In her new role, she will oversee end to end brand awareness, guide the marketing teams to develop strategy and lead Mara, into a digital finance and crypto market leader across Africa.

Susan comes from Platoon, Apple’s creative artist services division that nurtures and builds the careers of independent artists.

Susan oversaw marketing for their African music roster which included artists Ayra Starr, Asa, Simi, Spinall and Khaid.

Born in Lagos, Susan schooled in the U.S. and the U.K. Her first foray into the corporate world was in TV production for MTV US and MTV UK where she worked her way up to be a Senior Producer  & Director and worked across Viacom’s production slate.

She later returned to Africa for eight years in Nigeria and South Africa where she worked with corporations including Viacom Africa, Multichoice and NBC Universal in Pan-African senior roles. 

Susan Younis later relocated back to the UK when she landed a Global Marketing Director role at Warner Music Group before joining Platoon.

Susan has an incredible passion for all things African culture and has thoroughly enjoyed helping shape some of Africa’s finest talent, on an international level.

“I am thrilled to be joining Mara at such a critical time of transformation for the crypto economy in Africa. The team are some of the most dynamic and forward-thinking executives in the business. I am honoured to contribute my experience in leading our marketing efforts, as we grow across Africa. Thank you to Chi Nnadi for this wonderful opportunity!”

 “Susan Younis brings a wealth of experience and rigour to this role, having spent her entire career building brands across the globe.” Said Chi Nnadi, Co-founder & CEO, Mara.” Her type of knowledge is exactly what our organization needs now to scale across the African market, and I am looking forward to the team’s continued success under her leadership.” Concluded Mr. Nnadi.

Alongside several crypto and Web3 investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX) and Distributed Global, the round included TQ Ventures, DIGITAL, Nexo, Huobi Ventures, Day One Ventures and Infinite Capital as well as DAO Jones.

Co-founded by Chi Nnadi, MARA includes a team of executives from Amazon, PayPal, Uber, NVIDIA, Founders Bank, and Rappi. The company is focused on ensuring trust and normality in cryptocurrency and blockchain, demystifying technology and helping over one billion Africans learn and build digital wealth through blockchain with ease. Its flagship product is a consumer crypto-brokerage app that allows users to buy, send, sell and withdraw fiat and crypto assets

Aiming for an initial launch of its suite of new products in July this year, with Kenya and Nigeria being its focus countries for now, MARA is striving hard to address a variety of crypto-finance needs while being regulator-compliant and authentically African-made. 

The company is harnessing the deep-rooted power of decentralized blockchain technology, and is set to make cryptocurrency approachable and rewarding for all through innovative and sustainable solutions to help future generations empower themselves.

MARA also plans to launch the MARA Chain, a layer-1 blockchain and Alchemy-esque platform powered by the native MARA token for developers to build decentralized applications — also known as DApps — in the fourth quarter of this year. In 2023, the company plans to launch a pro-exchange for sophisticated traders that utilize technical analysis and prefer a full set of trading options to the traditional exchange options on its retail app.

MARA is creating financial infrastructure for people to build their lives. Beyond the purchase of crypto, the company wants to help African engineers create their own projects sustainably. Its goal is to be the source for incubating talent and give users an innovative platform through its exchange to launch their projects.