African payments heavyweight Flutterwave has appointed Mitesh Popat as chief financial officer (CFO) nine months after former CFO Oneal Bhambani left the company.
Prior to this appointment, Popat held executive positions at Citi including CFO for Middle East and Africa and Global Equities Sales and Trading. In his new role, Mitesh will be responsible for overseeing Flutterwave’s corporate finance functions. This is to support the company’s growth plans, leveraging his expertise in managing finance and operation functions of a complex global business. He will also ensure balanced resource allocation and strategic execution across Flutterwave.
Mitesh brings 20 years of global financial services experience across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This wealth of expert will prove to be instrumental in driving Flutterwave’s next phase of growth and financial sustainability.
“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 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. I am looking forward to working with the team to enhance Flutterwave’s financial position and drive operational efficiencies through curiosity and innovation” Popat said.
The ex-Citi CFO replaces Bhambani who resigned just 18 months after joining the fintech startup. In March 2024, Flutterwave’s chief operating officer, Bode Abifarin left the company after six years of leading its operations. These high-profit exits had raised questions about the company’s much-talked-about IPO plans.
Popat’s hiring comes months after the company rethought its product strategy to focus on enterprise and remittance. In March 2024, it shut down the struggling Barter, a virtual card and international payments service it launched in 2017. In 2023, it relaunched its international remittances product, Send App, and launched other offerings to help local businesses swap international currencies.
“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. 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,” said Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave CEO.
The previous year has seen Flutterwave announce 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 prevention, and reduction to drive organization growth.
