African payments giant Flutterwave has appointed Mitesh Popat as chief financial officer (CFO) nine months after former CFO Oneal Bhambani left the company.

Popat held executive positions at Citi including CFO for Middle East and Africa and Global Equities Sales and Trading. He will oversee Flutterwave’s corporate finance functions. 

With two decades of experience in global financial services across different markets, Popat will be instrumental in driving Flutterwave’s next phase of growth and financial sustainability, the company said in a statement.

“I have a deep understanding of the operating environment in Africa and complexity of operating an emerging market business and I plan to bring my experience in growing Flutterwave, while optimising our business model for sustained profitability,” Popat said.

The ex-Citi CFO replaces Bhambani who resigned just 18 months after joining the fintech startup. In March 2024, Flutterwave’s chief operating officer, Bode Abifarin left the company after six years of leading its operations. These high-profit exits had raised questions about the company’s much-talked-about IPO plans.

Popat’s hiring comes after the company rethought its product strategy to focus on enterprise and remittance. In March 2024, it shut down the struggling Barter, a virtual card and international payments service it launched in 2017. In 2023, it relaunched its international remittances product, Send App, and launched other offerings to help local businesses swap international currencies.

“As our new CFO,  his work will be adding value to our customers – both enterprise merchants and retail remittance customers, as well as the African fintech ecosystem,” said Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave CEO.