JUMO Appoints Joe Mucheru As President

JUMO, a South African fintech start-up has appointed former ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru as the President of the company to help it scale its operations in Africa.

In a statement, Jumo said Mucheru would help the company deliver its growth goals, navigate the regulatory landscape and build its presence across Africa.

JUMO offers financial services to entrepreneurs and businesses in emerging markets. It offers customers credit and saving products and infrastructure for telcos, banks, fintech and e-commerce platforms.  It is present in six African markets — Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Ivory Coast and South Asian company Pakistan.

“We are honoured to be able to welcome Joe to JUMO. He brings an invaluable perspective given his experience as an entrepreneur, Google executive and regulator,” Jumo founder Andrew Watkins-Ball said.

Mucheru has had an illustrious career as an ICT expert. He left Google in 2015 where he was the Regional Lead for Sub-Sahara Africa and Country Manager to head the ICT ministry in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.

Before Google, he worked at Wananchi Online, the parent company of Internet service provider Zuku, a company he co-founded in 1999.

He has served on the boards of M-Pesa Foundation Academy, Aza Group (previously Bitpesa), a global remittance platform, and GiveDirectly, a non-profit organization that facilitates direct cash transfers to those in need. He also previously held the position of Chairman at the African Telecommunications Union.

Mucheru is an alumnus of the City, University of London, where he graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Computer Science.