Combining both finance and technology, FinTech is a mix of two traditionally male-dominated fields. Nevertheless, in recent years in Africa, Fintech has opened up career opportunities for women. The emergence of female leadership in fintech is now a reality on the African continent, although there is still progress to be made.
Below is a list of 60 African female fintech experts who are helping to build a professional identity for women in fintech and can serve as a role model for a whole youth of women who are not lacking ambition. The position of each personality on the list has been established randomly and is not synonymous with the importance of one personality over another.
Martha Mghendi-Fisher, Founder & Chair to the Executive Board, European Women Payments Network (EWPN) (Kenya)
Martha Mghendi-Fisher is a fintech & payments professional, a social entrepreneur and a philanthropist, who was born in the Kenya. She migrated to The Netherlands permanently in 2008. She is a dual citizen of The Netherlands & Kenya, but considers herself a world citizen.
Martha Mghendi-Fisher is the Founder of European Women Payments Network (EWPN), the first and only Pan-European network (community) dedicated to bringing together women from all EU/EEA member states, working in cards, fintech & payments. In 2018, she Founded African Women in Fintech & Payments (AWFP), the first and only pan-african network dedicated to bringing together women from all African countries working in cards, fintech and payments.
She sits on various Boards including, RemitFund; Sote Hub; Rise Up Advisory Board Member for Money 20/20 EU and Advisory Board Member for Merchant Payments Ecosystem(MPE2020).
Before that, she worked as Global Card Scheme Compliance Director for Payvision and Client Advising Manager for TSYS, an American financial services company specializing in credit cards.
Kemi Okusanya, Vice-Pesident, General Manager West Africa, Visa (Nigeria)
Since 1 September, Kemi Okusanya is Vice President, General Manager, West Africa at Visa Africa.
A graduate in business administration from Warwick Business School (UK), Kemi Okunsanya has spent her entire career working in subsidiaries of multinational companies in her native Nigeria. She started in 1998, just after studying science at the University of Lagos, when she joined the local subsidiary of ExxonMobil as assistant to the sales manager. Two years later, she was taken on at Zenith Bank and stayed there for ten years. Initially responsible for customer service, she was later given responsibility for sales. In October 2010, MoneyGram, the American money transfer specialist, spotted her and offered her the responsibility of developing English-speaking West Africa. Okusanya’s performance, particularly in terms of managing growth opportunities for Moneygram’s English-speaking subsidiaries in Africa, earned her the management of the entire West African region five years later. In June 2016, further recognition of his managerial skills earned her the position of head of MoneyGram’s English-speaking Africa. And it was from there that she was snapped up by Visa.
Omokehinde Adebanjo, Vice-President and Area Business Head, West Africa, Mastercard (Nigeria)
Omokehinde Adebanjo is the Vice President & Area Business Head for West Africa, MasterCard. Based in Nigeria, she is responsible for advancing acceptance and issuance of MasterCard’s payment products in Nigeria and other English-speaking countries in West Africa.
Prior to her appointment as Area Business Head, Omokehinde Adebanjo fulfilled the role of Vice President for Business Development in the West African region.
Before joining MasterCard, Omokehinde Adebanjo was employed by the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), where she spent four years as the Head of Cards and Product Development. Prior to GTBank, she worked at Econet (now known as Airtel).
Omokehinde Adebanjo holds an MBA from the Lagos Business School, and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
Omokehinde Adebanjo is committed to introducing the benefits of a cashless society to Nigeria and the region, and focuses on building relationships with government, financial institutions and merchants to realise both MasterCard’s vision of a world beyond cash, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s goals to reduce the circulation of cash in the country’s economy.
Adoma Owusu (Peprah), Country Manager for Visa Ghana
Adoma Owusu Peprah is a Financial Services Professional with extensive payments and banking experience. Since spetember 2018, she the Country Manager for Visa in Ghana, overseeing Visa’s operations in Ghana and responsible for determining and executing on strategies for the market, cultivating close relationships with key decision-makers, growing the existing business and identifying new opportunities.
Prior to Visa, Adoma spent over seven years in banking with six of those at Standard Bank in a variety of Senior Management roles across both the Retail and Corporate & Investment units of the bank.
Her career highlights include the design, development and execution of a revised value proposition for a high-income customer base; the rollout of Standard Bank’s strategic online banking solution in a number of African countries; driving a transformational People Programme for 8,000 people across multiple geographies and assisting Business Units reporting into the Group COO to optimize their business operations.
Adoma Owusu holds an MBA, Post Graduate Degree in Management as well as a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree majoring in Genetics & Biochemistry.
Sharon Kinyanjui, EMEA Director – Europe, Middle East & Africa, Receive Markets at WorldRemit (Kenya)
Since mars 2021, Sharon Kinyanjui is Director Europe, Middle East & Africa, Receive Markets at WorldRemit, an international payments company that provides money transfer and remittance services in over 130 countries and over 70 currencies. Prior to that, she was the Country Director for Kenya & Head of East Africa at WorldRemit. She is responsible for the development and expansion of WorldRemit across more than ten markets in these regions. Sharon Kinyanjui has extensive knowledge and experience of remittances as she previously held key management roles across the EMEA region at Western Union, where she held, among others, the position of, Strategic Initiatives & New Products Manager, based in London. In this position, she was responsible for the development and execution of strategic initiatives channels and products across Western Europe. The role reports to the Regional VP for Western Europe. She also Led Western Union’s Mobile Money Transfer Go-to-Market strategy for Europe and launched the service in 14 European countries.
Sharon Kinyanjui holds an MBA from Manchester Business School
Cynthia Ponera, WorldRemit’s Head of East Africa (Tanzania)
Since mars 2021, Cynthia Ponera is WorldRemit’s Head of East Africa. Prior to that, she was WorldRemit’s Country Manager for Tanzania, responsible for generating new business in Tanzania through building relationships with partners and identifying areas for growth.
With extensive experience in the banking industry, Cynthia Ponera specialising in digital and alternative channels. It is here that she became chairperson of the Women Network Forum, which was created to empower women to take leadership roles.
Cynthia Ponera holds a Master’s of business leadership from university of South Africa. Her Master thesis was on the effect of mobile money on female financial inclusion in Tanzania.
Esther Chibesa, Managing Director: Treasury & Trade Solutions Head – SSA, Citi (Zambia)
Since April 2020, Esther Chibesa is Head of Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) Division for Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to her appointment, she was Acting Director of TTS for Sub-Saharan Africa, Director of TTS for East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia) since 2015 and Director of Payments & Receivables for Sub-Saharan Africa since 2016.
As TTS Director for City’s East Africa region, Esther Chibesa led a team responsible for the development and implementation of client solutions covering trade and financial services, payments, receivables and liquidity management. Under her leadership, Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions has been at the forefront of delivering innovative digital solutions to the East African market, such as a fully integrated tax payment module, automated mobile money solutions and enhanced liquidity management products, enabling clients to centrally manage their treasuries across multiple banks and geographies.
Esther Macharia Chibesa is a graduate in accounting from the University of Botswana, Strathmore Business School in Nairobi and has completed an executive programme at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Barcelona. She has nearly 20 years of experience working in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya in various capacities including relationship management, credit risk analysis and product management. She joined Citibank as an intern in 1999 after graduation and worked for 18 months in various departments such as operations and customer service.
She then joined Citibank Uganda as a risk analyst for three years. There she was part of the team that consolidated a new business unit that mainly advised companies on credit facilities. Between January 2004 and September 2008, Esther Chibesa worked in Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda as a commercial product manager. She then became a banker specialising in structuring commercial services products for clients in the mining, public sector, agribusiness and manufacturing sectors, as well as identifying supply chain finance opportunities for them. Subsequently, she was appointed as Citibank’s Head of Treasury and Business Solutions in Zambia from 2011,before being appointed to the same position in Kenya and across East Africa.
Topyster Namasaka Muga, Founder and CEO, Prosper Mentor (Kenya)
Topyster Namasaka Muga is a decorated financial inclusion and fintech personality with rich experience in digital financial services, technology as well as telecommunications industry. She has spearheaded financial inclusion initiatives during her work in organizations including Vodafone and Airtel. She is currently the founder and CEO of “Prosper Mentor”, a well-established company that provides a virtual safe space for paid mentorship. “Prosper Mentor” connect professionals in Africa to mentorship and coaching opportunities offered by C-suite and industry leaders..
Before establishing “Prosper Mentor”, she was Senior Director for Financial Inclusion Africa at Visa, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
A Fintech expert, Topy has over thirteen years’ experience in financial services and telecommunications, five of which are in mobile money at Vodafone and Airtel. She has held a number of roles in general management, strategy, operations, technology, and product and business transformation. Prior to joining Visa, Topy headed Airtel Kenya’s mobile money business. She was a member of the Payments Association of Kenya (PAK) and the Mobile Money Association of Kenya (MMAK) steering committees whose objectives are to increase financial inclusion with assistance of the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya. She previously worked as M-Pesa Principal Product Manager at Vodafone Group based in London, England where she led M-Pesa commercial and strategy for emerging markets, product development and new markets launches. Topy was awarded a Nelson Mandela scholarship to study at INSEAD Business School in France where she received a Master in Business Administration. She has a first class honors Bachelor’s of Science degree in Information Technology from Jomo Kenyatta University and a Higher Diploma in Management of Information Systems from Strathmore University.
