👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – More birr for Ethiopia’s Safaricom

On July 25, Anne Kinuthia-Otieno, former managing director of Airtel Money Kenya, the telecom company’s mobile money arm, announced on LinkedIn that she was stepping down from her role.

A few speculations flew around on where she was headed next: banking, telecoms, or fintech. Now, we have an answer.

On Thursday, Visa, the payments giant, confirmed that the former mobile money executive was taking over as its East Africa Lead, bringing her experience—and years of banking expertise—to a different kind of fintech.

Why Visa wanted her: When Kinuthia-Otieno took over Airtel Money Kenya in 2021, Safaricom’s M-PESA controlled the market. Airtel Money held just 3.1% of mobile money subscriptions, and nearly five years later, that share had climbed to 10.2%. 

Her new role: As Visa’s East Africa head, Kinuthia-Otieno will oversee the company’s operations across seven markets, working with clients and partners to expand digital payments, strengthen partnerships and bring more people into the formal financial system. 

The timing makes sense: Visa is already midway through its five-year, $1 billion investment commitment in Africa, building infrastructure, experimenting with stablecoin-powered payments, and trying to make itself more deeply woven into Africa’s payments ecosystem. 

Hiring someone who understands both banking and mobile money gives it an advantage. If she could help expand Airtel Money’s footprint in M-PESA’s backyard, Visa is betting she can help do the same for digital payments across East Africa.