Safaricom PLC has appointed Boniface Mungania as its Chief Financial Services Officer, effective November 1, 2026, following the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
The announcement, made on November 6, elevates a nearly two-decade company veteran to permanently lead the division that houses M-PESA, Safaricom’s flagship mobile money platform.
Mungania, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, had been serving in the role in an acting capacity since August 2026, following the resignation of Esther Masese Waititu, who left the company on July 31 after serving as Chief Financial Services Officer since February 2023.
Mungania’s ascent within Safaricom is notable for its internal trajectory. He first joined the telecommunications giant in February 2007 as a Customer Service Representative before moving into roles including Dealer Manager and M-PESA Corporate Account Manager.
Over the years, he held positions such as Senior Manager for M-PESA Business Development, Head of M-PESA Product Management, and Head of M-PESA Payments, also known as Payments Tribe Lead.
His experience extended beyond Safaricom’s Nairobi headquarters. Between August 2016 and March 2017, Mungania worked as a Mobile Money Consultant at Vodafone in Qatar, gaining international exposure before returning to the company.
Safaricom confirmed his appointment in an announcement issued on November 6. “Safaricom PLC has announced the appointment of Boniface Mungania as Chief Financial Services Officer, effective 1 November 2026, following receipt of all relevant regulatory approvals,” the company stated.
Safaricom added that it looked forward to his leadership of the financial services function and wished him success in the new role.
The Chief Financial Services Officer position oversees a business unit central to Safaricom’s revenue and strategic direction. In the six months to September 2026, M-PESA generated KES 100.07 billion, representing 46.3% of the revenue from Safaricom’s Kenyan service business.
Over that period, 42.31 million customers in Kenya had used the platform in the preceding month, while M-PESA moved KES 23.56 trillion.
Mungania’s appointment came as Safaricom expanded M-PESA beyond basic payments into savings, credit and investment products while facing increased competition in Kenya’s digital payments space.
His previous roles gave him experience across nearly every facet of that ecosystem, from dealer management and business development to product design and public sector digital transformation.
In his most recent substantive role as Director of Public Sector Digital Transformation, a position he assumed in April 2023, Mungania led nationwide initiatives supporting digitisation across agriculture, healthcare, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and public finance.
His work also contributed to the development of application programming interfaces, digital identity systems and national payments infrastructure.
His contributions to national transformation programmes earned him the Order of the Grand Warrior, a Kenyan national honour.
Mungania holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, where he studied between 2002 and 2007. He also trained in Marketing Management at the Kenya Institute of Management and Project Management at the Centre for Project Management.
He completed a MicroMasters programme in Digital Product Management at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship at JKUAT.
His appointment brought continuity to a division that had experienced leadership changes. Waititu’s departure was part of a broader wave of senior executive exits at Safaricom earlier in 2026, as the company navigated its transition beyond traditional telecommunications into digital financial services.
