African fintech giant, Flutterwave has hired six new executives from notable financial companies such as Cash App, PayPal, Binance and Western Union.
The new appointments came after the exit of its CFO, Oneal Bhambani and two other finance executives in November.
Five of the six new hires are foreigners.
Adewale Ayantoye is the only Nigerian on the list. He worked previously at American eCommerce company, Etsy. He joins Flutterwave as VP of Risk Management.
The others on the list include,
Amaresh Mohan. He was the first Risk Officer for the African Union. He has worked at global banks including Citibank and Bank of America. He also held leadership roles at Stripe and PayPal.
Stephen Huynth who has about 20 years of experience working in financial companies such as Binance US and Wyre—which recently shut down. He will join the company as VP, Global Expansion & Payment Partnerships.
Stephen Cheng will be joining Flutterwave as Executive Vice President of Global Expansion and Payment Partnerships.
Amanda Ortega was formerly a regulator with the State of Wyoming’s Division of Banking. She is joining Flutterwave as Head of Compliance, US.
Chris David joins the team as well. He is the company’s new VP of Compliance & Risk Operations.
Speaking on the foreign hires, Flutterwave CEO, Gbenga Agboola, said the wealth of experience of the six executives will help the company maintain sustainable growth.
Supporting global moves by hiring foreigners seems to be a familiar terrain for Flutterwave.
The company did the same in 2021 when it hired Jimmy Ku.
Jimmy Ku came in as the Head of US Growth. The company had planned to offer payment services to US-based clients, local businesses, and companies.
Ku has co-founded five startups and has over 17 years of consulting, startup, and investment experience.
The three executives who left the company in November, — Oneal Bhambani, Oscar Lan, and Rebecca Mendel — were also from large financial companies.
The fintech startup also announced this month that it has acquired money transfer licenses for 13 states in the United States.
While some are wondering how the massive salaries of these executives will impact the company, Flutterwave looks like it is moving to extend its global reach.
These new hires could be pivotal to the company’s moves in the US and Flutterwave could very well be on its way to becoming one of Africa’s global companies.
