to sing in his ‘Furi Furi Dance’ remix song a few years ago. Julie Gichuru and Jeff Koinange… that is imaginably possible.
3. Bob an Exceptional CEO-In October 2016, a Safaricom lady, identified as Pauline was captured on camera attending to a physically disabled customer in the most passionate way at one of the mobile service provider’s shop in Nakuru. Pauline forgot about the nice lotion she applied on her legs and knelt down on a floor that possibly was a little dusty, exhibiting a gesture that acknowledges that the customer as the boss.
4. Bob the Odi Dancer-Remember a time when Bob actually danced to Odi at Churchill show. Bob had been invited to speak at the New Year’s Eve edition of the popular comedy program Churchill Show when he decided to let loose. He tried performing a dancing style commonly known as ‘Odi’ and left the attendees in stitches.
So @bobcollymore is here as well and am surprised he can do the Odi Dance! #ChurchillShowNYE pic.twitter.com/Httck1SkYi — Churchill (@MwalimChurchill) December 31, 2018
5. Bob the Romantic -Bob Collymore on one instance covered Betty Kyalo with his jacket live on TV recently after he realised the new anchor was freezing. Betty was hosting her Friday Briefing live, at the time when she was working with KTN from Uhuru Gardens which had the Safaricom Jazz festival. Betty was relieved Collymore was a gentleman. You know the most surprising thing; he helped her put it on.
6. Born in 1958, Bob Collymore is a Guyanese-born British businessman and the immediate Chief Executive Officer for telecom giant, Safaricom.
7. Collymore started schooling in Guyana while still living with his grandmother until age 16 when he moved to the UK to join his mother in 1974. He joined Selhurst High School for Boys in London where he completed his formal education.
8. In 2006, he became the governance director for Africa at Vodafone and subsidiary Safaricom before assuming the CEO Position in 2010 in Kenya. Collymore bagged several awards at his time with Safaricom most recently the CEO of the Year award conferred by African Investor. He has held the position of CEO of Safaricom Limited since November 1, 2010
9. Collymore married his second wife, Wambui Kamiru, on April 2, 2016, in an invite-only wedding at an upmarket residence in Kitisuru, Nairobi.
10. Collymore was diagnosed with Myeloid Leukemia and in 2017 he had to travel to the United Kingdom for treatment until July of 2018.