Yinka Edu (Nigeria)
Yinka Edu is a Partner in the firm’s Banking & Finance team of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, a full-service commercial law firm, with offices in Nigeria’s key commercial centres. She heads the firm’s Capital Markets team. She has been involved in a range of financial and capital markets transactions, including advising on the first global depositary receipts programme, the first Eurobond issuance by a Nigerian Corporate, and the establishment of the first ETF to be listed in Nigeria. She regularly advises on the establishment of mutual funds, derivatives transactions and public Merger & Acquisition transactions. She also advises on issues relating to the Nigerian bond market, and on compliance issues in connection with banking and capital market assignments, many of which, being innovative or new to Nigeria, often require skilled liaison with the regulatory authorities. She was a core member of the team that advised several local banks with the 2008 banking consolidation mergers.
Yinka Edu is the only Nigerian lawyer to be ranked Tier 1 in Chambers and Partners for fintech work. She is also ranked by Chambers Global for her expertise in banking & finance and corporate/commercial practice, and is commended for her banking and finance and capital markets work in Who’s Who Legal. She sits on the board of several companies.
Yinka Edu is the African Regional Forum Laison Officer, Banking Law Committee of the International Bar Association. She is also member of the Fintech Road Map Sub-Committee of the Capital Markets Committee in Nigeria.
Yinka Edu has published articles in Getting the Deal Through – Securities Finance – Nigeria, and in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Mergers & Acquisitions. She presents papers and conducts seminars at the IBA Conferences on security for bank lending and on capital markets’ issues. She chairs the Capital Markets’ Solicitors Association of Nigeria, and is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law Competition Committee.
Yinka Edu holds a BA in Law and society Law from the university of Exeter (England). She has been trained in fintech at the said business school, Oxford University Business School.
Anne Catherine Tchokonté, Managing Director Orange Money (Cameroon)
Since December 2021, Anne Catherine Tchokonté is the Managing director of Orange Money Cameroon. Prior to that, she was Head of Diversification of Mobile Financial Services at Orange Africa & Middle East, engaging with 17 countries on international remittances, payments, digital microcredit, savings and micro-j insurance. She is an experienced professional with backgrounds in telecoms, financial services, agriculture, energy and a predilection for Business Development in Africa.
Anne Catherine Tchokonté graduated from French Ivy-League engineering schools (Polytechnique, Ponts et Chaussées) and also from university of California, Berkley, in college of natural resources, in innovation in agrifood supply chain: finance, profitability and sustainability. . She is a Certified Expert in Microfinance from the Frankfurt School of Finance.”
Fatimatou Zahra Diop, Former Secretary General of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) (Senegal)
Fatimatou Zahra Diop retired as Secretary General of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). There she was responsible for the coordination and successful management of the BCEAO in its eight member countries as well as offices in Dakar and Paris. Her previous position was as the National Director of Senegal where she led the Senegalese branch of the Central Bank. She also served as Director for Payment System Reforms, where she designed and implemented a system for large value payments, an automated clearing system, a card-based interbank payment system, a telecommunications network, and a new legal and regulatory framework ensuring security within the new system. Additional highlights of her career include managing cash transactions on behalf of the Treasury and member states, designing regulations governing central banks and financial institutions in West Africa, and managing equities held by the Central Bank with financial institutions. As an economist, she was in charge of the regulation and supervision of banks and financial institutions within the West African Monetary Union.
She is the co-founder of Afrivac which is a public-private partnership whose mission is to work with public and private sector partners to promote the need to strengthen the budgets of African countries with a view toward becoming independent from multilateral support. She serves as Vice President of its Board of Directors.
Sabine Mensah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer AfricaNenda (Burkina Faso)
Sabine Mensah is the deputy chief executive officer of AfricaNenda, an independent, African-led organization created to accelerate the growth of instant and inclusive payment systems that will benefit all Africans, including the poorest and currently financially excluded.
As the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Sabine Mensah oversees AfricaNenda’s capacity-building and partnership efforts through convenings and thought leadership, with the aim of strengthening the payments ecosystem across Africa.
Prior to joining AfricaNenda, Sabine served as the Regional Digital Hub Manager for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), where she led the development of inclusive digital economies to accelerate financial inclusion across West and Central Africa. She also successfully drove UNCDF’s global digital infrastructure workstream.
As the Regional Director responsible for domestic and international remittances at Western Union Canada, she specialised in agent network management and remittance product design.
Sabine Mensah is a Certified Digital Finance Practitioner by Digital Frontier Institute, and an alumna of the Institut Franco-Américain de Management in France and Central Michigan University in the United States.
Jacqueline Jumah, Technical expert AfricaNenda (Kenya)
Jacqueline Jumah is a transformation specialist in digital financial services with over 15 years’ experience across Africa and Asia supporting the deployment of inclusive financial systems for sustainable economic growth.
As a Technical Expert in Inclusive Payments Systems with AfricaNenda, she focuses on providing technical advice to deployments of pro-poor instant payment systems and supporting AfricaNenda’s partnerships with key African institutions shaping the future of payments on the continent.
Prior to joining AfricaNenda, Jacqueline Jumahwas the Programme Head for Digital Financial Services at EFInA, where she provided technical advisory services to support governments, international development programmes, regulators, banks, fintech firms and microfinance institutions.
Previously, she also served as Principal Consultant in digital financial services and Managing Director at Intermarc Consulting, and as a digital financial services analyst at MicroSave Consulting (Currently MSC). She is an alumna of Maseno University, Kenya, and the University of Nairobi.
Vanessa Umutoni, Technical Payment Specialist, AfricaNenda (Rwanda)
Vanessa Umutoni is a leader in digital financial services, fintech and payment solutions, with extensive leadership experience in both private and non-profit organisations. As Technical Payment Specialist at AfricaNenda, she focuses on designing and advocating for efficient and affordable payment platforms.
Before joining AfricaNenda, Vanessa Umutoni worked with the Mastercard Foundation Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning ICT, where she led a regional entrepreneurship programme with companies from seven African countries, and as a senior product manager at Pivot Access, where she led the company’s fintech product portfolio. She also served as the vice-president of Girls in ICT Rwanda for seven years.
She is an alumna of Carnegie Mellon University, and Mbarara University of Science and Technology.
Bery Dieye, Community Engagement and Social Media Lead, AfricaNenda (Senegal)
Bery Dieye is a communication specialist with 14 years of proven expertise in various sectors across West and Central Africa. She is responsible for building a digital community of instant and inclusive payment systems (IIPS) supporters and leading engagement on social media to promote AfricaNenda’s work and achievements.
Bery Dieye started her career with Orange at the launch of mobile money and developed her expertise in training and management of communities of practice within international organizations.
Before joining AfricaNenda, she worked as a Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist with UNCDF. She managed and strengthened the knowledge of digital finance actors in Benin and Senegal by sharing lessons learned on financial inclusion projects. She has a deep understanding of the digital finance ecosystem and has facilitated numerous awareness sessions and workshops in the sector.
Bery Dieye is an alumna of INSEEC Paris Business School, and Paul Valery University Montpellier, in France.
Chidinma Aroyewun, Country Manager DPO Group (Nigeria)
Chidinma Aroyewun is the country manager in Nigeria of DPO Group, the largest and the fastest-growing African payment gateway which offer small and medium-sized businesses, right up to global companies, the solution, the technology, the opportunity, and the support to make and receive online payments wherever and whenever they want.
Chidinma Aroyewun is a solution sales and marketing professional with 10+ years of multi-industry experience across cloud computing (SaaS), digital marketing, telecommunication (VAS) and financial services (FinTech) industries. With a unique ability to blend B2B or B2C sales, marketing, customer service & account management principles to drive business growth, she helps businesses and customers discover products and solutions that help them grow. She describes herself as a leader who prides herself in her entrepreneurial skills & proven ability to influence people & processes towards achieving positive outcomes and as a data ‘freak’ who is obsessed with the numbers and how they impact business decisions.
Chidinma Aroyewun holds a Master of business administration from university of Exeter (England).
Viola Llewellyn, President & Co-Founder of Ovamba Solutions, Inc. (Cameroon)
Originally from Cameroon, born, raised and educated in the U.K, Viola Llewellyn is the President and co-founder of Ovamba Solutions Inc.,an award winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies for Banks and Central Banks so that they can serve emerging market SMEs with innovative Sharia compliant trade finance products. Ovamba’s “BankPartner Innovations” combine ERP & CRM with, eCommerce, logistics services, and proprietary algorithms and short term capital to drive financial inclusion and promote growth. Viola Llewellyn oversees strategic implementation, investor communications, and global business development for Ovamba. In June of 2018, Ovamba was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Global Technology Pioneer, securing a 2-year Ambassadorship and a place at the prestigious “Davos Summit” conference.
