This completes a leadership shake-up at the Kenyan fintech as it strives to grow across Africa.

Makarem joins from Agoda, where he served as global CFO and oversaw a payments network handling more than $12 billion in transactions each year.

He has worked on multi-currency systems and high-volume payment operations, areas that are important to Cellulant’s business.

His appointment comes weeks after Michael Muriuki was named chief product and technology officer. Together, both hires fill key roles at a time when the company is rebuilding its leadership team after several exits.

Cellulant processes over 4.5 million transactions daily and operates in more than 20 African markets. It turned a profit in 2024 and is now looking to expand further as digital payments continue to grow across the continent.

Speaking on the appointment, Peter O’Toole, Cellulant chief executive said, “Darren Makarem doesn’t just understand the numbers; he understands the customer. He will leverage these insights to build a finance centre of excellence, ensuring our financial operations are as innovative, agile, and customer-centric as our products.”

Before Agoda, Makarem worked at Binance as regional CFO for Asia-Pacific and Latin America. He later led OnRamp as chief executive. Those roles gave him exposure to digital assets and evolving payment systems.

Now at Cellulant, he is expected to focus on financial discipline and support the company’s expansion into cross-border payments.

He said, “What excites me about Cellulant is the quality of what has already been built. My priority is to ensure the business has the financial discipline, insight, and operational support to move fast, stay bold, and keep delivering.”

Cellulant is aiming to take a larger share of Africa’s digital payments market, which is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.

The company is also competing with other fintech firms and banks that are building their own payment systems for large business clients.

These appointments focus on bolstering the technology expertise of Cellulant, compliance, finance, and audit. This move points to the company’s focus on operational excellence and expanding its service offerings for enterprise clients.

Leading the recruits is Andy O’Sullivan, the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). O’Sullivan brings over 20 years of experience in technology leadership within the payments industry across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

He has a good record of building and scaling high-performing technology teams, implementing agile delivery methods, and driving innovation.

Gbenga Haastrup joins Cellulant as Executive Consultant for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). Haastrup has over two decades of experience in GRC across fintech, technology, and financial services.

He will oversee all compliance, legal, regulatory, and governance standards, facilitating a strong risk management culture within Cellulant.

Irene Koki steps into the role of Group Head of Internal Audit. Koki brings over 15 years of experience in risk and audit functions across various sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, and government organizations.

She will report directly to Cellulant’s board and work closely with the leadership team to implement efficiency measures and strengthen corporate governance, supporting the company’s continued growth.

Ochebhoya Ekpete assumes the role of Vice President of Group Finance. Ekpete brings over a decade of experience in the payments industry across Africa and the UK. He will oversee all corporate finance functions, including financial control, reporting, tax, pricing, and financial planning and analysis.

Susan Fouche takes on the role of Group Chief People Officer. Fouche leverages her deep understanding of Cellulant’s vision and her extensive experience at organizations like Visa, Barclays, and 10x Investments.

She will be responsible for cultivating a highly engaged and successful workforce, building on her previous work in organizational design, reward structures, and talent acquisition.

Cellulant’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Peter O’Toole, highlighted the new appointee’s expertise in payments and financial services. He believes these appointments will be important in strengthening Cellulant’s product development, service delivery, operational efficiency, and risk management, ultimately allowing them to better serve their growing enterprise client base worldwide.

These appointments come at a key time for Cellulant, as the company refocuses its business model on achieving operational excellence, building stronger customer relationships, and adhering to the highest risk and regulatory compliance standards.

“Our ultimate goal is to establish Cellulant as a highly sustainable and profitable payments company, recognized for its operational excellence across all our core business units: Checkout, Payout, and Banking Solutions,” said O’Toole.

Cellulant is a frontrunner in the African payments industry, facilitating transactions for renowned global brands across various sectors like airlines, telecommunications, e-commerce, ride-hailing services, retail, banking, and remittances. With these appointments, Cellulant is set for continued growth and leadership in the African fintech space.

Akshay Grover, who initially joined Cellulant as the Chief Financial Officer in January 2021, later assumed the role of Acting CEO in May 2021 following the resignation of the company’s longtime CEO and co-founder, Ken Njoroge.

Following the development, the company emphasized its focus on maintaining momentum and sustaining its growth trajectory despite this change in leadership.

