Flutterwave Hires Former Mastercard Director As Head Of Risk For Africa

Emmanuel Efenure, former Director of Customer Engagement and Performance responsible for leading Customer Compliance and Risk efforts for Sub-Saharan Africa at Mastercard, has joined Flutterwave as Head of Risk for Africa.

In this role, he will oversee the continued development and execution of Flutterwave’s risk, security and scheme compliance strategy for Africa including the delivery of growth of Flutterwave business and ecosystem in a changing risk landscape like Africa.

The new appointment comes in the wake of the Pan-African fintech giant’s trouble with regulation and compliance issues like Kenya.

“He will be the primary point of contact for all risk-related projects, processes and operations and lead the risk management efforts for Flutterwave in Africa. Emmanuel brings over 22 years of Banking and Risk management experience to bear in his new role at Flutterwave,” the company said in a statement.

A chartered Accountant and graduate of Accounting from the University of Benin, Emmanuel has experience in risk and business operations having held similar positions at United Bank for Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and Mastercard. At Mastercard, he developed and executed Mastercard’s safety and security strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa, provided strategic guidance on risk & compliance matters to the business, key partners and Mastercard customers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Risk Group is a new unit carved out of the Flutterwave Compliance Team to enable faster development and implementation of Risk initiatives. Emmanuel joins Flutterwave to lead this Group for Africa.

Commenting on the news, Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO and Founder of Flutterwave said, “The scale of our business and the speed of our growth means that we must be extremely cautious about those we let on our platform. Emmanuel comes with over 22 years of risk and compliance to improve our processes and ensure we keep the bad actors away. Emmanuel is not only an expert in the field, he also understands the risk landscape in the industry and the continent. We’re excited that he has joined us and look forward to all the great processes and systems he will bring to Flutterwave to improve our risk profile.”

Emmanuel said, “I’m thrilled to join Africa’s leading payments technology company to improve the risk processes for Flutterwave Africa operations. What we do is important to keep customers, partners, company, and the payment ecosystem safe. It excites me to work with this team of talented people building solutions for businesses in Africa and connecting them to the global payments system. I can’t wait to get started.”

Emmanuel appointment also follows Flutterwave’s recent senior management hires, including Gurbhej Dhillon, former Goldman Sachs Managing Director, as CTO; Oneal Bhambani, former Vice President of American Express, as CFO; and Mansi Babyloni, former Senior Manager at EY and PwC, as CPO.

The new hires represent a significant stepping-stone in the company’s growth as it gears up and prepares for its next step towards IPO.