Skip to main content

Visa appoints Aida Diarra as Senior Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa Group Country Manager


Visa Inc. today announced that Aida Diarra has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for Visa SSA, effective 1 November 2018. Diarra will oversee all Visa operations in forty-eight markets across Sub-Saharan Africa. She will report to Visa’s Regional President of CEMEA, Andrew Torre, and join Visa’s Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) regional management team. 

 Diarra is a highly experienced executive in the financial services and digital financial industry and is well versed in growing business and operations across the African continent. Her twenty-five-year career includes strategy development and implementation, business development and operational management. Aida joins Visa from Western Union, where she was the Regional Vice President for Africa & Managing Director for more than four years. Prior to this, she held a number of progressive leadership positions at the global money transfer business, developing her experience in marketing, sales, account management, strategy & planning and country / regional leadership positions. Coupled with her passion for financial technology, she is a champion for diversity and Africa’s overall contribution to the industry and serves as a leading voice in these two areas through her non-executive work. 

 “Aida joins at a pivotal moment for our business,” said Andrew Torre, Regional President, CEMEA, for Visa. “Sub-Saharan Africa is a region of incredible opportunity – there will be more than 1500 million mobile subscribers by 2020, but many countries lack payments acceptance and infrastructure. Within the next several years an additional 55 million people in this region will be new to the banking system, and so continuing to invest in partnerships that connect these new consumers and merchants to great connected-commerce experiences, is critical for sustained and inclusive economic growth. Aida’s strong record of building great teams and strategic leadership will help us in that mission.” 

 “I am excited to join Visa as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. Visa is uniquely positioned to help reshape consumer experiences, lead the future of commerce, grow economies and transform lives across the continent,” said Aida Diarra.“ With just six percent of consumer payments in digital forms, this region presents an enormous and exciting opportunity for us to digitize cash, drive wider digital acceptance and support financial inclusion. I look forward to increasing the role we’re playing in making a difference to the diverse markets we support and serve.” 

 As part of Visa CEMEA’s regional management team, Aida will also represent Sub-Saharan Africa within the regional and global Visa network, ensuring that best practice from other markets can be offered to the regional payment ecosystem. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Visa and Halotel bring secure and convenient mobile payments for Tanzanians

Visa, the global payments technology company, has announced a strategic partnership with Halotel to enable Visa on mobile payments on Halotel’s HaloPesa wallet in Tanzania.  The service will be rolled out in early 2019 thereby enabling HaloPesa’s one million registered wallet holders to use Visa on mobile to securely make merchant payments and conduct cash deposits and withdrawals at Visa agents. Any HaloPesa customer, including those who do not have a bank account, will be able to benefit from the solution. The aim is to connect more Tanzanians to the global payment system, bringing secure and convenient mobile commerce for consumers and merchants.  “We are excited about this partnership with a key mobile service provider such as Halotel. Our partnership with Halotel will ensure that Tanzanians can pay using Visa on their mobiles at over 40,000 new retailers. It will also help expand financial inclusion for Tanzanian consumers who will now be able to benefit from pa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bolt launches its car-sharing service Bolt Drive

Bolt, the leading European mobility platform, launches its car-sharing service, Bolt Drive. The new service allows customers to rent a car for short periods of time using the Bolt app. Bolt will invest €20 million in launching Bolt Drive in Europe this year, starting with a pilot in its home market, Estonia. Bolt is the first mobility platform in Europe to offer car-sharing, ride-hailing and micromobility with scooters and electric bikes in one app. By enabling customers to quickly and conveniently rent a car at the tap of a button, Bolt allows them to be less dependent on personal cars and encourages the use of alternative modes of transport for short-distance trips. Markus Villig, CEO at Bolt, said: “Personal cars are the primary cause of problems in urban transport. They are responsible for traffic, environmental emissions and taking up city space. Bolt’s mission is to help people give up their personal cars by providing a better alternative. For people to switch from ownership to o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Narok School benefits from a Dormitory Courtesy of Procter and Gamble

STUDENTS OF OLOIGERO PRIMARY SCHOOL POSE FOR A PHOTO WITH THE P&G TEAM AND PARTNERS OUTSIDE THE NEWLY BUILT DOMITORY Pupils of Oloigero Primary School in Narok County have a reason to smile after Procter and Gamble funded the construction of a girl’s dormitory in the school. The facility, which will accommodate 80 girls, will help support and improve the access to quality education in the area. “Access to quality education is affected by a myriad of challenges in this country. Inadequate infrastructure is one of them.  The situation is even more dire for our girls thus the reason we are here today to commission this dormitory. We believe that this facility will be a critical resource to help keep our girls in school and together with other partners we will work to ensure that we change the narrative about girls missing school due to menstruation,” said Anthony Ng’ang’a,  Associate Brand Director -Commercial Leader - East Africa at Procter & Gamble (P&G)...
Post a Comment
Read more