Peter O’Toole, currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed as the Acting CEO in the interim period. Cellulant has also announced plans to incorporate new names into its leadership team in the coming months.

Cellulant, founded in 2003 as a ringtone-selling platform with an initial investment of $3,000 from its co-founders, has undergone commendable changes over the years. Originally faced with challenges when Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telco, began offering a similar music service for free, Cellulant grew from its initial B2C model to connect banks to the M-PESA payments ecosystem.

The company expanded its operations to Zambia, Ghana, and Botswana, strengthening payment partnerships with international entities such as StanChart. Before the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Cellulant had successfully raised funding across three rounds – $1.5 million, $5.5 million, and $47.5 million. In 2022, the company was actively pursuing a $100 million Series D round, which was later put on hold.

Despite its previous successes, Cellulant faced challenges in 2023, a year that saw the company undergo restructuring to adapt to a challenging business environment. In early 2023, 27 staff members were laid off, and by August 2023, the company had to dismiss 20% of its workforce. These strategic changes were communicated as necessary steps towards achieving “leaner and efficient operations.”

Adding these licences strengthens Cellulant’s operations in Africa, where it has the most comprehensive payment infrastructure, integrating over 370 payment methods, operating in 35 markets with licences and physical offices in 19 countries.

With its collections and disbursement payment solutions, Cellulant will enable global and regional merchants operating in Egypt to easily manage their B2B and B2C payments seamlessly in-country and internationally, whether through mobile money, wallets, cash, card, or direct bank transfers across multiple payment methods in various currencies.

Egypt’s payments sector has snowballed in recent years, with current regulations enabling instant payments and fintechs revolutionising how financial services are delivered, challenging traditional banking models and altering consumer payment preferences.

According to the 2022 Mastercard New Payment Index, 88% of Egyptians have used at least one emerging payment method, with usage expected to increase further. Customers are expanding their purchase methods, necessitating businesses to expand their payment methods to alternative and locally relevant ones.

“With the prevalence of prepaid cards and mobile wallets already exceeding 40% of the adult population in Egypt, the timing of Cellulant‘s acquisition of these licences could not be more opportune,” said Ahmed Marwan, Cellulant’s General Manager for Egypt and North Africa. “More importantly, we’re committed to intensifying our efforts to provide reliable payment options for businesses in the region. By simplifying their business payment process, they can focus on their growth.” 

Akshay Grover, Cellulant’s Group CEO, commented, “Egypt is such a strategic market for business growth in MENA. We’re excited to successfully secure these licences and solidify our operations in Egypt, making our payment solutions accessible to the regional and global businesses operating in and getting into Egypt. With this accreditation in Egypt, we continue progressing our mission to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth.”

Over the last three years, the company has been sustainably investing in the growth of its real-time payment solutions for businesses, namely checkout, in-store, payouts, payment links, and its robust business dashboard, all anchored on its single API payment platform – Tingg.

Additionally, Cellulant has built strong infrastructural and security capabilities, obtaining global security, privacy, business continuity, and service management certifications.

Cellulant has been a pioneer in providing cutting-edge technical, financial and digital solutions since it was founded almost 20 years ago.

Today, the company powers payments for over 2000 businesses, processing 20 million monthly transactions valued at about $1bn.

The company powers payments for global brands in various sectors, such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail and Remittances.

The payments market in Africa is experiencing rapid growth, mainly due to advancements in peer-to-peer (P2P) and consumer-to-business (C2B) payment solutions. However, the fragmentation of payment processing continues to pose a significant challenge for businesses seeking to establish a presence in Africa.

Solving intractable problems is not new to Cellulant; founded at the height of Africa’s mobile technology boom in 2003, Cellulant is building Africa’s most comprehensive payments infrastructure. The company offers a single API payment platform that enables businesses to collect payments online and offline while allowing anyone to pay from their mobile money, local and international cards, or bank. 

Providing alternative payment methods for African consumers is particularly important on a continent that holds 70% of the world’s $1 trillion mobile money market. Card penetration sits at a 3% penetration rate – meaning global companies looking to expand into Africa need a payments partner that can offer alternative payment methods for the local market. 

At the recently held 25th Annual Harvard Africa Business Conference in Boston, Cellulant’s Group CEO Akshay Grover stated, “Solving the payments challenges in Africa is not just about payments but accelerating global economic growth. Africa’s dynamic economies and lack of an established payment infrastructure have resulted in a unique occurrence on the continent. 

