Karimi Ithau appointed Kenswitch Kenya managing director

The Board of Kenswitch Kenya Limited has appointed Karimi Ithau (pictured) as Managing Director as the company rolls out its new market direction.

Ithau is a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience spanning over 20 years in the sales of innovative products and services in the information technology markets.

"We are confident that Ithau has what it takes to steer our Kenyan market to the next level. As a board, we would like to congratulate her and assure her of our continued support as we seek to provide innovative payments across East Africa,” said Kenswitch chairman Yousef Bazian.

Prior to the appointment, Ithau served as the Head, Sales Network at Interswitch supporting the East Africa region, a position she held for five years.

She has previously worked as the General Manager and as Head of Business Development at Paynet (K) Limited.

Ithau also held the position of Head of eBanking – Corporate and Institutional Banking Division at the Standard Chartered Bank.

She is a graduate of School of Computer Technology, UK and holds a leadership training certification from Dale Carnegie and Associates Inc.

Ithau is also a member of the Young Leadership Program and the Organisation of Women in International Trade.

Bazian added, “The rebranding effort, among other initiatives, builds on many improvements the firm has made to the business in recent years. Our commitment to this market is focused on positioning our unmatched product breadth, geographical reach and strong leadership team backed on the strong pan-African success of Loita Group in over 18 countries across Africa."

Kenswitch will roll out the new corporate identity, among other rebrand initiatives across different customer touchpoints in the next couple of months. The company has received a nod from the regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya.

Kenswitch is a Payments Service Provider of choice regulated by CBK under the National Payments System (NPS) Act 2011 and has been in the market since 2002.

It facilitates commercial banks, insurance companies and other financial services intermediaries with ubiquitous payment processing across Africa.

Kenswitch customers use scheme cards to access financial services over the wide network of ATMs, agency banking, merchant POS and e-Commerce merchant outlets. Kenswitch also offers a range of value-add products and services within the financial payments space.