OPay, the most valued Africa-focused payment company has announced the appointment of Olu Akanmu, a former executive director for retail banking at FCMB, as the new president and co-CEO for its Nigerian unit.
The company is currently valued at $2 billion after raising $400 million led by Japanese-based venture capital finance vehicle Softbank Vision Fund 2, managed by Softbank. Akanmu’s appointment is likely to strengthen the company’s retail banking offering in the Nigerian market which is also its primary market in Africa.
In December 2020, the fintech company’s monthly transaction volume rose 4.5 times to over $2 billion. OPay also claims to handle about 80 percent of bank transfers carried out by Nigerian mobile money providers and 20 percent of non-merchant Point of Sale (PoS) transactions. The company also says it now has over 300,000 PoS agents and 5 million users across Nigeria making it one of the most popular fintech companies in the country.
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In its announcement, OPay said Akanmu will work alongside the current leadership led by Iniabasi Akpan who is currently the managing director and Country Manager of OPay Nigeria. Akpan is also a founding member of Paycom which acquisition led to the establishment of OPay in Nigeria.
Akanmu brings 20 years of corporate leadership to the new role at OPay. He also has a knowledge of the telecommunications services industry having held the position of chief marketing officer for Airtel Nigeria from 2012 to 2013. He moved from Airtel to Insights Communication as client service director and later to MTN where he held the position of General Manager for consumer marketing for five years.
He holds a degree in Pharmacy from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He also was awarded an MBA from Lagos State University (LASU).