On the one hand, this has prompted the growth of payment platforms and solutions to meet the various needs of businesses and consumers, turning Africa into a centre of innovation in the payments sector. On the other hand, with multiple providers, a wide range of payment methods exists due to the absence of a consistent infrastructure enabling businesses to collect payments seamlessly or easily operate across borders. 

Therefore, a payments infrastructure in Africa must holistically address the needs of businesses and their consumers by making it easy to collect payments online and offline -regardless of the size of the business.” 

Cellulant has built Tingg, a payments platform that provides multinational and international businesses with a one-stop-shop solution for their payment needs across the continent. The payments gateway connects to over 370 payment methods from mobile money operators and banks across the continent to global and regional card switches such as Visa, Mastercard, NIBSS and Verve.

The payments platform has full-stack offline and online payment capabilities. It caters to businesses in various sectors, such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail and Remittances, enabling these businesses to deliver a frictionless payment experience to their customers. Today, Cellulant powers payments for renowned global companies such as Emirates, Bolt, KLM, Ethiopian Airlines, Glovo, Kenya Airways, and Jumia; and processes billions of dollars yearly.

Cellulant is ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 27701 (PIMS), ISO 22301 (BCMS), ISO 20000-1 (Service Management) and PCI-DSS compliant for all its payouts and collections products.

This license enables Cellulant to continue providing online and offline payment solutions, including collections, check-out, biller aggregation, and payout services, securely to thousands of businesses across Nigeria.

Cellulant’s digital payments platform, Tingg, enables businesses to seamlessly accept and make payments offline and online. A single integrated digital payments solution, Tingg addresses the complex needs of managing payments by simplifying the payment experience for the end-user and providing tools and processes for a merchant to manage their collections from a single dashboard.

“At Cellulant, we are committed to providing innovative and accessible digital payment solutions to businesses in Nigeria, which play a pivotal role in enabling financial inclusion and driving economic growth in the country.

The renewal of our license is a vote of confidence from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the efforts of our team and partners, who have worked tirelessly to create safe and secure solutions that meet the evolving needs of businesses in Nigeria and the regulatory standards. Tingg is now used by thousands of businesses and outlets in the 36 states across Nigeria, enabling businesses to easily collect and make payments, monitor transactions, reconcile and settle cash seamlessly,” said Akshay Grover, Cellulant’s Group CEO.

Nigerian consumers have different payment options, including cards, mobile money, bank transfer, and cash- with volatile currency fluctuations and no single settlement framework. As a result, the demand for digital payments continues to increase. Roughly 50% of retail customers request to pay for their purchases using digital payment options.

However, this demand presents several challenges for most merchants who might not always support the customer’s preferred payment method, resulting in merchants having to enable multiple solutions to support multiple wallets and varying processes for settlement and reversals for a merchant.

Tingg solves these challenges by delivering a single solution to accept all digital payment methods (Bank Transfers, USSD payments, Cards & Mobile Money) maintained with the highest compliance and security standards.

Speaking to the news, Frances Diribe, Cellulant’s Group Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, said, “Cellulant is dedicated to meeting the highest standards of risk and compliance management as we understand the importance of maintaining the integrity of our payment platform. We have invested heavily in robust security measures and compliance processes to ensure our customers can confidently use our services. We welcome this news that showcases our compliance with the standards, directives, and regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

In addition to being licensed to operate as a Payments Service Provider in multiple African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Botswana, and Zambia, Cellulant has also achieved global security, privacy, business continuity, and service management standards. The company’s certifications include ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 27701 (PIMS), ISO 22301 (BCMS), ISO 20000-1 (Service Management), and PCI-DSS.

This license enables Cellulant to continue providing online and offline payment solutions, including collections, check-out, biller aggregation, and payout services securely to thousands of businesses across Nigeria.

Cellulant’s digital payments platform, Tingg – enables businesses to seamlessly accept and make payments offline and online. A single integrated digital payments solution, Tingg addresses the complex needs of managing payments by simplifying the payment experience for the end-user and providing tools and processes for a merchant to manage their collections from a single dashboard.

