Mitchell Elegbe founded Interswitch in 2002, after his first encounter with an ATM swallowed his card in Scotland.
An alumnus of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Global CEO Programme and the African Leadership Institute’s Archbishop Tutu Fellowship Programme, he now wants to help transform African economies and push towards a cashless marketplace.
He comes in at #8 on our list of Africa’s Top 40 Digital Leaders.
Interswitch is a Nigerian digital payments company and one of the continent’s first unicorns. In 2010, shareholders decided to sell two-thirds of the company to raise more funding. Nine years later, after a $200m cash injection from Visa, it was valued at $1bn. Its planned initial public offering in London, though, has repeatedly been delayed and does not yet have a launch date.
Pan-African designs
Interswitch’s main market is Nigeria, but it is set on
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