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Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest lender, has appointed former MTN Group Chief Information Officer Nikos Angelopoulos as its new chief information officer, as banks increasingly recruit telecom executives to lead their digital transformation efforts. Angelopoulos, who joins Nedbank on September 1, spent eight years overseeing technology strategy, cloud investments and digital infrastructure across MTN Group’s 16 markets. His appointment comes as banks invest heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity, bringing the skills required to run large-scale telecommunications networks closer to those needed to operate modern financial institutions. “Nikos is an internationally experienced technology executive with more than 30 years’ experience across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas,” the bank said in a statement announcing the appointment on Friday. “He joins Nedbank from MTN Group, where he served as Group Chief Information Officer since 2018, with responsibility for information technology strategy, investments, delivery and governance across 16 markets serving more than 300 million customers.” The appointment also reflects the growing convergence between banking and telecommunications. While the two sectors have traditionally operated in different worlds, both now depend on always-on digital services, real-time transactions, cybersecurity and data to serve millions of customers. For banks, that means the skills needed to build tomorrow’s financial institutions increasingly resemble those required to run one of Africa’s largest telecom networks. Rather than relying solely on career bankers, lenders are recruiting executives with experience scaling complex digital ecosystems across telecoms, payments and other technology-driven businesses. The lender added that Angelopoulos has led “large-scale digital, cloud, data and artificial intelligence transformation initiatives” during a career spanning more than three decades. Before joining MTN, he held senior technology leadership roles at UAE telecom operator du, British telecoms group Vodafone, and global technology consulting firm Accenture. Those credentials suggest Nedbank is betting that experience managing technology platforms at continental scale will become more valuable as banking evolves. The CIO role has also changed. Once responsible for keeping IT systems running, today’s technology chiefs are expected to shape AI strategy, oversee cloud migration, strengthen cybersecurity and modernise core banking platforms. That evolution is pushing banks to widen their search for technology leaders. The appointment highlights a broader shift in banking recruitment. In April 2026, African banking group Absa appointed former M-PESA Africa chief executive officer (CEO) Sitoyo Lopokoiyit to lead its Personal and Private Banking business. In July, Stanbic Bank Kenya, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, named former Safaricom executive Michael Mutiga as CEO. Not all banks are looking outside their organisations. Capitec promoted Andrew Baker to CIO in February 2026, tasking him with leading the bank’s next phase of technology evolution for its more than 25 million clients. Nedbank’s appointment also completes a leadership transition that began in January when Ray Naicker resigned after more than two decades at the bank. Naicker, who became Group CIO in 2023 after serving as Group Chief Digital Officer, was credited with helping shape Nedbank’s technology strategy and digital transformation. For years, banks invested in branches and balance sheets to stay ahead. Today, they’re investing in the people who build and run digital platforms. Nedbank’s latest hire is another sign of that shift. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Before Joseph Simukoko introduced me to Mwiche Mukoma, we had already spent nearly half an hour talking at Nairobi Street Kitchen. The conversation wandered from Zambian politics to African immigration, from why the continent still struggles to trade with itself to the industries that could define its economic future. Simukoko speaks the way some people sprint—leaning forward, tugging at his dreadlocks as ideas arrive faster than sentences can contain them. His optimism is infectious. Not naïve optimism, but the conviction of someone who genuinely believes Africa’s future can be engineered. Where Simukoko is animated, Mukoma is measured. Soft-spoken and deliberate, the former banker weighs every word before letting it leave her mouth. While Simukoko fills the room with energy, she steadies it. Together, they feel like complementary halves of the same ambition. Their story started in high school, where they first met as teenagers before eventually becoming husband and wife. In 2022, after careers in banking and agricultural development, they founded Green Giraffe, a Zambian startup using AI and satellite technology to help smallholder farmers access premium markets. Ironically, the company only exists because an export deal collapsed after they failed to prove compliance with European food standards, a setback that forced them to build the technology themselves. We continued our conversation in the lobby of the Somerset Westview Hotel in Nairobi’s Kilimani neighbourhood. They spoke about colonial trade patterns, the absurdity of African countries finding it easier to trade with Europe than with one another, why entrepreneurship can outlast development aid, and the lessons they have learnt from farmers, investors, rejection, and each other. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. If Green Giraffe never existed, what do you honestly think you’d be doing today? Mukoma: My background is in finance, so I’d probably still be working in a bank, pushing paper and convincing myself I was helping people manage their money. But what we’ve built with Green Giraffe feels far more meaningful. In less than three years, we’ve changed how thousands of farmers interact with markets and food systems. I can look at myself in the mirror and say we built something that genuinely matters. I couldn’t say that after eight years in banking. Simukoko: I’d still be doing something around smallholder farmers. I’ve worked with them since 2010, and my obsession has always been making markets work for them. That’s why we teamed up. Mwiche wanted to create markets through agro-processing, and together we evolved into solving the compliance barriers that keep African farmers out of premium markets. Green Giraffe is just the latest expression of a mission I’ve had for years. How did you meet? Simukoko: We met at university about twenty years ago. She studied finance, and I studied agriculture. Mukoma: As you grow older, you realise many African countries suffer from the same problems. Sometimes trade fails because of something as simple as missing documentation. We came to Kenya and saw products like mabuyu (a popular snack in East Africa made from