Viola Llewellyn’s past career includes building a $500MM life insurance investment fund for a Washington, DC based insurance investment firm where she led investor communications, and asset management divisions. She has held positions with companies such as Unisys Corporation, IBM, KPMG Consulting, BearingPoint and Rothschild’s.
Viola Llewellyn is on a number of advisory boards, including The Africa Professional Services Group, the European Women’s Payment Network, and the African Women in Fintech & Payments Network, as well as WEI, the Women’s Economic Imperative Initiative, headed up by Dr. Margo Thomas, the outgoing Co-Chair of the T20 Task Force on Gender Economic Equity for the United Nations. Llewellyn has previously served on the board of Africa’s leading tech hub and incubator ActivSpaces.
Viola Llewellyn lives between the African Continent and the USA.
Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President of Visa in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mali)
Since November 2018, Aida Diarra is Senior Vice President of Visa in Sub-Saharan Africa, overseeing all Visa operations in 48 markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to her appointment, she was Vice President of Western Union and General Manager Africa, since 2014 and based in Casablanca.
Aida Diarra has a 25-year career in the financial services and digital finance sector, especially in strategy development and implementation, business development and operational management.
Born in Dakar to a Malian father and a mother from Niger , Aida Diarra completed her secondary education in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal before going to France to pursue her higher education, where she obtained a degree in finance and economics from the American Business School in Paris. She also holds an MBA in management and international business from the University of Hartford, Connecticut. Aida Diarra started her professional career in 1992 and has held several management positions in different retail companies.
Ebehijie Momoh, Area Head, West Africa at Mastercard (Nigeria)
Ebehijie Momoh is Mastercard’s Area Business Head for West Africa. Based in Nigeria, she is in charge of expanding Mastercard’s brand presence in West Africa, deploying innovative payment solutions, and collaborating with local governments and market regulators to create a World Beyond Cash.
Ebehijie Momoh joined Mastercard from Standard Chartered Bank, where she served as Head of Retail Banking in Ghana and, before that, as Head of Retail Banking in Nigeria. In both roles, she was in charge of developing and executing the Retail Banking business strategy, as well as delivering results.
Ebehijie Momoh holds an MBA, Banking from Bangor university (UK) and a Bachelor of science from university of Lagos.
Nathalie Akon Gabala, Regional Director West, Central & Northern Africa, Mastercard Foundation (Côte d’Ivoire)
Since September 2019, Nathalie Gabala is the Regional Director, West, Central and North Africa at Mastercard Foundation. She works closely with the country teams for Senegal and Ghana. Nathalie Gabala has experience working in multi-cultural environments and leading teams across geographies. She has deep expertise in SME, micro-financing and fin-tech institutions across sub-Saharan Africa Prior to join Mastercard, Nathalie Gabala was Partner and Managing Director, Africa for Equator Capital Partners based in Abidjan. Equator Capital Partners is one of the pioneer financial inclusion-focused fund managers which manages the family of ShoreCap funds with investments in Asia and Africa.She joined Equator Capital Partners in 2013 largely due to its social impact focus.
Nathalie Gabala began her career in a trading room at Credit Lyonnais in Paris, before returning to Côte d’Ivoire in 1996. She spent four years working for Citibank, first in her home country, then as Head of Treasury in Cameroon.
Over the next ten years, Nathalie Gabala held various roles with Standard Chartered Bank Group, living and working in a number of African countries. She was head of global markets in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire before assuming responsibility for all countries in which the bank had customers but no physical presence. Her last role was as Regional Head in South Africa where she led the development organization portfolio strategy for the bank.
Nathalie Gabala, who grew up in Côte d’Ivoire, has a Master’s degree of Management in Strategy with a Minor in Finance from École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris in France. She also studied at the Université Nationale de Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan where she completed a Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance.
Suzan Kereere, Head of Global Business Solutions Fiserv
Since December 2021, Suzan Kereere is the Head of Global Business Solutions at Fiserv, a leading global technology provider serving the financial services industry, driving innovation in payments, processing services, risk and compliance, customer and channel management, and business insights and optimization. As Head of Global Business Solutions, Suzan Kereere oversees the company’s merchant-focused offerings, including the Clover® business management platform and Carat™ enterprise omnichannel commerce platform. Suzan Kereere leverages her extensive experience leading payments and technology businesses to deliver excellence for clients ranging from small and mid-sized companies to global enterprises.
Most recently, Suzan Kereere served as Chief Growth Officer at Fiserv, leading enterprise strategy and business development initiatives to enhance client value and accelerate growth.
Prior to Fiserv, she held executive leadership roles in global merchant sales and acquiring at Visa from 2016 to 2021, which included scaling Visa’s value-added services offerings with new client segments, as well as leading small business recovery efforts over the course of the pandemic. As Global Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring at Visa, she led a multi-billion-dollar business and global team.
Suzan Kereere served in leadership positions at American Express from 1988 to 2016, including as head of its U.S. National Merchant Business and Global Network Business. Throughout her career she has led successful transformation, sales and customer initiatives at Fortune 100 companies across global business lines and regional high-growth start-ups. She is is well-recognized for her accomplishments in digital transformation, sales optimization, front-line customer engagement, and inclusive growth.
Suzan Kereere She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.
She is a champion for, and sought-after authority on, equity in the corporate space, and has driven leading-edge work to bring analytics to the forefront in the discussion on race and inclusion.
Suzan Kereere serves as a non-executive Director on the board of 3M Company, Grange Insurance Company and has previously served on the boards of the National Retail Federation Foundation and the American Red Cross (New York).
Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, Senior Business Leader & Country Manager at Visa Kenya (Kenya)
Since September 2020, Eva Ngigi is the Senior Business Leader & Country Manager at Visa Kenya.
A financial services expert with 15 years of experience in the banking sector, she has held various positions in several banking institutions in Kenya, including CfC Stanbic and Co-operative Bank of Kenya. Prior to her appointment, she was a project manager at SC Ventures of Standard Chartered.
Prior to her position at SC Ventures, Eva Ngigi-Sarwari worked in the transaction banking department of Standard Chartered Bank, where she was the transaction banking manager for the commercial banking segment in East Africa, where she made a significant contribution.
Eva Ngigi-Sarwari holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Marketing Management from Moi University, Kenya; a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Nairobi and a postgraduate diploma in Digital Business from EMERITUS (online course) and has participated in the Oxford Fintech program.
Kari Tukur, Vice President, Mastercard , Sub Saharan Africa (Nigeria)
Specialise in payment tech and retail banking strategy development and execution in international markets, Kari Tukur is, since august 2019, Vice President, Mastercard , Sub Saharan Africa. She oversees the in-market product strategy across multiple countries within the region. She specializes in retail banking, strategy development and execution in international markets.
Prior to becoming VP MasterCard, Kari Tukur was Country Head of Consumer Banking and Privilege (wealth) at the Defunct Diamond Bank PLC . One of her achievements was the Diamond Exclusive plus initiative which brought productivity and high returns to the target customers and the bank. However, after the merger with Access Bank PLC, Kari became the Group Head, Consumer Banking. In her role, she was responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with consumer banking customers.
Kari Tukur worked at Standard Chartered Bank from 2015 to 2018 as Head, Retail Products and Digital Banking. Her responsibilities included retail liabilities, personal loans, mortgage, credit card, trade and working capital book. Earlier at Standard Chartered Bank, she was Head, Personal and Preferred Banking, Nigeria. She was responsible for formulating, aligning, and executing the country strategic agenda for personal and preferred banking with the purpose of maximizing growth, market share and profitability of the segments.
In another leadership capacity, she was appointed Head of Personal Banking, Products and Strategy at Stanbic IBTC Bank from 2010 to 2012. At Stanbic IBTC, Kari Tukur interpreted customer feedbacks in order to redesign, develop and implement new products that will satisfy the needs of existing customers.
Kari Tukur holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems at Sheffield Hallam University, where she graduated with first-class with honours in 2007 and a master’s degree in International Marketing at the University of Birmingham, graduating with distinctions. She has also boosted her career with various courses in the areas of Marketing, Business and Information Systems Strategy, Database Engineering, Cross-Cultural Communication and more. She is a Simon Evans scholarship awardee and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Maimouna Gueye, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, World Bank (Senegal)
Since April 2018, Maimouna Gueye is Senior Financial Sector Specialist in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank Group. She is a Senior financial sector professional with 20 years of experience in development finance and payment systems, particularly in Africa. She has significantly worked in developing markets on financial inclusion and related topics such as interoperability, financial literacy, microfinance, regulation and mobile money.
