Stanbic IBTC appoints former Hydrogen CEO Kemi Okusanya to lead fintech arm

Stanbic IBTC Holdings has appointed fintech executive Kemi Okusanya as the new chief executive officer of its payments subsidiary, Zest Payments Limited, in a strategic leadership move aimed at strengthening its position in Nigeria’s increasingly competitive digital payments market.

Okusanya, who previously led Hydrogen, the fintech subsidiary of Access Holdings, succeeds Stanley Jacobs, the former CEO of Zest Payments, who is now serving as Group Chief Innovation and Technology Officer at Meristem.

Her appointment comes at a critical period for Zest Payments as the company seeks to scale operations, improve profitability, and compete more aggressively with established players in Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem.

Announcing her departure from Hydrogen in a LinkedIn post, Okusanya reflected on her tenure at the company and expressed confidence in the team she leaves behind.

“I will truly miss the Hydrogen team. It has been a privilege building the company to this stage,” she said.

“As I pass on the baton, I am confident that the culture we shared, the values we built, and the belief system that united us will be preserved.”

Okusanya brings more than 18 years of experience spanning banking, payments, and financial technology. Her career includes leadership roles at Visa, MoneyGram International, Zenith Bank, and ExxonMobil. She was instrumental in establishing Hydrogen in 2022 and steering the company through its licensing process with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Under her leadership, Hydrogen emerged as a major player in payment processing and switching, leveraging Access Holdings’ extensive banking network to expand its reach across the continent.

Zest Payments, formerly known as Stanbic IBTC Financial Services, serves as the fintech arm of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, the Nigerian subsidiary of Standard Bank Group. The platform offers payment orchestration and e-commerce solutions, enabling merchants and consumers to transact through multiple channels, including real-time payments, QR codes, USSD, card payments, and bank transfers.

The leadership transition comes as Zest seeks to translate its technological capabilities into stronger financial performance. Since its launch in May 2023, the company has invested heavily in building payment infrastructure and merchant acquisition capabilities, but has yet to achieve positive unit economics.

To support its expansion plans, Stanbic IBTC injected N4 billion into the business in January 2025 as part of a broader capital-raising effort designed to bolster the fintech’s competitive position.

The funding was expected to strengthen Zest’s technology infrastructure, expand its merchant network, and help it compete against rivals such as Squad, the fintech platform backed by GTCO, and Hydrogen, the Access Holdings subsidiary that Okusanya previously led.

With Nigeria’s cashless economy continuing to expand and competition intensifying among fintechs and bank-owned payment platforms, Okusanya’s ability to replicate Hydrogen’s growth trajectory could prove pivotal to Zest’s ambitions.