- Flutterwave, a payments technology company in Africa, has appointed Mitesh Popat as its new Chief Financial Officer, nearly ten months after the former CFO, Oneal Bhambani, ended his tenure in November 2023.
- Popat’s role at Flutterwave will include overseeing the company’s corporate finance functions, ensuring balanced resource allocation, and driving execution across the business.
- Popat joins Flutterwave with 20 years of global financial services experience, having held executive roles, including CFO, at Citi and Global Equities Sales and Trading.
At Citi, a global bank, he was CFO for the Middle East and Africa, overseeing operations across 29 countries and providing financial leadership for all aspects of the business at Global Equities Sales and Trading.
In his comments, Popat emphasised his deep understanding of the operating environment in Africa and the complexity of managing an emerging market business. He added that he plans to leverage his experience to grow Flutterwave while optimising its business model for sustained profitability.
Popat mentioned that he looks forward to working with the team to enhance Flutterwave’s financial position and improve operational efficiencies.
Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, welcomed Popat and stated that as the firm's new CFO, his work will add value to both enterprise merchants and retail remittance customers, as well as the broader African fintech ecosystem.
It’s worth noting that Flutterwave discontinued Barter, its virtual card service, and Disha, a no-code platform, in Q1 2024, citing changing customer needs and market trends. However, at the time, Barter accounted for only 1% of Flutterwave's $2 billion transactions.
Popat's appointment could signal Flutterwave's interest in hiring talent from larger or more established firms. While the new CFO came from a global bank, the former CFO came from American Express. In 2023, Flutterwave appointed several new executives from companies such as PayPal, Stripe, and Western Union.
Strengthening its executive leadership, including adding a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) director to its board, comes amidst the firm’s plans to go public. In August 2023, Flutterwave’s CEO revealed that the company is moving ahead with its IPO plans. Almost three months later, the former CFO, who had been with the firm for 18 months, left.