She is the team lead of the Madagascar Financial Inclusion Project focusing on increasing access to finance for MSMEs and individuals. Maimouna Gueye started her career in 2000 working for JP Morgan Chase on Wall Street in NY as a Mutual Funds Portfolio Analyst. After which she spent 10 years at the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) as “Sous-Directeur“ in charge of payment systems policy and regulation. Prior to joining the World Bank’s Finance Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice in 2018, she spent 3 years at AFDB leading the creation of the multi -donor trust fund : Africa Digital Financial Inclusion(ADFI) with essential funding from the Gates Foundation.
Maimouna Gueye graduated with an MBA in Finance and Economics from Saint Peters University in the United States and holds a Bachelor of Business from the City University of New York, as well as a certificate in financial inclusion from the Harvard Kennedy School of Business.. She also holds three financial inclusion certificates
Rose Muturi, Managing Director, East Africa, Branch international (Kenya)
Since October 2021, Rose Muturi is the Managing Director, East Africa at Branch International, is the world’s leading personal finance app that provides access to instant loans with no physical documentation. As East Africa’s Managing director, Rose Muturi is responsible for the development, growth and stability of the East Africa businesses, setting goals and monitoring key metrics, driving debt fundraising strategy and operations. She also manages cross-functional teams in a regulated entity across finance, marketing, people operations, customer success, compliance etc. She represents the East African businesses across local and international platforms and explores local business development partnerships in public and private sectors.
Rose Muri has more than 12 years of experience in the financial services industry through various roles at Standard Chartered Bank, leading product development and strategy at Chase Bank as well as Director Products and Strategy and Acting country manager for TransUnion Kenya. TransUnion is a US-based bank data collection, control and protection company.
Rose Muturi was also the director of Tala Kenya, which provides modern credit for the mobile world. She oversaw operations in Kenya and Tanzania.
Rose Muturi holds a Pan African executive MBA from IESE Business School (Barcelona, Spain); an executive MBA, business administration and management general from Strathmore Business School (Nairobi, Kenya) and a bachelor degree in statistics and computer science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Nairobi, Kenya)
Sharon Welang, Director, Network Expansion, MFS Africa (Cameroon)
Sharon Welang is the director of network expansion at MFS Africa, Africa’s largest digital payments hub. Sharon Welang manages partner integrations and new service launches. She has worked at Wal-Mart Corporation and Standard Chartered. She gained experience in the telecommunications sector with MTN Cameroon, where she worked on Mobile Money. She received her BSc from Purdue University and her MBA from American University. Sharon speaks fluent English and French.
Nené Domingos-Leyka, Technical Support Manager, MFS Africa (DRC)
Nené Domingos-Leyka is a Technical Support Manager at MFS Africa. She has solid experience in customer support within the financial services sector, having previously been responsible for the analysis and resolution of ATM-related customer queries for ATM Solutions. This enabled her to exceptionally handle and resolve customers’ queries with Orange Money Transfert International. She has successfully integrated MTOs and MNOs to the MFS Africa API and this paved the way for her to excel in the technical department where she now manages the data analytics of real time transactions for proactive operation. After a year studying a BA degree in International Relations and Diplomacy, she realized her true calling is in Psychology (child) which she intends to pursue.
Carine Sanama, VP, Francophone Africa on the Global Payments, MFS Africa (Cameroon)
Carine Sanama is the Regional VP, Francophone Africa on the Global Payments team at MFS Africa. She joined MFS Africa from Oracle Corporation in Cote d’Ivoire where she was assisting Telco, Banks and Public Sector clients in their Digital Transformation.
Carine Sanama started her career at MTN Cameroon over 15 years ago. She then moved to the Banking industry at CitiBank Cameroon and UBA Cameroon.
Carine Sanama holds a degree in Information Technology from the University of Cape Peninsula in Capetown, a Bachelor in Business Management from Northampton Business School and completed a Management Advancement Programme from Wits Business School. She is currently doing her MBA at Northampton Business School.
Doreen Lukandwa, VP, Global Enterprise, MFS Africa (Uganda)
As VP, Global Enterprise at MFS Africa, Doreen Lukandwa is responsible for driving the strategic growth of MFS Africa Enterprise solutions. She has over 10 years of experience in the financial services sector in Africa, driving channel and partnership development, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, last-mile delivery and management.
Formerly the Head of marketing for Beyonic, Doreen Lukandwa was also part of the team that launched MTN Mobile Money in Uganda and EzeeMoney Limited. Overtime, she has gained a deep understanding of the challenges, processes, & strategies related to establishing and sustainably scaling DFS products & services in emerging markets.
Most notably, Doreen Lukandwa is the recipient of the inaugural Digital Impact Awards -Africa, “Women in FinTech Leadership Award- 2020”, which seeks to recognize and appreciate women taking the lead in using DFS to promote gender equality.
Noha Shaker, Founder of the Egyptian Fintech Association (Egypt)
Noha Shaker is the founder and Secretary General of the Egyptian Fintech Association and the elected Vice President of both the Africa FinTech Network and the union of African FinTech associations – both are non-profit organizations that serve Financial Inclusion, equitable economic and gender parity through FinTech and entrepreneurship in general.
Noha’s experience in the financial industry spanned over 20 years; Twelve of which she worked for the CIB, Egypt’s largest private bank, where she managed FinTech innovation and all initiatives pertaining to supporting the FinTech ecosystem in Egypt and Africa.
Serving as head of the Digital Ventures and Strategic Alliance at CIB along with her work in technology and management consulting enabled her to pursue more opportunities and take on new challenges.
Noha Shaker is also a partner in FinTech holding, a company based out of the UK that builds and invests in FinTech start-ups, it’s main objective is to democratise finance leading towards a more inclusive financial industry. She is also a management consultant who has worked on various key projects within the region across various industries including Tourism, Transportation, Energy, Telecommunications and Financial Sector.
Noha Shaker is the Managing Director of Digital Capacity Building Consulting Group, DCBC, building tech-enabled innovative business models and delivering digital transformation and out of the box solutions to businesses. She is also an angel investor part of the AUC angel investor network, supporting many successful start-ups.
Over the past 20 years, Noha has held previous leadership positions in banking between Operations, Business Development, Product Innovation and business technology. She has also collaborated on key initiatives with various development agencies to enable the FinTech echo system in Egypt including GIZ, USAID, IFC, British Department for International Development and Trésor.
Noha Shaker has served on the executive board of the Arab Academy– driving Banking & FinTech education in the Arab world. She also serves as an advisory board member for Village Capital, Finance Forward MENA, channeling investments and technical support to FinTech startups and building financially inclusive businesses around the Middle East and Africa.
Noha Sharer was selected as one of the leaders shaping the future of the financial industry for 2019- FinTech hotlist by Innovate Finance, for her efforts in building collaborative echo systems to grow and enhance the impact FinTech startups can have on enhancing the social, digital and financial inclusion across Egypt and Africa. Her volunteer work with African Women in FinTech to build future leaders is one more reason she was chosen for such prestigious reward.
Zianah Muddu, Engagement Partner, Uganda’s Financial Technologies Service Providers Association (FITSPA). (Uganda)
Zianah Muddu is currently General Secretary at Africa Fintech Network (AFN) and Engagement Partner for Uganda’s Financial Technologies Service Providers Association (FITSPA). She is committed to implementing clear strategies for access to markets across Africa and is passionate about positively impacting lives in the digital economy by integrating transformational business processes into existing businesses through building networks, knowledge sharing, mentorship, and creating linkages in the ecosystems.
A pioneer in Uganda’s IT and fintech industries, Zianah Muddu’s work has impacted countless individuals and organizations. Along with her leadership role at AFN, and Engagement Partner for Uganda’s Financial Technologies Service Providers Association (FITSPA), she also served as Director of Business Development at the Innovation Village in Kampala.
Prior to joining the development and innovation space, Zianah Muddu spent 12 years of her career working with the youth in technology, mentoring and managing the software development process in True African(U) Ltd, one of the oldest fintechs in Uganda. This experience gave her an opportunity to work with start-ups that develop solutions which are critical to solving social and economic challenges at the bottom of the pyramid. During this time, Zianah Muddu noted that one of the challenges facing tech entrepreneurs was their minimal exposure to doing business professionally. Most of them don’t have the background, experience and exposure required to start a business: They start their businesses during pitch competitions, at the university or immediately after graduating, which means continuous mentorship and exposure to markets is important for their first years.
These challenges presented an opportunity for an individual like Zianah Muddu’s to build tech support solutions at a macro level. And over time, Zianah Muddu’s contributions have shifted from offering tech start-up support as an individual, to supporting these businesses at scale through her work at FITSPA. This support ranges from facilitating exposure to investors, mentors and both local and international markets, to arranging professional engagements with subject matter experts from various fields. This shift to the development and innovation space was enabled by her past experience working with tech businesses: The work had exposed Zianah Muddu to key players in the digital finance space, including but not limited to financial institutions, the fintech community, mobile network operators and development partners. She leveraged these networks to build professional linkages with various players in Uganda’s greater technology ecosystem.