babob tree seeds) that we also have in Zambia, and I kept asking myself, “Why don’t we trade more with each other?” You start seeing that producers lose money, consumers lose choices, and everyone pays the price for systems that don’t make sense. Eventually, you stop asking why and start trying to fix it. Mwiche Mukoma, Green Giraffe co-founder, talking to a guest during the Zambian Gastronomy Awards 2025. Image source: Green Giraffe People assume entrepreneurs were always ambitious children. What were you like? Mukoma: A troublemaker. My parents always said I wasn’t difficult; I was frustrated by systems that made no sense. I questioned everything, broke rules, and always believed there had to be a better way. Simukoko: She likes calling herself a troublemaker, but in high school, she became the first student trusted to run the school tuck shop. Nothing went missing. As for me, I was usually several pages ahead of the teacher. I’d be staring out the window, the teacher would assume I wasn’t paying attention, ask me a question, and I’d answer it in detail. Sometimes I’d even be asked to teach the class. I was difficult to teach because I was constantly curious. Mukoma: One thing I appreciate about him is his humility. He always asks whether there’s a better solution. He’ll listen to everyone before making a decision. You’ve built a business helping African farmers reach global markets. Why does Africa still export raw produce while importing products made from its own crops? Mukoma: A lot of our thinking has been conditioned over generations. We’ve inherited systems that tell us what our role in the global economy should be. Simukoko: Colonialism didn’t really end. It simply changed form. Kenya is famous for tea, but who decided tea should define Kenya? European countries are famous for chocolate without growing cocoa. We’re still using transport systems designed to move raw materials out of Africa rather than connecting African markets. Even our language reflects it. We call countries “landlocked” instead of “land-linked.” Why is exporting automatically assumed to mean Europe? Africa is becoming the world’s largest market. Why aren’t we asking how to sell to Ghana, Mauritania, or Kenya before thinking about Europe? The African Continental Free Trade Area exists, yet Africans still struggle to travel across Africa. Sometimes it’s cheaper and easier to fly to Europe than to another African country. That mindset has to change. Mukoma: If we traded more with each other, we’d stop exporting raw materials and start exchanging finished products that create wealth on the continent. What belief did you hold at 25 that you now think was completely wrong? Simukoko: I believed development aid was the answer. Today, I think entrepreneurship creates a more sustainable impact. Aid eventually runs out; businesses keep solving problems because customers pay for solutions. When organisations like USAID pulled back, younger me would have panicked. Today I see an opportunity. Every challenge creates space for an entrepreneur to build something useful. Mukoma: Mine was
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MTN Nigeria’s fintech business posted one of its weakest performances in recent years after the telecom operator temporarily suspended its airtime and data credit service, underscoring how much one product had come to underpin the division’s growth. Fintech revenue fell 72.4% year-on-year to ₦12.99 billion ($9.50 million) in the second quarter of 2026. The sharp decline pulled first-half fintech revenue down 7.2% to ₦77.2 billion ($56.49 million), making it one of the few weak spots in an otherwise strong earnings report that saw the telecom operator’s profit after tax jump 70.6% to ₦707.54 billion ($517.69 million), according to the company’s first-half 2026 financial statements. The decline followed the temporary suspension of MTN’s airtime and data credit advance service, Xtratime, on April 16 as the company implemented processes required under Nigeria’s Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025, which introduced a new licencing and compliance framework for digital lenders. The results underscore how dependent MTN Nigeria’s fintech business has become on its airtime and data credit service. While its mobile money business continued to attract new users, the suspension of a single product was enough to push the entire fintech division into decline. The timing is significant as MTN Nigeria works to separate its fintech business, a transaction investors have closely watched as a key step toward unlocking the unit’s value. The telco said it has since resumed the service and expects fintech performance to recover in the second half of the year. “With operations now recommenced, we expect activity levels to progressively ramp up through H2, supporting a stronger contribution from our fintech business over the remainder of the year,” Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria’s chief executive officer, said. Despite the decline in reported fintech revenue, the company’s underlying mobile money business continued to expand. Mobile money revenue grew by approximately 132%, while active MoMo wallets increased by 1.3 million to 5 million during the period, suggesting that customer adoption continued even as lending activity slowed. MTN Nigeria also said it is progressing with the structural separation of its fintech business following shareholder approval, although the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals. “We also continue to progress the structural separation of the fintech business following shareholder approval, subject to regulatory approvals. Once completed, the transaction is expected to improve balance sheet flexibility, reduce future funding obligations and allow MTN Nigeria to retain meaningful exposure to long-term fintech growth,” the telco said. In April, shareholders approved a restructuring that will move MoMo Payment Service Bank Limited and Y’ello Digital Financial Services Limited into a new holding structure backed by MTN Group. Under the proposed arrangement, MTN Group, through its fintech investment arm, will inject ₦152.06 billion ($110.54 million) for a 60% stake in the fintech businesses, while MTN Nigeria will retain the remaining 40%. Both parties will consolidate their interests under a new Central Bank of Nigeria-regulated holding company. In June, MTN said it was awaiting regulatory approval to complete the separation. Outside fintech, MTN delivered one of its strongest half-year performances on record. Total revenue rose 25.9% to ₦2.99 trillion ($2.19 billion), driven by strong growth in data services, which increased 38.39%, while voice revenue grew 11.99%. The telecom operator ended the period with 92.2 million subscribers, 55.7 million active data users, and declared an interim dividend of ₦26 per share. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks.Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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