Nium, a global financial technology infrastructure platform, today announced its expansion into Africa.
The expansion will be led by newly appointed executive Dana Nino (Senior Vice President for Global Growth, Customer Success and Partnerships) and will be supported by Kenya-based Clara Wanjiku Odero (Vice President, Partnerships and Growth, Middle East and Africa).
Africa’s economy is growing rapidly - real gross domestic product (GDP) growth remains resilient despite uncertainty in the global economy, and consumer spending is projected to reach US$2.1 trillion by 2025 . Contributing to this growth is the region’s strong structural fundamentals, such as a young and growing population, rapid urbanisation, rising incomes and widespread technology adoption. The increased use of mobile money systems, for instance, is growing five times faster in Africa than in any other region and is instrumental to the acceleration of the region’s economic growth in 2020 .
Nium’s expansion into Africa will play a key role in its broader mission to drive business productivity and cost efficiency using financial technology. Based in California and with more than fifteen years of experience in the global payments space, Dana will be leading global Growth, Customer Success and Solutions teams to drive overall growth, retention and success of Nium’s clients. Clara, who is based in Nairobi, Kenya, will closely support Dana in building Nium’s channel partnerships across Africa and the Middle East to expand the company’s global payments presence.
Prajit Nanu, Co-founder and CEO of Nium said, “Africa has long been an untapped region for Nium. This expansion, along with two new additions to our global team, represents an important milestone for us as we continue to drive global growth and partnerships. Dana comes with broad and deep experience in all aspects of the payment ecosystem for both payins and payouts, cross-border, FX strategies, B2B, B2C, P2P, and C2B. With her transformative leadership and Clara’s market-driven approach in the sourcing and development of strategic, trusted partnerships, we look forward to having the new team members on board to deliver greater value to the company, our partners and customers.”
Dana has worked with numerous hyper-growth, early stage companies like Cambridge and Geoswift that provide cross-border solutions in the digital space, as well as larger institutions such as PayPal and Mastercard. She has built an extensive portfolio and has led the strategy, development and launch of complex, innovative solutions for Tier 1 global clients and is particularly skilled in Go-To-Market strategies, enterprise sales, account management, partnerships and innovation.
Clara has helmed multiple global roles in emerging and high-growth markets such as Africa and the Middle East. Clara has a strong track record of building genuine relationships with key stakeholders to solve global problems and build new businesses. She has spent initial years of her career contributing to the growth of major payments networks such as Rapyd and Flutterwave.
Dana said, “In a short span of five years, Nium has established itself as a respected leader in Fintech innovation globally, and I am excited to be working with such an incredibly talented and driven team to accelerate the delivery of innovative and scalable solutions, breaking new boundaries in the cross-border payments space.”
Clara added, “Building accessible infrastructure for all has always been the connecting thread in my career. I truly believe in Nium’s commitment to offering customers access to more markets around the world, and providing innovative services that make our customers’ lives easier.”
The appointments come as Nium rapidly expands its global presence, following new partnerships in Latin America and the appointment of Ayoub Jemail as the new General Manager in Middle East. This is set to empower more businesses and consumers, allowing them pay and receive money from anywhere in the world in a more convenient and transparent way.
“During a global pandemic in just a span of three months, we have expanded our presence into new regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. This is a testament to how much we have grown as a business, and it is truly an expression of confidence and trust in our vision and the global market opportunity ahead,” Prajit said.