Sitoyo Lopokoiyit has been appointed as the M-Pesa Africa managing director effective April 1, 2021.
CEO Peter Ndegwa said Safaricom will initiate the relevant talent sourcing processes to identify and appoint the next Financial Services leaders in due course.
"...meanwhile he will continue discharging the functions of the chief financial services office," he said.
Lopokoiyit joined Safaricom PLC from 1st April 2018, having previously served as M-Commerce Director at Vodacom Tanzania PLC Ltd from October 2015.
As the Chief Financial Services Officer, he is responsible for growing M-PESA to a fully-fledged financial platform.
He is in charge of New Business Ventures, Product Management & Development for both Consumer and Enterprise.
During his time at Vodacom, he oversaw the delivery of several transformative products and services; led the turnaround strategy and execution for M-Pesa which has resulted in an accelerated growth of M-Pesa in Tanzania.
Some of the initiatives he led include; delivery of G2 platform, M-Pesa APP, interoperable transactions for both peer to peer transfers and merchant payments, Business to Business payments, M-Pesa CVM and Merchant Payments.
Prior to joining Vodacom Tanzania PLC, he was the Head M-Pesa Strategy and Business Development at Safaricom.
Sitoyo has over 10 years’ senior managerial experience from different fields; oil and gas (Chevron and Total Kenya Ltd) and in the Retail industry with Uchumi supermarkets in Kenya.
He has worked extensively in the East Africa Region as well as in Mauritius and Reunion.
Sitoyo holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree in marketing from the University of Nairobi (2000) and an MSc in Information Technology Management and Organizational Change from Lancaster University in UK.