Flutterwave appoints Popat as CFO

Africa’s leading payments technology firm, Flutterwave, has announced the appointment of Mitesh Popat as the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Popat brings 20 years of global financial services experience across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which will be instrumental in driving Flutterwave’s next phase of growth and financial sustainability.

Most recently, he has held executive roles at Citi as Chief Financial Officer for Middle East and Africa, overseeing finance operations across 29 countries, and CFO for Global Equities Sales and Trading, providing financial leadership for all aspects of a $5 billion revenue business.

As CFO for Middle East and Africa at Citi, Mitesh partnered with the regional and division CEO on strategic direction, performance management, and balance sheet optimization, while also communicating the business’s financial story to internal and external stakeholders.

In his new role at Flutterwave, Popat will be responsible for overseeing Flutterwave’s corporate finance functions. This is to support the company’s growth plans, leveraging his expertise in managing the finance and operation functions of a complex global business. He will also ensure balanced resource allocation and strategic execution across Flutterwave.

Commenting on his appointment, Popat, said: “I am excited to have joined the Flutterwave team at this important time in the company’s journey. I have a deep understanding of the operating environment in Africa and the complexity of operating an emerging market business and I plan to bring my experience in growing Flutterwave while optimising our business model for sustained profitability.

He added: “I am looking forward to working with the team to enhance Flutterwave’s financial position and drive operational efficiencies through curiosity and innovation.”

Welcoming Popat, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, said: “We have an ambitious goal to connect Africa to the world and Mitesh embodies our vision with his experience working extensively within Africa in a global capacity. He shares our values of customer obsession and we’re certain that with his impressive track record in financial management, he will contribute to the next phase of our growth.

“As our new CFO, his work will be adding value to our customers both enterprise merchants and retail remittance customers, as well as the African fintech ecosystem.”

Last year, Flutterwave announced the appointment of several new executives from companies such as PayPal, Stripe, and Western Union. The new executives, including Mitesh, reinforce the company’s commitment to recruiting top talent, improving financial operations, and investing in risk management strategies such as compliance, loss reduction, and prevention to drive growth.