In the development space, Zianah Muddu now have a chance to support local fintech businesses ready for scalability, regulation and exposure to other markets.
Valérie Neim, Founder, Brazza Transactions (Cameroon)
Valérie Neim is the Founder and CEO of Brazza Transactions (BT), a firm specializing in Wealth Management Consulting, including High Net Worth Individuals, Advisory and FOREX. BT, it’s explained, provides an integrated financial solutions-driven platform where clients’ assets are protected at minimum cost with optimal returns. BT also provides assistance in Raising Funds and Investment options.
Valérie Neim holds a B.A. in Business Administration obtained from the South Bank University, an MSc in Information Systems Management, and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Oxford Brookes University. She has a very rich career, haven worked at ABSA Bank (Santander Bank), and subsequently joined Fujitsu-Siemens, then later on worked as a Consultant for a Deutsch Company, TNT Logistics. In 2008, She was recruited as Key Accounts Manager within the Nigerian UBA Group for its Gabon subsidiary. Grounded to her root, she makes a comeback as the General Managing Director of a family Microfinance, based in Cameroon. Between 2011 and 2019, She will re-engineer by putting in place a strong Female Leadership Policy under which the turnover grew by more than 200%.
In 2019, after identifying a niche in the market, She launched BT
Djiba Diallo, Senior Fintech Advisor at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Senegal)
Since September 2019, Aissatou Djiba Diallo is Senior Fintech Advisor at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated. She leads the group’s fintech initiatives and advise senior management on the banking group’s fintech strategy. His role is, in large part, to develop the bank’s flagship annual fintech initiative – the Ecobank Fintech Challenge – Ecobank Fintech Fellowship – through which the Ecobank Group has promoted the most promising start-ups in the fintech sector.
Prior to joining the Ecobank Group, Aissatou Djiba Diallo spent 11 years in various roles in Africa. She was in charge of innovation at Microsoft4Afrika, where she implemented a strategy to identify, support and attract leading African fintech start-ups and partners to the Microsoft Cloud platform while overseeing 50 countries. She has also worked as Microsoft’s Marketing Manager and Lead for West and Central Africa for Partner Programs and Strategy. She also led the largest team in the Microsoft4Afrika organisation, with people working between Africa and the US.
Djiba Diallo holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Pierre and Marie Curie University, France and is passionate about aeronautics.
Nolwazi Hlophe, Deputy Director Financial Regulation and Supervision at Digital Frontiers (South Africa)
Nolwazi Hlophe is the Deputy Director Financial Regulation and Supervision at Digital Frontiers. She obtained her MCom in Economics from the University of Pretoria in 2016. She previously worked for Cenfri as a Senior Researcher within the Risk, Remittances and Integrity Program and the The Central Bank of eSwatini (CBE) as a Macroprudential Analyst from which she moved on to Manage the CBE Intelligence Hub, which managed the activities of the newly established Fintech Unit.
Nolwazi Hlophe have a great passion for capacity building, which she firmly believe contributes to agile and innovative financial systems that are maintain their monetary and financial stability. Her research interests include financial regulation, financial and gender inclusion, innovation in payment systems and digital currencies, such as CBDCs.
Nolwazi Hlophe holds a Master of economics from university of Pretoria (South Africa) and is currently doing a Master’s degree in law at the university of South Africa.
Salma Ingabire, Country Manager Visa Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda (Rwanda)
Since June 2018, Salma Ingabire is the Visa’s Country manager in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. She is responsible for general management of all aspects of local business including business strategy, business development and portfolio management, matrixed management of functions to ensure each is aligned with global and regional strategies, government officials, Central Bank and other regulatory institutions, people leadership, compliance & control.
Prior to joining Visa, Salma Ingabire was chief operating officer of AC Group, the company that created “Tap & Go”, digitising all public transport payments in Kigali. Prior to that, she was lead for Group Business Development and Special Projects for East Africa at Onga Wari group, a financial technology company based in South Africa. She implemented and launched Wari services in East Africa through partnerships with Bank of Africa, United Bank for Africa and Ecobank.
Salma Ingabire also spent 2 years as Corporate Manager at Airtel, facilitating the roll-out of Airtel Money products. She has over 6 years of experience in the banking and telecommunication sectors in Senegal, Rwanda and the USA. Between 2010 and 2013, she was head of product development at Banque Populaire du Rwanda, currently BPR-Atlas.
Salma Ingabire holds a degree in Food Science and Technology from the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology and is currently doing a Global Master of Business Administration with Oxford Brookes University (UK).
Grace Njoroge, Manager, GSMA Innovation Fund (Kenya)
Since September 2020, Grace Njoroge is a Manager at GSMA Innovation Fund, where she supports innovative start-ups and SMEs using mobile centric innovative solutions to achieve sustainable growth and improved socio-economic impact across Africa and Asia Pacific. Based out of Nairobi, her role entails design and management of Innovation Fund Rounds across Africa and Asia including providing support to selected grantees as they implement their digital inclusion projects that aim to drive socio-economic impact, achieve scale and become commercially sustainable.
Grace Njoroge is a Financial Inclusion analyst with over 10 years of experience in the financial sector having worked in Digital Financial Services, Inclusive Finance (Micro-finance), Banking sectors as well as programme management. She worked within the International Development Advisory Services (IDAS) unit at KPMG. At IDAS, Grace was a program and learning manager at the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity which is a 7-year programme focused on increasing financial inclusion for rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa
Previously, Grace Njoroge has worked at MicroSave where she was in the Digital Financial Services (DFS) practice group based in Kenya, involved in The Agent Network Accelerator project conducting research in focus countries, providing technical assistance and training to mobile network providers, banks, financial institutions and third party providers.
She also worked in the Inclusive Finance and Banking (IFB) practice group at MSC, providing technical assistance to service providers for the delivery of market-led products and services efficiently. She has worked with Banks, Microfinance Institutions, Savings and Credit Co-operative Unions (SACCOs) and donor agencies to develop and customize products and channels of delivery, optimize operational efficiencies, assess donor programmes, re-engineer processes and manage risks.
At MSC, Grace Njoroge worked in assignments in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan. She worked with MSC from Mar 2013 to Aug 2016.
Grace Njoroge is a member of the board of advisors at African Women in FinTech & Payments (AWFP), the sister company and the African chapter for European Women Payments Network (EWPN), a global network for women working in electronic transactions, cards, payments, fintech and financial inclusion whose main objective is to bring women together through networking events and workshops.
Grace Njoroge holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA), finances from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and technology (Kenya) and a Bachelor of business administration (BBA) from Maseno University (Kenya). She has also attended the an executive leadership program in monitoring and evaluation for public and private sector at the international center for evaluation and development. The purpose of the training was to equip participants with relevant knowledge and skills in the Principles of Monitoring and Evaluation.
Abigail Komu (Kenya)
Abigail Komu is a Digital and Financial Inclusion specialist with over 13 years’ experience in the deploying innovative financial solutions to the unbanked and underserved populations, focusing on women, youth and SMEs. She has worked in various industry associations, mobile operator and fintech organizations, specializing in the development and deployment of digital financial services.
She has a wealth of experience in the payments industry having participated in the roll-out of M-PESA in Kenya, M-Paisa in Afghanistan and mVisa in Kenya & Rwanda. She has also been involved in various digital and financial inclusion projects across Africa and Asia.
She tutors Harvard University’s Fintech course and sits on the board of African women in Fintech & Payments Network. She is passionate about leveraging technology to build an inclusive digital economy for the underserved in emerging markets.
Abigail Komu holds a Business Information Technology degree from Strathmore University and an MBA from Strathmore Business School. She is currently pursuing the Digital Finance practitioner certification.
Sophie Kafuti, Country Manager for Visa Democratic Republic of Congo
Since October 2021, Sophie Kafuti is country Manager for Visa in DRC. She is a strategic executive with over 20 years of experience in international financial services, Fintech, payment systems, cards, accounting & audit, retail and private banking, fintech & insurance at the strategic, corporate level and executive committees. In the past, Sophie Kafuti has worked with Royal Bank of Canada, Citi, and Moneris Solutions. Her areas of expertise are in Finance and Governance. In addition, through years of work in energy, sustainable development, metals and mining, telecommunication, transport at the regional and international level, she brings in extensive knowledge in project financing, foreign trade, new technologies, and fintech. She also has managerial, coaching, and mentoring skills.
Before joining Visa, she was Chief Financial Officer at CFC/Western Union. Prior to that she was Treasury and Trade Solutions Head at Citigroup Congo Managing 70% of Citi Congo revenues, with oversight of Trade products, Cash Management and Implementations, as well as Electronic Banking and Payments.
Sophie Kafuti is a non executive director at Oikocredit Canada, a social impact investor and worldwide cooperative.
Sophie has a Master in Business Administration from the Frankfurt School of Finance in Germany and a Bachelor in Economics, Banking and Finance from York University in Canada and a Certification in Sustainable Business Strategies from Harvard Business School.
