Mother-child health and jazz were Bob Collymore's abiding passions

Not much, really, has been left unsaid in the rush of tributes to Bob Collymore. Let me just add my two bits worth of what I consider to be his larger corporate legacy: his concern for women empowerment and for underprivileged children.

“Kihara”, the nickname given to him (as an affectionate dig at his bald head) by his intimate circle of corporate and media high-fliers who styled themselves the Boys Club, run a company where women are seriously empowered.

A very commendable 32 per cent of senior management positions at Safaricom are occupied by women. Collymore had given himself up to 2020 to have 50 per cent of senior management comprising women. Currently, the percentage of women in the company’s workforce as a whole is actually higher, at 51 per cent. Most companies talk of giving equal opportunities to women. In theory. Collymore walked the talk.

I recall Collymore had not too long ago pushed for one of his top executives, Sylvia Mulinge, to go run the Vodacom unit in Tanzania. Unfortunately, the Tanzanian authorities had other ideas and denied her a work permit.

There were many pro-women initiatives Collymore spearheaded. (He also went a long way to ensure inclusivity for disabled employees). Safaricom guarantees a four-month maternity leave for expectant women staffers. Thereafter, the new mothers are allowed to work only half-day for a full six months to accommodate their mothering duties. The company also funds a nursery where babies and young children of staff are cared for during working hours.

With its pile of cash, Safaricom and its offshoots are big players when it comes to women-centred projects. During “Kihara’s” tenure, the M-Pesa Foundation funded to the tune of half a billion shillings a maternal, neonatal and child health programme called “Uzazi Salama” for women, children and health workers in Samburu County. The Safaricom Foundation also invested substantially in revamping the neonatal unit at Kenyatta National Hospital. Those who knew Collymore affirm that he would embrace any cause that made the lives of mothers and children better.

Our modern times expect big companies to act goody-goody in society through what is known as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Of course Safaricom, with its deep pockets, has a big footprint in CSR projects. Additionally, through the Safaricom Foundation, it puts serious money into large-scale charitable programmes in education, economic empowerment, health and environmental conservation. There is also the M-Pesa Foundation, which tailors grants for various projects like the M-Pesa Foundation Academy.

While Collymore and his Boys Club buddies would unwind with the finest whisky money can buy, it was the people he touched as CEO through initiatives like “Uzazi Salama” that will outlive him. Certainly he was no egalitarian nut, not when you considered one of his favourite hobbies was flying helicopters. He would engage people of all backgrounds, but he was not your hoi polloi.

He was wily and also a terrific networker. He could tolerate an employee coming short on a project. What he hated was anybody trying to pass the buck. Nor would he stand disloyalty. Besides his job, Collymore had one overriding passion — jazz. He was a great lover of jazz and classical music, which he introduced to the youth of Nairobi’s Korogocho slum. A CEO plutocrat connecting with slum children?

Surprisingly yes. It is said music is a great equaliser. At Collymore’s church memorial service, Deputy President William Ruto alluded to the fact that most Kenyans grow up with “Ndombolo” music but find classic jazz alien. Fittingly, the orchestra playing at the service was the product of Collymore’s patronage.

He was the force behind the Ghetto Classics, a project of some 300 youthful musical talents Safaricom sponsors from Korogocho and who have won recognition in jazz, including playing before the Pope during his visit in 2015. With Collymore’s death, the children of Ghetto Classics have lost a mentor and a champion.

Once his friend President Kenyatta kick-started his anti-corruption war, Collymore became the first CEO to publicly declare his assets, in line with his conviction that graft needed to be fought in the private sector too. The only other CEO to declare was his friend in the so-called Boys Club, banker Joshua Oigara. Despite heading the largest and most profitable company in East Africa, and drawing a princely salary of Sh10 million each month, Collymore’s net worth from his local and UK holdings was in the region of only Sh277 million, an amount our local lords of corruption would surely sniff at. It’s a sad statement of our situation that our politicians, who earn salaries of Sh1 million or less, have vastly larger wealth portfolios whose source remains in most cases shrouded in mystery.

In his tribute at the memorial service, President Kenyatta intimated that at his last private session with Collymore, the CEO had urged him to continue with the war against corruption and ensure it becomes a key plant of his (President’s) legacy.