“At Cellulant, we are committed to providing innovative and accessible digital payment solutions to businesses in Nigeria, which play a pivotal role in enabling financial inclusion and driving economic growth in the country. The renewal of our license is a vote of confidence from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the efforts of our team and partners, who have worked tirelessly to create safe and secure solutions that meet the evolving needs of businesses in Nigeria and the regulatory standards. Tingg is now used by thousands of businesses and outlets in the 36 states across Nigeria, enabling businesses to easily collect and make payments, monitor transactions, reconcile and settle cash seamlessly,” said Akshay Grover, Cellulant’s Group CEO.

Nigerian consumers have different payment options, including card, mobile money, bank transfer and cash- with volatile currency fluctuations and no single settlement framework. As a result, the demand for digital payments continues to increase. Roughly 50% of retail customers request to pay for their purchases using digital payment options. However, this demand presents several challenges for most merchants who might not always support the customer’s preferred payment method, resulting in merchants having to enable multiple solutions to support multiple wallets and varying processes for settlement and reversals for a merchant.

Tingg solves these challenges by delivering a single solution to accept all digital payment methods (Bank Transfers, USSD payments, Cards & Mobile Money) maintained with the highest compliance and security standards. 

Speaking to the news, Frances Diribe, Cellulant’s Group Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, said, “Cellulant is dedicated to meeting the highest standards of risk and compliance management as we understand the importance of maintaining the integrity of our payment platform. We have invested heavily in robust security measures and compliance processes to ensure our customers can confidently use our services. We welcome this news that showcases our compliance with the standards, directives, and regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

In addition to being licensed to operate as a Payments Service Provider in multiple African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Botswana, and Zambia, Cellulant has also achieved global security, privacy, business continuity and service management standards. The company’s certifications include ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 27701 (PIMS), ISO 22301 (BCMS), ISO 20000-1 (Service Management) and PCI-DSS.

Cellulant provides two essential payment ecosystem solutions: Collections and Payouts. It has three key offerings – Checkout for businesses who want their customers to pay for goods or services online; In-store Payments enabling businesses to collect payments at a physical location; and Payouts, which allow both local and global businesses to make payments, process international transfers or make payments to service providers.

These customers will be able to make these payments through KrosPayz, Money Q’s Africa-wide digital payments platform that enables online payment for transactions and value-added services at the point of sale.

Mobile remittances present a unique opportunity for millions of people to access the formal financial system, bringing financial services and prospects for revenue generation closer to their communities. According to estimates, Sub-Saharan African remittances increased by 16.4% in 2021 but only by 5.2% in 2022. 

The average cost of sending $200 over international borders remained high in the second quarter of 2022, at 6%. Mobile operators offer the best rates (3.5%), but less than 1% of transactions are made through digital channels. Remittance services are now much quicker and less expensive thanks to digital technologies.

The KrosPayz digital wallet, which is set to go live first in Malawi this April, will enable customers to pay for national and international utility bill payments, airtime recharge, execute their domestic fund transfers to individuals and companies, and also pay in the local markets for their purchases via QR code.

“Remittances are the single largest source of foreign exchange for many developing economies, and they are stable and resilient in the face of economic downturns. They have been described as developing countries’ most stable, abundant, and secure sources of foreign aid. This partnership reaffirms our commitment to enabling businesses, banks, and consumers to make fast and efficient payments across Africa. By leveraging Cellulant’s presence and partnerships on the continent, Money Q will be able to provide its services throughout Africa” stated Richard Gesimba, Vice President of Global & Regional Merchants, Cellulant.

Money Q’s goal is to ensure that no African should be deprived of using the digital channels on the continent. Commenting on the partnership, Mr Amit Shrimali, Founder and CEO, Money Q, stated: “I am very excited with this partnership as it helps me to go a step closer to the vision of Money Q which is to make sure that none in the countries, we operate are deprived of using the digital medium to transact. The partnership between Money Q & Cellulant will indeed complement one another in growing the market share of both the companies in the African continent.”

This award recognises Cellulant as a leader in fintech and payments acknowledging the company’s commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.

The Top Star Brand Awards recognise the “crème de la crème” brands that authentically lead their respective industries in brand presence. Star brands are those that have achieved milestones, have a history of success, and, most importantly, have established themselves as trendsetters for newcomers to the industry. It is a display of those brands that have acquired unparalleled branding standards and have all the necessary components to become household names on a global scale.