Shakila Kerre, Digital Economy Specialist (Kenya)
Shakila Kerre is currently digital economy specialist at FSD Africa, funded by UK aid from the UK government, with a mandate to transform financial markets across sub-Saharan Africa.
As digital economy specialist, Shakila Kerre develops the strategy for implementation for innovative financial products within sub-saharan Africa seeking to serve MSMEs, women and youth, including in fragile and conflict affected states.
A financial sector development specialist with experience working in sub-Saharan Africa’s financial markets, Shakila Kerre has experience working with financial institutions in the private sector to develop innovative financial products and services to serve marginalised market segments. These include women, youth and low-income earners. By working in the fintech sector, she has also gained experience in working with alternative financial service providers in developing innovative, efficient and customer centric financial products. This sector focus has fundamentally been centred around digital financial services and how they can be leveraged to better serve unserved and underserved market segments.
Shakila Kerre holds a Master of Science (MSc) in specialized economic analysis from Barcelona graduate school of economics. She also has a Bachelor of commerce from university of Nairobi.
Shakila Kerre is a Board Member at African Women in FinTech & Payments (AWFP).
Dayo Odulate-Ademola, Managing Director Nigeria at Branch international
Since February 2021, Dayo Odulate-Ademola is the Managing Director in Nigeria of Branch international , a leading international finance app which the mission is to deliver world-class financial services to the mobile generation.
With over fifteen years of experience across technology, fintech, banking and financial inclusion, Dayo Odulate-Ademola passionate about leveraging technology and capital to deepen access to financial services and wealth for Africans at all levels. Her goal is to help build successful and profitable business models that solve this challenge at scale.
Prior to joining Branch International, Dayo Odulate-Ademola served as the Head of Innovation at EFInA, a financial sector development organization focused on promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria and funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. During her tenure, she was responsible for the administration of EFInA’s multi-million-dollar Innovation Fund, funding licenced financial services providers as well as start-up and growth-stage fintech, with an aim to boost financial inclusion in Nigeria. She also worked for Union Bank Nigeria as Head, Corporate Planning & Investor Relations and fo MainOne in marketing and strategy.
Dayo Odulate-Ademola earned a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics from Temple University, USA and a Global Executive MBA from the European Institute of Business Administration INSEAD, in Paris (France).
Charity Chitalu Mwanza, Chief Executive Officer of Digital PayGo (Zambia)
Charity Chitalu Mwanza is a business leader and technology enthusiast with over 22 years experience in digital transformation, payments, systems implementation, business development, and strategic partnerships in the financial services industry. Combining technology with business acumen, she has had unique experiences of developing and launching digital products that have had both social and economic impact. Charity is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Digital PayGo, a fintech offering digital shared services to facilitate interoperability and eliminate barriers to financial inclusion. Digital Paygo offers Digital Shared Services and infrastructure for Financial Institutions, MNOs, Merchants and Agents to eliminate financial inclusion barriers and expand distribution channels for business growth.
Charity Chitalu Mwanza holds a Master’s of Business Administration (Herriot-Watt), Diploma in Computer Science, Associate Certificate in Business Analysis from George Washington University (89) and various professional qualifications and experience in Digital Transformation, Business Strategy Development & Implementation, Information Technology, System Implementations, Project & Change Management, Business Analysis and Sales Management.
Charity Chikumbi, Director – Policy & Digital Financial Services, FSD Zambia
Charity Chikumbi works on policy and regulatory support at Zambian Financial Sector Deepening Limited (FSD Zambia), a Zambian organisation working closely with key players throughout the economy to ensure that all Zambians are financially healthy, notably the most excluded and underserved.
Charity Chikumbi undertakes the full range of activities related to advocacy and implementation support of new policies, practices and regulations for digital finance in Zambia by supporting the Bank of Zambia (BoZ), Ministry of Finance (MoF), Zambian Information and communications, technology Authority (ZICTA) as well as other government entities interested in digital finance.
Charity has over 30 years experience a central banker at Bank of Zambia in various divisions including twelve years as an Analyst in Payment Systems. Her roles in Payment Systems Division ranged from operations of the RTGS and oversight of the National Payment Systems with a view of ensuring that all payments systems, and all other Digital Financial Services adhered to the prescribed regulations and that they observed international best practises. She was also responsible for building, maintaining a database for all designated institutions that operate in the Payment Systems and Digital Financial Services space and making these statistics available to stakeholders.
She received an MBA from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and holds a BSc in Computing (Hons.) from Greenwich University and a Higher Diploma from IMIS.
Coura Carine SENE, Regional Director Wave Mobile Money
After 20 years of experience, in the management of IT and organizational projects in France and Senegal, Coura Carine Sene, since 2015, is supporting the development of mobile financial services in West Africa, and more particularly in Senegal. Since January 2022, she is the regional director of Wave mobile money in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Prior to that, she was General Manager, in Dakar, at Wave Mobile money, a company which offers the first financial services network with no account management fees, available instantly and everywhere.
She studied at the University of Lille with a DEUG obtained in 1999 and at Polytech’Lille with an engineering degree in computer engineering and statistics obtained in 2002.
Chantal Kagame Umutoni, CEO of MTN Rwanda’s FinTech subsidiary
Since May 2021, Chantal Kagame Umutoni is the CEO of MTN Rwanda’s FinTech subsidiary. Chantal Kagame leads the company’s business development, strategy, innovation and daily operations.
Prior to her appointment Chantal Kagame held the position of “Chief Business and Corporate Affairs Officer” since she joined MTN in 2018. She is a senior telecommunications executive with over 19 years of experience in multinational telecommunications. She has evolved in the areas of executive leadership, sales and distribution, mobile financial services, strategy development and execution, corporate affairs and credit management. Prior to joining MTN Rwanda, Chantal Kagame was Deputy General Manager / COO at Tigo Rwanda for 3 years and Head of Sales, Distribution and Corporate Affairs at the same company from 2011 to 2015. She had joined the company in 2009.
Chantal Kagame holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, specializing in Finance, obtained at the former Institute of Science and Technology in Kigali, now University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology.
Embi Irene Akiy, Executive Head of Digital Transformation – Group Client Solutions at Standard Bank Group
An accomplished Digital Transformation Agent with over 18 years’ experience, Embi Irene Akiy has established herself as a Seasoned Executive with a specialisation in digital transformation.
After commencing her career as a Project Coordinator with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and United Nations Development Programme, she joined Experian SA as a Project Manager, leading a high-value project on behalf of Standard Bank Group (SBG). Her skilled delivery and leadership on this project led to her being headhunted by SBG to drive company value as a Programme / Portfolio Manager.
Embi joined the Barclays Africa Group / ABSA Group Coalition in 2011, progressing through the organisation and offering key support during the Barclays-ABSA disinvestment between 2017 and 2020. She gained substantial multi-national regulatory experience while ably steering the separation and transformation of all digital assets, as well as the technology enablement of brand change in African countries.
Initially serving as IT Portfolio Manager and PMO Manager with ABSA Technology, she grew her influence and expertise across the Barclays-ABSA organisation in diverse roles including Technology Business Engagement Partner, Enterprise Function / Data-Warehouse Programme Lead, Head of Technology, RBB Operations & Lead Technology Partner, Head of Digital Delivery, and Head of Digital Transformation & Enablement.
More recently, Embi has taken on the role of Head of Digital Transformation – Group Client Solutions Technology, and Operations Executive for Standard Bank Group, driving execution and operational excellence in building platforms and structuring partnerships to drive SBG’s strategy for development as a Platform Services Business.
Her years of Technology Management and Business Enablement experience at Senior Management and Executive levels highlight Embi’s specialisation in Strategy Execution, Digitisation, Digital Transformation and Change Leadership. Her people management acumen and resilience in working across complex global operations have allowed her to develop valuable networks and efficacy in interacting with cross-functional, multi-national and remote teams to enable high-impact business transformation.
Fatima Coulibaly, Group Product Head, Receivables at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
Fatima Coulibaly is currently the Group Product Head for Receivables, covering the 34 countries of the Ecobank Group. Her main responsibility is to growth the Receivables Business whose primary mandate is to help Ecobank’s customers to get paid for their products and services and as efficiently as possible. In this role, she focus on digitizing collections, driving seamless inter borders collections offering leveraging on technology and Ecobank Group capabilities to integrate with customers billing systems to ensure collection at source, develop the digitalization activity related to Ecobank Group collection products whose main mandate is to help the economic partners in their recovery processes. Prior joining Ecobank, she was able to undertake various entrepreneurial projects allowing her to acquire strong leadership skills in addition to her Financial journey that help secure her sales skills but as well as projects and products management. She joined Ecobank in 2016 where she was responsible for the management of electronic payment channels within the Transactional Banking department. In 2017, she became Cash Management Product Manager, before being appointed Head of Cash Management for Mali in 2018 where she was responsible for the development and deployment of a full range of collections, payments and liquidity management products designed to meet client needs. In 2019, she joined the project team responsible for the migration of the bank’s banking system in Lagos and played a key role in the migration of all platforms across 25 subsidiaries and 4 regions before been appointed in 202O Group Product Head for Receivables and currently covering the 34 countries of the Ecobank Group.
