Eli Hini, CEO of MTN’s MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB), and Elsa Muzzolini, Chief Commercial Officer,  have left the company in a surprising leadership change at the fintech. Muzzolini joined M-PESA Ethiopia, Safaricom’s mobile money business as CEO on July 15. 

Muzzolini informed employees of her resignation in a note on July 12. She also updated the new role on her LinkedIn profile. It is unclear if Hini, who left in June 2024, has taken another role. 

Hini and Muzzolini joined MoMo PSB in 2022 and led its growth strategies in Nigeria. Their exit comes at a time when MTN Nigeria ramps up investment in its fintech unit to grow its share of wallets and app adoption following losses in its core business, telecoms.

Usoro Anthony Usoro, executive director of strategy and stakeholder management at MoMo PSB, has been named the substantive CEO. His appointment is subject to CBN approval, one person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

MTN did not respond to a request for comments. 

MoMo grew mobile money wallets by 55.8% to 5.5 million in H1 2024 from 3.1 million in H1 2023. Fintech revenue grew by 11% driven by increased wallet and MoMo app adoption. Compared with Airtel mobile money scheduled to go public in 2025, its mobile money customers grew 14.9% to 39.5 million

On Monday, August 5, 2024, MTN Nigeria paid ₦6.95 billion to buy off Acxani Capital Limited, the minority shareholder of MoMo PSB. MTN Nigeria took control of the fintech unit to strengthen MoMo PSB’s operations and position it for growth, according to a regulatory filing. The deal also allows MTN Nigeria to deploy more funding into the fintech unit. MoMo received an additional ₦9.4 billion in investment from MTN Nigeria as part of the deal.