The awards are organized by Digital Events Ltd in conjunction with an independent panel of judges drawn from digital tech consultants, academia, IT professional bodies, relevant government department representatives, industry networks, and the media.

“We are honored to receive this award and be recognised as a Top brand in Kenya. Owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have seen a significant shift in the use of digital payments in the last 2 years. Cellulant has demonstrated exceptional performance in the payments industry, and we remain dedicated to providing our clients with cutting-edge products and services. This award recognizes our team’s hard work and devotion, and we are grateful for the support of our customers and partners. We are proud to add this award to our list of achievements this year and look forward to continuing to provide for our customer’s needs and support the economy’s growth and success,” said Faith Nkatha Gitonga, Country Manager at Cellulant Kenya.

Cellulant, a Pan-African payments company, is addressing fragmentation in payment processing for businesses through Tingg,  its digital payments platform enabling companies across Africa to accept payments from their customers seamlessly. A single integrated solution, Tingg offers simplified payment tools and processes for a merchant to manage their payments. As a result, businesses can allow their customers to make payments for goods and services using locally relevant payment options.

Speaking on the recognition, Divine Muragijimana, Cellulant’s Group Head of Global Marketing and Communication stated; “We are proud of the hard work and dedication that our team has put into building and maintaining a strong brand presence in Kenya. Cellulant remains committed to providing innovative payments solutions and excellent customer service, and it is gratifying to see that our efforts have been recognized. We will continue to strive for excellence and to be a trusted and respected leader in the fintech and payments industry in Kenya.”

Cellulant serves the top companies in Kenya including Naivas, Kenya Airways, Jambojet, Equity Bank, KCB, Bolt and Kenya power among others. These companies are among many others that Cellulant serves across the continent. Cellulant remains committed to innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility, and has a long history of delivering exceptional products and services to its customers.

Cellulant has an office presence in 18 African countries with a payments platform connecting thousands of businesses with 350+ payment options (bank, wallet and card integrations) across 35 countries. The platform powers payments for 1100+ client businesses, 50+ banks and 220M+ consumers on a single inclusive network allowing for interoperability across Africa.

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Tingg, Cellulant’s acclaimed payment platform has been recognized as the ‘Merchants Payment Company of the Year 2022’, award at the BAFI Awards.

The recognition was bestowed at the 10th BusinessDay Banks and other Financial Institutions (BAFI) awards event, which was held in November in Lagos, Nigeria.

The BAFI Awards is backed by BusinessDay’s Research and Intelligence Unit through its extensive vetting process which monitors, evaluates, and recognises the achievements of players in the financial services industry in several categories that cut across banking, insurance, fintech and other financial services.

Over the past year, Cellulant Nigeria has experienced outstanding adoption of its products and services. There are more than 400 businesses and outlets using Tingg By Cellulant’s solution across Nigeria. As more and more businesses assess their payment needs, the numbers are expected to increase in the upcoming years.

Commenting on the award, Ademola Okuleye, the Head of SME Sales at Cellulant Nigeria, said: “As an enabler of economic growth and prosperity, this award is due recognition of our industry leadership across Africa, and is a testament to the growth of, Tingg.  This is a direct reflection of the growth our solutions have enabled for our merchant partners through the seamless integration of our payment ecosystem. A growing number of merchants in Nigeria use our payment platform. Businesses we serve include Eat n Go; which is the parent company of Domino’s, Cold Stone, and Pinkberry, GIG Logistics, Chicken Republic, Perfect Trust Cosmetics, Simba Group, United Parcel Service (UPS), Magrellos and PepsiCo; among others. Our products distinguish themselves from our competitors because they suit the demands of retailers who want our off-the-shelf products and those who need us to customize them to meet their needs. ”

“We thank BusinessDay and the BAFI team for this recognition of our commitment to expanding the Fintech space with innovative payment solutions. This recognition is dedicated to all our partners – staff, vendors, merchants, and customers alike who have made our platform, the payment solution choice of Africa,” he concluded.

Cellulant offers a unique set of capabilities to serve as the one-stop payment platform for companies all over Nigeria.

Its Tingg payments platform is equipped with the tools and competencies to address the problems associated with the key use cases of collections and payouts.

In 2021, Cellulant processed approximately 214 million transactions totalling $12.3 billion across 35 African markets.