Fatima Coulibaly holds a Msc and MBA in commercial management from Institut des hautes études économiques et commerciales (INSEEC), in France ; a Bachelor of applied sciences from Montréal university.
Christabel Onyejekwe, Executive Director, Technology and Operations, NIBSS Plc
Christabel Onyejekwe is the executive director, technology and operations at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), a shared service E-payment infrastructure company facilitating Electronic payment within the Nigerian payment space. NIBSS is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and all licensed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria.
In this role, Christabel Onyejekwe handled several strategies for businesses and new payment product development and management.
Before her appointment, she was the executive director, business development at the company.
Christabel Onyejekwe has over 27 years of core banking & financial industry experience. Her banking career began at First Bank of Nigeria. She then held key positions at several other banks, most prominently at UBA where she rose to the position of General Manager with oversight supervision of major conglomerates/multinationals in the industry. She played prominent roles during the consolidation of the banks in 2005 and was then appointed the pioneer regional director Lagos in charge of more than 100 branches of UBA in 2006.
She played prominent roles during the birth of the Nigerian National Switch (NNS), the deployment of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and the roll out of the industry’s award-winning NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP).
Christabel Onyejekwe holds an LLB honours degree from the University of Lagos and BL honours from the Nigeria Law School. She also holds an MBA certificate in Banking and Finance. Christabel is an associate member of Women in Business (WIMBIZ) and holds an Honourary Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) membership. Christabel obtained a certificate in corporate-level strategy from Harvard Business School in 2016.
Lola Aworanti-Ekugo, Head, Digital Innovation Lab, FirstBank Nigeria
Since November 2021, Lola Ekugo is the chief digital officer at FBNQuest, the unified brand identity for the Merchant Banking and Asset Management businesses of FBN Holdings Plc and part of the strong heritage of one of the leading financial service groups in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that she was head of digital and innovation at Union Bank of Nigeria; and also head of the Digital Innovation Lab at FirstBank Nigeria. She is also a co-founder of Elohims Basket, an initiative with the vision to influence communities through outreach and social impact programmes. Lola Ekugo has worked for several financial services companies in Europe and Africa including BNP Paribas and Commerzbank in her 13-year technology career.
Lola Ekugo received a portfolio restructuring unit excellence award at Commerzbank in recognition of her contribution towards the largest ever CDS auction with a value of EUR 38 billion as conducted after the merger of Dresdner Kleinwort and Commerzbank in 2010. Lola Ekugo has founded various startups. One of them is Transthat.com, a peer to peer logistics platform.
Lola Ekugo holds a BSc in Business Information Systems (First Class honours with scholarship for outstanding academic achievement) from Middlesex University, London and an MBA from Imperial College (scholarship recipient based on her experience and track record). Lola Ekugo serves on the tech committee of WimBiz and the Digital Transformation Committee of JA, Nigeria.
Hilina Damte Managing Partner at PayWay Ethiopia
Hilina Damte is the Co-Founder of G&H Blockchain and Managing Partner at PayWay Ethiopia, a digital payments solution provider. She is an expert in technology entrepreneurship, fintech, and blockchain.
Winner of a Binance Pitch Competition at the Africa Blockchain Conference, Hilina is using blockchain to revolutionize the agricultural industry in East Africa. She is passionate about fintech and financial inclusion.
Olivia-Kelly Lonkeu, Policy Analyst at United Nations Capital Development Fund
Based in Senegal, Olivia-Kelly Lonkeu is policy analyst at United Nations Capital Development Fund. Category: Policy Makers & Regulatory Experts. UNCDF mandate from the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is to “assist developing countries in the development of their economies.
Olivia-Kelly is a Policy Analyst specialized in Digital Finance at United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). She advises policy makers and regulators on the design of enabling policy and regulatory environments for the uptake of Digital Financial Services in West and Central Africa (WCA). Prior to joining UNCDF, Olivia-Kelly was a Manager at PwC Luxembourg’s consulting practice. She led large, multi-partner assignments for clients such as the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB). In this capacity, she contributed to the implementation of projects throughout the policy cycle: from the design of EU innovation policies, to the development of investment platforms to maximize public and private investments in local digital infrastructures through to the monitoring of the implementation of the EU Small Business Act and the evaluation of European financial instruments to support the growth of SMEs. Olivia-Kelly holds a double Master’s degree in Public Policy and Law, Economy and Management from Sciences Po Toulouse.
Mary Agbesanwa, Fintech Scale Programme Lead, PwC. Category: Rising Stars
Passionate about how technology is changing the financial services industry, Mary Agbesanwa is a strategy and operations management consultant. Based in the UK, she is currently responsible for Fintech growth at Seccl Financial Services, an organization focused on rebuilding the investment and advisory infrastructure via a dedicated wealth management, advisory and fintech technology platform.
Before that, Mary Agbesanwa led PwC UK’s Scale Fintech gas pedal program, a B2B Fintech growth program. She also led PwC Consulting’s strategy for partnering and engaging with Fintechs. In addition, she co-leads the firm’s Multicultural Business Network, a large employee resource group with over 1,500 members. Outside of work, she posts on her Medium blog at ‘A Millennial’s Diary’ about careers and personal development for millennials (average visits 7,000 views per month) and co-facilitates a networking and personal development community for millennial women called ‘Now You’re Talking’, which has over 800 members.
Mary Agbesanwa is also a trustee for Girlguiding, the largest youth organisation for girls and young women in the UK and is a Learning Facilitator for Imperial College Business School’s Fintech Programme ‘Fintech Opportunities: Taking a Strategic Approach’. She was selected as a McKinsey Next Generation Women Leader 2020 and is No.1 on EMpower and Yahoo Finance’s Future Leader List 2020.
Gakii Mwongera, Group Head of Internet Banking, Equity Group Holdings (Kenya)
Since joining Equity Group in 2012, Gakii Mwongera has directed the bank’s digital channel portfolio which has witnessed tremendous growth in transaction volumes, from USD 9 million in 2012 to over USD 10 billion in 2021. She has championed the training of more than 6,000 bank employees on features and benefits of digital transaction banking platforms, thus improving product uptake and achieving a return on digital channel investment within two and a half years – two years ahead of the projected date. Recently following Equity Group’s acquisition of Banque Commerciale du Congo, she managed the bank’s successful migration and digitization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has seen Equity Bank DRC become the second best-performing subsidiary in internet banking in less than a year.
Additionally, Gakii Mwongera has been tasked with supporting Equity’s Manufacturing Sector unit, where she has led the growth by 35 percent of the bank’s corporate manufacturing sector portfolio. In this capacity, she worked closely with the Equity Group Foundation in identifying manufacturers, both large and small, who can benefit from financial literacy education – directly or through their value chains – and facilitated training sessions that enabled these entrepreneurs to manage their businesses more sustainably. Moreover, she spearheaded the development of a cashflow based lending product which resulted in simplified access to working capital for manufacturers; and resulted in the disbursement of more than 439,000 business loans worth over USD 200 million.
Natalie Jabangwe, Group Digital Executive Officer, Sanlam (Zimbabwe)
Natalie is Group Digital Executive Officer at Sanlam in South Africa. The Zimbabwean born is responsible for spearheading Sanlam’s digital financial services transformation, ventures, partnerships and ecosystem . She is the former and youngest chief executive to have run a mobile money business in Africa, EcoCash. EcoCash is Zimbabwe’s leading and fastest-growing mobile money service in Africa of telecoms giant, Econet Wireless and was the 2017 corporate recipient of the Mobile World Congress “Best Mobile Payment Solution”, Glomo Awards. With over 13 years of experience in Finance and Technology, she began her career as a software engineer in London, UK, eventually moving to Investment banking and retail banking sectors, across the EMEA region. Prior to joining EcoCash, she was a Senior Mobile Financial Services Consultant at a Fortune 500 company, NCR Corporation, where she developed NCR’s digital financial service strategy across 52 countries.
Natalie Jabangwe holds a BSc Information Technology and an Executive M.B.A. (Specialisation in Hi-tech Strategy and Corporate Turnaround) from Imperial College London, UK. She is 2017 Oxford University Tutu Fellow. In 2017, Ms. Jabangwe became a member of YPO, a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives.
Rachel Adeshina Country Head, Technology and Services FBNBank
Rachel Adeshina is currently the Country Head, Technology and Services of FBNBank Ghana with the primary mandate of driving the digital transformation of the bank. She is a seasoned IT professional with more than 2 decades of varied industry experience in progressively responsible roles. She is skilled in the design, development and delivery of business solutions, technology strategies, service delivery, process improvement, business transformations, IT Governance and programme management.
