Sanda Ojiambo Appointed Executive Director, UN Global Compact

Safaricom’s Head of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Sanda Ojiambo, was appointed recently as the Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, at an announcement made by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Sanda assumes the role from 17th June to take over from Denmark’s Lise Kingo, who has been with the UN Global Compact since 2015.

“Sanda has been instrumental in leading our Sustainable Business team that focuses on Sustainability, Shared Value, Corporate Social Investment, and Technology for Development. She has also played a major role in the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into our business operations,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO.

Sanda has served as Safaricom’s Head of Sustainable Business and Social

Impact since 2010. Before that she was the Senior Manager of Safaricom and MPESA Foundations during which she led the implementation of several public-private partnership initiatives between Safaricom and UN organizations. She holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota, the USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada.

“Sanda brings 20 years of experience to lead the Global Compact in its next phase to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders and bring the full weight of the private sector to achieve the SDGs”, Said António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General.

Sophos Appoints Sharon Ombongi as Country Manager

Sophos a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has announced the appointment of Sharon Evelyn Ombongi as country manager for Kenya. In her new role, Ombongi will drive the company’s strategic business growth in the country.

Based in Nairobi, Ombongi brings more than 12 years of experience in the IT industry to Sophos. Prior to joining Sophos, she was the country manager for Symantec for East Africa, where she was responsible for developing partner and end customer markets. Ombongi has also led enterprise sales for brands like Oracle, Cisco, Checkpoint, EMC, VMware, and Hitachi at various distribution companies she worked for in East Africa.

“Kenya is one of the fastest growing markets for Sophos in Africa and we have an aggressive expansion plan for the country,” said Harish Chib, vice president, Middle East and Africa, Sophos. “We are excited to welcome Sharon to lead our operations in

Kenya. She is a well-known executive within the East African IT industry. With her in-depth knowledge and expertise in IT security, Sharon is an ideal fit to lead our business strategy for Kenya and drive Sophos’ growth in the country.”

“IT security remains a highly challenging and complex area for East African organizations. Rapid digitization in the region has given rise to many connected devices and therefore new technology vulnerabilities cybercriminals could potentially exploit. With this shift, regional companies have realized that traditional security solutions are no longer enough to keep them ahead of today’s complex threats and they need to adopt a cybersecurity system for protection,” said Ombongi. “Sophos is well poised to capitalize on this demand with its innovative synchronized security technology. I am thrilled to join the company that is delivering advanced, next generation cybersecurity solutions.”