Cellulant’s Board of Directors has confirmed Akshay Grover, as Group CEO and Director of Cellulant with effect from 1 October 2021.  Akshay has been serving in an acting capacity since April 2021.

The appointment follows an executive search process following the announcement in January 2021 by then Group CEO Ken Njoroge of his intention to transition from his position.

In a statement, Cellulant Board Chairman, Dr Sam Kiruthu said, “We are delighted to appoint an executive of Akshay’s calibre and experience to the role. Akshay brings extensive and diverse industry experience in technology and finance. During the time that Akshay has served as Acting CEO, the board has been impressed with his commitment to openness, attention to detail and an unrelenting focus on the future of the business. Akshay has demonstrated he possesses the skills, attitude and vision to lead the management team to deliver on Cellulant’s future and mission.”

Akshay has more than 20 years of work experience in the Technology, Media and Communication Sector across emerging markets. During the early years of his career, he held positions of increasing responsibility in the financial advisory teams at KPMG and EY.

Prior to joining Cellulant as Group Chief Financial Officer in January 2021, Akshay was the Chief Investment Officer at iSON, a diversified technology group with a presence in 30+ countries in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.

Upon his appointment, Akshay said he looked forward to growing Cellulant into the most prolific and most innovative payments platform in Africa. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Board and our stellar management team to maximize this opportunity to deliver further growth and value for all our stakeholders,” he said.

Conceptualized in 2001 and founded in 2014 by Kenyan Ken Njoroge and Nigerian Ken Bolaji, Cellulant is a payment platform infrastructure service provider with offices in Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Rwanda.

The firm raised $47.5m from the Rise Fund to broaden its reach and extend its payments ecosystem across the continent. At the time, Cellulant was serving over 40 million people across 11 African countries.

Akshay agrees that, “Cellulant is well placed to lead and transform the payments landscape in Africa. Our deep connectivity with over 120 banks and 40 mobile operators in the continent enables us to have an unparalleled network on the African continent. We are reducing the amount of friction around payments and, by doing so, creating a seamless way for businesses to collect and make payments. Our integrated payments platform caters to both offline and online solutions that power success for businesses of all sizes while delivering a superior user experience for the end customer.”

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