What Collymore’s friends and loved ones said about him
Departed Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore, was on Thursday eulogized through an emotional memory service held at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.
Speaker after speaker shared memories narrated their best memories of Collymore in the years their path crossed.
Notably, all the speakers celebrated a man who they said lived his life to the fullest by doing what he loved most- changing the lives of all he interacted with during his lifetime.
President Uhuru Kenyatta: About three weeks ago when I travelled to Canada, Bob called me at 2am and told me that he’d break a promise he’d made me. He told me he couldn’t hang on to the company for a whole year… We had a good afternoon and when I asked him what he wanted me to do for him he said “I want you to take care of Wambui and the kids.”
Deputy President William Ruto: Bob became a big source of inspiration because he didn’t have a university degree and he successfully ran the most profitable enterprise in Kenya.
Wambui Collymore – Bob’s widow: Bob left when the applause was loudest.
Peter Kenneth – Bob’s bosom friend: On our last boys’ meeting, we were taken aback when he told us he had a couple of weeks left. We then shared a very special bottle of whiskey on this day, little did we know it would be our last.
Nicholas Nganga – Chairman, Safaricom: Bob, wasn’t afraid of apologising when he was wrong, not many people in his position would do that. Nobody is perfect but Bob was our perfectly imperfect CEO.
Patrick Quarcoo – CEO, Radio Africa: Last Saturday Bob told us “I don’t know about this heaven thing and life after death but I do hope there’s life after death. Stay together and stand by Wambui Kamiru.”
Michael Joseph – CEO, Safaricom: Bob was the bravest man I have ever met, with enormous sense of humour, he never wanted anyone to worry about him.
Alice Chepkorir – Form Four student, M-Pesa Foundation Academy: I met Bob in the streets and invited him to grace a function at our school and surprisingly he showed up. From then on our father-daughter relationship began.
Charles Msandu – Member of staff, Safaricom: Bob was many things to many people, to me and others at Safaricom he was a champion for he was very inclusive.
Nick Read – CEO, Vodafone: Bob had never been a CEO. The bar had already been set high however what has transpired within the 9 years can only be described as remarkable. He was able to do this because he was an exceptional human being.
Esther Muchemi – Chairlady, Safaricom dealers: Bob you were totally against corruption. You told me you cannot afford to live an unethical life. I pray that many of us here can afford to live a corruption free life.
Joshua Chepkwony – Representative, Telecommunications Community: Bob was able to leverage synergies.