A defining chapter in African fintech is drawing to a close. Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the Chief Executive Officer of M-PESA Africa, has exited his role at the helm of the continent’s most significant financial infrastructure. The move marks the end of a transformative era that saw M-PESA evolve from a Kenyan money transfer service into a sophisticated, smartphone-led digital ecosystem serving millions across the continent.
While Tech-ish.com can confirm the exit, as of the time of publication, neither Safaricom PLC nor M-PESA Africa has issued an official statement regarding the departure. Furthermore, no successor has been publicly named.
This announcement comes just as Safaricom launched Ziidi Trader, allowing Kenyans to buy and sell stock from the Nairobi Securities Exchange on the M-Pesa App without all the cumbersome paperwork.
The Architect of the “Super App” Era
Sitoyo’s departure is not merely a personnel change; it is a shift in the strategic direction of mobile money on the continent. He has been synonymous with the brand’s modernization for over a decade.
When Safaricom and Vodacom formed the M-PESA Africa Joint Venture to repatriate the brand and platform rights from Vodafone, Sitoyo was the natural choice to lead it. As Managing Director and later CEO, he was tasked with a complex mandate: unify the fragmented operations of seven different markets under a single technical stack and product roadmap.
Under his watch, M-PESA ceased to be just a SIM-toolkit application. He oversaw the development and aggressive rollout of the M-PESA Super App for consumers and the M-PESA Business App for merchants. These platforms shifted the service from a basic transactional utility to a lifestyle ecosystem, integrating mini-apps, global remittances, and wealth management tools.
The numbers during his tenure speak to the scale of this transformation. The platform now processes hundreds of billions of dollars in transaction value annually, serving over 60 million customers and approximately 5 million businesses. In Kenya, the ecosystem has become so deeply embedded in the economy that McKinsey estimates roughly 70% of the country’s GDP flows through it.
From the Pump to the Boardroom: A 20-Year Arc
Sitoyo’s journey to the C-Suite is often cited as a quintessential Kenyan success story—a narrative of “From West Pokot to the World,” as described by industry peers.
His relationship with the brand predates his employment at Safaricom. In 2005, while working at Chevron (Caltex), Sitoyo was one of the first retail managers to engage with a then-experimental pilot called “M-PESA.” Safaricom had approached the fuel chain to use their stations as cash-in/cash-out points. That early collaboration helped blueprint the aggregator model that would eventually allow M-PESA to scale nationwide.
He formally joined Safaricom in 2011 as Head of M-PESA Strategy and Business Development. His impact was immediate, but his reputation as a “fixer” was cemented in 2015 when he moved to Tanzania. As M-Commerce Director for Vodacom Tanzania, he led a dramatic turnaround of the M-PESA product there, overseeing the delivery of the G2 platform and ensuring interoperability in a market that was far more competitive than Kenya’s.
Upon his return to Nairobi in 2018 as Safaricom’s Chief Officer of Financial Services, Sitoyo championed innovations that have since become household names. He was instrumental in the launch and scaling of Fuliza, the world’s first contextual mobile money overdraft facility, and M-Shwari. These products fundamentally altered the credit landscape in East Africa, moving millions of users into the formal financial fold.
A Legacy of Unification
Perhaps his most significant technical legacy is the consolidation of the M-PESA brand. Before the Joint Venture, M-PESA operated somewhat independently in markets like Tanzania, Mozambique, and DRC. Sitoyo’s mandate at M-PESA Africa was to create a “Centre of Excellence.”
He successfully steered the ship towards a borderless payment ecosystem, driving the M-PESA Global strategy which linked the African platform to global players like PayPal, AliExpress, and Western Union. This shift positioned M-PESA not just as a local wallet, but as a global payment rail.
His influence extended well beyond the fintech sector. Sitoyo currently sits on multiple high-profile boards, including the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), KCA University, and the Central Depository & Settlement Corporation (CDSC). His contributions were formally recognised in 2022 when he was awarded the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.) by then-President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Vacuum and The Future
The nature of this exit leaves several questions unanswered. With no replacement named, industry observers are watching closely to see how the Joint Venture manages the transition.
Investors in both Safaricom and Vodacom will be keen to understand if the strategy of “one M-PESA” will continue seamlessly without its primary architect. The lack of an immediate successor suggests the search for a leader capable of managing such a complex, multi-market stakeholder map is ongoing.
For Sitoyo, the exit caps a career that has reshaped how money moves in Africa. Whether he returns to the corporate world, pivots to policy, or enters the startup ecosystem, he leaves behind a platform that is fundamentally different—and significantly larger—than the one he found.
