Safaricom has appointed its Head of Investor Relations, Ilana Darcy as the interim Chief Finance Officer (CFO) following the elevation of Sateesh Kamath to CFO, Vodafone Business.
Ilana will assume her new role on July 1 and will be tasked with overall financial planning, management, and oversight of the organization
She joined Safaricom in 2017 as Head of Finance Planning and Investor Relations. She previously worked as CFO for Digicel Group in Vanuatu, South East Asia. Prior to that, she worked as the Group Finance Manager, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.
Her resume also includes various positions such as Contract Finance Manager for Unilever, Ireland, and Financial Controller for Bird Eye in Ireland.
During her stint as the Head of Investor Relations, Darcy played a key role as the company achieved several milestones. She helped strengthen the firm’s stock attractiveness by overseeing the growth of the company’s share price from Ksh18.57 to the current Ksh28.90.
She helped deliver the Hyperion Project that saw Safaricom move from the manual to a system-generated style of reporting, leading to greater efficiencies.
She holds a Bachelor of International Commerce with Italian from the University College Dublin and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said the company hopes to tap into 20 years experience including 13 at senior level spanning over three continents.
“Ilanna has more than 20 year’s experience, 13 at senior level, and has worked across three continents in the retail, FMCG and telecommunications sectors,” Ndegwa said.