Rachel Adeshina started her professional career with an IT consulting firm and was responsible for the design and delivery of numerous technology solutions for top organizations across multiple sectors in Nigeria.
In 2009, Rachel Adeshina joined First Bank to be part of the technology led business transformation and delivered the transformation initiatives for Finance, Products, Risk and Compliance Departments. Thereafter, she worked in various capacities within the Information Technology Department as Unit Head, Business Applications Management, Unit Head, Analytics, Integration and Reporting and Head, Application Solutions. In these roles, she was responsible for crafting the architecture and delivery of various solutions for business units of the Bank.
As Head of Application Solutions, Rachel Adeshina led the delivery of the first set of digital products for the bank and co-created several digital initiatives with the business units.
Rachel Adeshina holds a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Masters in Information Technology from the University of Lagos and she is an alumnus of Lagos Business School and Ralph Kimball University. She is a Project Management Professional and a professional Member of British Computer Society (BCS).
Gisèle Mwepu, Founder and CEO, Okapi Finances (DRC)
Gisele Mwepu is the founder, owner and CEO at Soft Solutions Partner/Okapi Finance Holding. Okapi is a “Green Fintech” company with a mission to bank the unbanked.
Gisele Mwepu has a master in computer science and a Master of Science in Computer Engineering. She is a serial entrepreneur and has received several awards.
Lebo Mokgabudi, Country Manager Catalyst Fund South Africa
Lebo Mokgabudi is currently the Catalyst Fund South Africa Country Manager. Catalyst Fund is an inclusive fintech accelerator that offers flexible grant capital and tailored venture building support to inclusive fintech start-ups in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Lebo Mokgabudi is a digital financial services expert with over 10 years’ experience building digital transformation solutions in Africa and Asia. She was part of Fundamo, the company acquired by Visa, that expanded mobile money operations beyond Kenya and has since developed digital financial solutions that enabled financial inclusion in underserved communities. Lebo Mokgabudi has worked with banks, mobile network operators and start-ups and has experience in building market entry strategies, partnerships for inclusive growth and building digital financial services embedded in the agricultural and retail sector.
Prior to working in the fintech sector, Lebo Mokgabudi founded Budi Shoes, an e-commerce platform and later merged her entrepreneurial and corporate experiences to support tech start-ups to scale across Africa.
Lebo Mokgabudi started her career at Deloitte, Enterprise Risk Services, consulting to Financial Services clients in the areas of Information Risk and Information Security. She later joined a bank in South Africa and had the opportunity to learn how a bank operates, as a business analyst in the Group Strategy team. Her curiosity for business and ambition led her to complete an MBA degree at Gordon’s Institute of Business Sciences (GIBS) where a large majority of her electives were centered around doing business in emerging markets. These learning translated to practical application in her role at Fundamo, where she was part of the Customer Strategy Market Activation team, developing mobile money customer strategies in markets such as Pakistan and Nigeria and activating new markets such as Azerbaijan and Nepal. This role catapulted her career in the digital financial services industry and created a platform to help Financial Institutions to develop and scale relevant products for the underserved markets as well as help Central Banks with financial inclusion policies.
The organization was acquired by VISA and her role as director, emerging markets digital, translated into learning the world of card payments and leveraging card rails for a myriad of digital, remittance and merchant solutions.
Lebo Mokgabudi later moved to Nairobi, Kenya, joined a fintech startup operating in the agriculture sector and developed partnerships for scale. She also consulted to international venture capital firms that invested in startups in Africa, providing her payment expertise and advising their fintech startups. She moved back to South Africa and leading operations for Catalyst Fund, offering flexible grant capital and tailored venture building support to fintech startups providing affordable, accessible and appropriate solutions for the underserved communities.
Buhle Goslar CEO of Jumo Africa (South Africa)
Buhle Goslar is the Africa CEO of Jumo, the market leading banking as a service platform, enabling real-time access to funds at the lowest possible operating cost. Integrating into JUMO’s platform enables partners to offer loans, savings and a wide range of financial choices to a new group of customers. The platform has two distinct capabilities which work together to provide a full digital banking service.
Buhle Goslar has held senior leadership roles for over 18 years in the financial services, technology, retail, and tourism sectors. She has worked across sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in Asian and European markets. A certified international retail banker, she also holds a BCom Marketing Degree from university of South Africa (UNISA) and an Executive MBA from the GSB at the University of Cape Town, Buhle has also completed post graduate management programmes in Inclusive Finance, Digital Finance and Social Impact at Harvard Business School, TUFTS Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Oxford Saïd Business School, respectively.
Yolanda Cuba, MTN Group Vice President: Southern & East Africa
Yolanda Cuba is MTN Group Vice President: Southern & East Africa. She served as the Group Chief Digital & FinTech Officer prior to her current role. As Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer, Yolanda Cuba led the Group’s strategic expansion of its financial services and digital solutions efforts and transformation into a digital operator.
She is the former CEO of Vodafone Ghana and former Group Chief Strategy Officer for strategy, new business and M&A at Vodacom Group covering South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC and Lesotho.
She has a wealth of experience in telecoms, financial service and fast-moving consumer goods, amongst others. Her work experience started in corporate finance and transitioned to operational management in diversified industries.
Yolanda Cuba serves on the following Board of Directors and Trust Boards: Mowali Limited, Simfy AfricaLtd, MTN Zambia Ltd, MTN Uganda Ltd, MTN South Sudan Ltd, Z Capital Ltd, Millennium Star Investments, Landi M Group, Quantam Family Trust, Azure Pearl Trust, and the Nelson
Mandela Investment Committee.
Yolanda Cuba is a Chartered Accountant (CA SA) by training and holds BCom Statistics (University of Cape Town), BCom Accounting Honours (University of KZN) and MCom (University of Pretoria) degrees and she is an alumnus of programs at INSEAD and Harvard Kennedy School.
Mariéme Ndiaye, Regional Lead Government & Regulatory Affairs, West and Central Africa, Flutterwave (Senegal)
Mariéme Ndiaye has 14 years’ experience in management and marketing Financial Services, specialized in digital payment ,money transfer , marketing strategies and business development. Since January 2022, she is Regional Lead Government & Regulatory Affairs at Flutterwave, one of the fastest growing payments companies in the world. Since inception Flutterwave has processed close to $2 billion in payments and 25 million transactions across over 33 African countries where it currently operates.
Prior to this position, Mariéme Ndiaye was regional expansion Lead FSSA (French speaking sub-Saharan Africa), responsible for developing expansion strategy and ensuring all expansion activities and market growth.
Before joining Flutterwave, Mariéme Ndiaye Worked for Mastercard as business development manager acceptance & digital, FSSA, where she led the development of FSSA acceptance strategic vision.
Mariéme Ndiaye is one of the founding board members of african women in fintech & payments (AWFP) which provides a platform that inspires, empowers and mentors women in payments to help them realise their full individual potential and position themselves for greater personal success while continuing to learn and contribute to the payments industry.
Corine Mbiaketcha Nana, Vice President and Head of East Africa at Visa
Since November 2019, Corine Mbiaketcha Nana, from Cameroon, is the Vice President and the Country Manager, East Africa at Visa. She leads the East Africa team to drive core business growth in 13 East African countries portfolio : Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius, Madagasca,r Seychelles Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Comoros, Burundi and South Sudan. She is Responsible for the overall strategy in the region, including building long-term relationships with clients, regulators and other key stakeholders to drive the adoption of cashless payments.
Prior to that, Corine Mbiaketcha Nana has held various positions at Oracle and has served the US technology company for 11 years. She has worked as a market strategist, regional manager and country manager in Kenya.
Corine Mbiaketcha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Sciences, obtained in 1995 from the University Claude Bernard Lyon1, a Bachelor’s degree in European business with technology from the Brighton business school (UK) and a Master’s degree in European business with technology from the Leonardo da Vinci management school. In France she started her career as a financial analyst at British Airways in London. She then worked in France at Arjo Wiggins Appleton and Board MIT in Paris. She joined Oracle in 2000 as Business Development Manager for Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing in Africa. She stayed there for 4 years, before being recruited in 2004 by the German multinational SAP, the largest software company in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. She was Business Development Manager for SAP in French-speaking Africa and Nigeria. She stayed there for two years and, in 2006, moved to Cameroon, where she worked for two years as Head of Strategy and Alliance for BMS Cameroon.
In 2008, Corine Mbiaketcha rejoined Oracle as a financial services representative for the same French-speaking African region. In this capacity, she participated in major IT transformation projects in the areas of public finance, telecommunications and financial services in North, West, South and East Africa.
In 2015, she was appointed Regional Managing Director of Oracle East Africa, before being appointed Country Manager of Oracle in Kenya.
Salome Makau, Country Manager at Visa CEMEA
Since November 2011 , Salome Makau is the country manager at Visa Central Europe Middle East Africa region (CEMEA). Prior to this position, she worked at Standard Chartered Bank as Head, Consumer Banking Re-engineering Africa and Head Card Services East & Southern Africa.
