Global payments company Visa Inc., has appointed Oluwakemi Okunsanya as the new general manager for West Africa, effective September 1, 2017. Oluwakemi joins Visa from MoneyGram International, where she was Head of Anglophone Africa.
In her role, Oluwakemi will lead the team based in Lagos to drive core business growth in Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. She will be responsible for overall strategy in the region, including building long-term relationships with clients, regulators and other key stakeholders to drive the adoption of cashless payments.
Speaking about the appointment, Andrew Torre, President, Visa Sub Saharan Africa said, “We are excited to welcome Oluwakemi to the Visa team. She is a local manager with a proven record of success working with a broad range of stakeholders in the financial services industry, including with regulators and financial institutions.
She is also a strong and successful people leader. Nigeria is one of the most enthusiastic and successful adopters of technology in Africa, presenting huge opportunities for us to digitize commerce and connect millions more people to the global economy. Olukemi joins us at a great time to help drive Nigeria’s move away from cash into more reliable, secure and innovative forms of payments.”
Speaking on her appointment, Oluwakemi said, ‘Visa’s promise is to bring the benefits of electronic payments to everyone, everywhere. Nowhere is that a more exciting challenge than in Nigeria and the wider region, where we have a wonderful opportunity to combine technology and partnerships with a broad range of people to drive truly transformation change in the way that the economy transacts. It gives me great pleasure to join the Visa team, and I am looking forward to meeting with our financial institution, merchant and government clients to see how Visa can be a better partner and a catalyst for societal change here and across the region.’
Prior to her leadership role at MoneyGram, Kemi had a ten-year stint with Zenith Bank, where her responsibilities spanned sales and marketing strategy, as well as management of the branch liability and asset portfolios.
The appointment comes in affirmation of Visa’s commitment to bringing the best of human capital and services to West Africa.