Tennyson Kaaria was enjoying tea and boiled maize when the team from Safaricom Newsroom met him at a meeting room at the Jambo Contact Centre on Mombasa Road. He got them tea, ngwaci and nduma, a testament to his roots, welcoming nature and unpretentiousness.
Raised on the slopes of Mount Kenya, sales and marketing have earned him a living in Mombasa, Western Kenya and now Nairobi. Obsessed with the customer and with a knack for selling, Tennyson is a people person, eager to help and a great listener.
He started by hawking airtime and is now one of the two Safaricom Regional Marketing leads for the expansive Nairobi region, which also covers Kiambu and Kajiado.
In another life, he would have been a Space Scientist. In this life, his family gives him purpose, wheat farming keeps him close to his roots, photography delights him, and Safaricom is where he has worked for the last 17 years.
What does a Regional Marketing Lead do?
Working with a team, I support the business in achieving its mission through increased customer numbers and increased use of Safaricom products and services. This is done through on-ground activations guided by data-driven insights. My role is that of an enabler, equipping the team to deliver and tracking their performance to ensure success.
You started as a retail centre agent. How was that?
While stationed at a retail outlet handling customers’ issues, I learned active listening, how to handle objections, and how to sell. A customer comes to get a solution, and it’s upon you to give them one. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, your most unhappy customers are the ones who make you learn a lot and improve, and that’s the only way that you can progress as a business.
What lessons did you learn about people while working as a salesperson?
When you interact with people, it’s about how you treat them, how you appreciate them, and the experience you give them. Human beings usually forget a lot of the good things, but one bad experience will normally stick. If we are able to avoid bad experiences, the better for us, the better for the business, and the better for the future of the business.
Public Administration was your undergraduate at UoN. Why pivot to sales and marketing?
Interacting with people and selling products and services makes me fulfilled, and what I studied at university did not. Plus, back then, Public Administration had people thinking all one could be was a ‘Chifu’ (chief), and I did not want that. So, I started off selling books for Oxford Press, then worked for a cleaning company and then a Safaricom dealer hired me to be a branch manager for an outlet in Muchatha. Worked that job for a day and opted to instead be a salesperson in the field.
What was your rationale for what many must have thought was a crazy decision?
In life, you have to look into the future and not stay in your comfort zone. I started hawking airtime as a dealer sales agent in the markets in Muchatha, Banana, Raini, Tigoni, and Gachie. My pay was one percent commission of total sales. On my first day, I sold goods worth KES 712, which made me wonder if I was doing the right thing. But by the time I was leaving that job, there were days I was selling airtime worth one million shillings in a day.
How did you join Safaricom?
I applied four times and kept getting regrets, but I never gave up. The fifth time, I was called for an interview, and that’s how I landed in Mombasa as a retail centre agent in 2007. I worked there for nine years, rising to be an Area Sales Manager.
Your MBA thesis was on “Determinants of Application of Decentralisation Strategy at Safaricom”. Why did you pick the topic, and were the learnings applied?
In 2017, most of Safaricom’s decision-making was based at the head office, and I saw a challenge because bureaucracy hampered service delivery. Remember, the customer doesn’t want to know how things are done internally; they just want things to be done quickly. Over time, Safaricom has gone regional, which has made service delivery faster, increased customer obsession, and helped tackle region-specific needs.
How has Safaricom managed to keep you happy for the 17 years you have worked there?
The sense of respect, appreciation and job satisfaction Safaricom offers is important to me. Work-life balance is embraced a lot in the company. One is also empowered to meet their needs. If you want to further your education, learn a new job or new skill, all that is available. How I would explain it is “that friend, that person who has been with you at your lowest, it is best to stick with them.”
A career highlight?
The best thing I did was go back to do my Master’s because initially, I was working like a rudderless ship. Now, I am into data, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence, and my MBA equipped me with crucial decision-making and strategic skills. I use all these to maximise productivity for my team, and they also come in handy in my own life.
A career challenge?
Working with county government officials has proved challenging due to integrity issues. It can be frustrating to stand your ground and have your project blocked. But I have learnt that if you always stand your ground, they eventually respect you and leave you alone. But if you open the can of worms, you will have to keep feeding them.
How has the customer changed over the last 17 years?
Today’s customer is so demanding. Previously, they were a bit more lenient, but with today’s customer, you must solve their issue there and then, or they will leave. The customer today has a lot of options, which were not there in the past. The customer wants a service; they don’t want downtime, and they do not want stories.
How has Safaricom risen to the challenge of satisfying the changing customers?
Thomas Watson said, “For you to succeed in business, you have to have business in your heart, and you have to have your heart in business.” That describes Safaricom. I will single out two initiatives that have helped the customer: paying in instalments—Lipa Mdogo Mdogo—enables customers to access smartphones, and a deliberate digital focus—Mwelekeo Ni Internet—has helped digitise our customers, which is important in today’s digital world.
M-PESA turns 18 in 2025. Do you remember how it started out?
When I was working for the Safaricom dealer in Muchatha, the agency that was doing the pilot for M-PESA showed us the test platform. They sent us a message on our phones to show how money would be sent, and it seemed implausible. But there was a huge need in the market and M-PESA revolutionised how ordinary Kenyans moved money. When I joined Safaricom I was part of the team who spread M-PESA to the towns in urban and rural areas. Then came Lipa na M-PESA, which has been a game changer in how business was done across the country, especially for large-scale distributors.
Safaricom turns 25 in 2025. You have been here for 18 years. How do you feel?
When I think of Safaricom, what comes to my mind mostly is innovation, how things have evolved over time, and how almost everything that you do now is attached to Safaricom, whether it’s communication, fintech, telemedicine, farming, or transport. As a company, we have a lot of opportunities. We just need to innovate, stay ahead of the market, and ensure that we provide the customers with what they require.
What keeps you awake at night?
My question is always, what will I leave for my daughters? In a couple of years’ time, we won’t be there, but are we going to leave, whether it’s the company, the country, a better place, where they’ll have opportunities like we found, or will we leave shells of what we found? For Safaricom, some people put in the work before for me to work here today. Will I leave it a better place where someone else in the future will come and work, or how will it be?
If you had a chance to change careers, what would you be?
I am passionate about Space Science and spend a lot of time learning about astronautical engineering. I’ve got some telescopic cameras. I normally do stargaze and ponder the future of our universe and whether there are other lifeforms out there.
Something people do not know about you.
I’m a very good wildlife and nature photographer. Photography makes me happy. I love interacting with nature, seeing what God created, capturing moments and putting them somewhere we can be able to see them.
Who is Tennyson Kaaria away from the office?
I like spending time with my family. That’s the most important thing. What counts is your family; that’s what your legacy will be, and that is what you live for. As a man, you must ensure that your family is okay and comfortable. I am also a wheat farmer in Timau.
