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JUMO appoints Kenyan ICT heavyweight

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 30 Jan 2023
Joe Mucheru joins African fintech company JUMO as its president.
Joe Mucheru joins African fintech company JUMO as its president.

African fintech company JUMO has appointed Joe Mucheru as president of the company, it announced today.

Mucheru is a former Cabinet secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs in Kenya. He held office from 2015 to 2022.

In a statement, JUMO says in his new role, Mucheru will support the company to deliver its growth goals, navigate the regulatory landscape and build the firm’s presence across the African continent.

Andrew Watkins-Ball, JUMO founder and CEO, comments: “We are honoured to be able to welcome Joe to JUMO. He brings an invaluable perspective given his experience as an entrepreneur, Google executive and regulator.”

Mucheru’s appointment follows that of Nichola Pease as non-executive chair and Michael Ball, former CFO of World Remit, as CFO, who were hired in 2022.

According to JUMO, the new president brings a “wealth of government experience and in-depth knowledge” of Pan-African tech to the JUMO executive team and board.

He was previously head of Sub-Saharan Africa for Google, based in Nairobi, where he led the delivery of strategy, business planning and operations, and was key to setting up Google’s presence on the continent.

Prior to Google, he worked at Wananchi Online, the parent company of internet service provider Zuku, a company he co-founded in 1999.

Mucheru is a global board member of UNICEF Generation Unlimited, a public-private-youth partnership working to skill and connect the world's 1.8 billion young people to opportunity, as well as a trustee of the University of Nairobi Foundation.

He previously held board positions at the M-Pesa Foundation Academy, a residential high school in Kenya. Mucheru is also former chairman of the African Telecommunications Union.

In 2010, he was awarded the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear, as well as the Elder of the Golden Heart, in recognition of his contribution to ICT in Kenya. He is also a member of the African Leadership Network, Kenyan National Prayer Breakfast and East African Business Summit.

Says Mucheru: “JUMO is revolutionising the lending space in Africa, connecting entrepreneurs and individuals to the financial products they need to grow and prosper. I am hugely excited to be joining a business that is helping capital providers make attractive returns at the same time as supporting measurable impact. I look forward to working with Andrew and the team.”

Founded in 2015, JUMO’s banking-as-a-service platform uses artificial intelligence to power financial services in emerging markets.

The company offers savings and credit products to entrepreneurs in emerging markets, as well as financial services infrastructure to its partners, mobile fintech platforms and banks.

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