Interswitch Appoints Kenneth Olisa OBE as New Chairman

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Interswitch Appoints Kenneth Olisa OBE as New Chairman
Interswitch Appoints Kenneth Olisa OBE as New Chairman

Leading Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch, has announced the appointment of Mr Kenneth Olisa OBE, FRSA, FBCS, as its new Chairman. He succeeds Mr Adedotun Sulaiman, MFR.

According to FinExtra, this appointment follows the recent minority investment by TA Associates in Interswitch in March of this year, a landmark transaction being TA’s first ever investment into the African continent.

Speaking on the appointment, Mr Mitchell Elegbe, founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, stated that, Ken’s inspiring business leadership, vast experience and professional expertise will be great assets to Interswitch as he comes on board as Chairman at a defining phase in our journey of transformation and international expansion.

“We are delighted to welcome him on board, in succession to the visionary and highly successful tenure of Adedotun Sulaiman, who as country CEO of Accenture, played a key role in the formative years of our company and upon assuming the role of Chairman, oversaw the successful transition of Interswitch to private equity ownership”, he added.

About Kenneth Olisa Obe

Kenneth Olisa is a British businessman with a career in technology that commenced at IBM and spans well over 40 years.He founded and led the technology merchant bank Interregnum and is also the founder and chairman of Restoration Partners, an independent boutique technology merchant bank, reputed as architects of the Virtual Technology Cluster model. He is currently a Director of Thomson Reuters.

A native of Nottingham, England, with Nigerian roots, Kenneth’s technology career, spanning well over 40 years, commenced in the 1970s at IBM having won a scholarship from the firm whilst being an undergraduate at Cambridge University.

He held various posts at IBM before joining Wang Laboratories in 1981. He was appointed Senior VP and General Manager of Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME) located in Brussels, leading the team which restored the EAME operation to profitability. Kenneth then founded Interregnum, the technology merchant bank, leading it through its early growth; its entry into, and exit from a joint venture with BDO Stoy Hayward as well as the AIM IPO in 2000.

Today he serves on the Board of several privately held and innovative companies including the UK’s leading corporate governance advisor, Independent Audit. He is committed to social inclusion and has served on the Boards of various charities. He is the Chairman of Shaw Trust a national employment and well-being charity. He was awarded an OBE for his services to the homeless of London and he is an Honorary Fellow of his old college, Fitzwilliam, Cambridge.

About Interswitch

Founded in 2002, Interswitch is active across the entire payments value chain and currently processes over 4 billion unique transactions yearly, with a value of over USD 38 billion. A recognized leader in the payments space in Nigeria, the company owns and operates the country’s principal domestic debit card scheme, Verve, as well as serves as a third-party transaction processor for many of Nigeria’s largest banks.

In addition, the company offers several B2B electronic payment services to public and private sector organizations and businesses, including government entities, hospitals, telecommunications companies and utilities, and operates Quickteller, the leading B2C bill payments and digital commerce platform in Nigeria. Through add-on acquisitions, Interswitch also operates in Kenya, Uganda and Gambia.


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