Japhet Aritho, previously the Senior Vice President at Airtel Money Group has been appointed as the Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited Chief Executive Officer, CEO East Africa Magazine can exclusively reveal.
In his previous Senior VP role, he was overseeing the Airtel Money business operations in Africa.
Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited is the second biggest mobile money service provider, in Uganda. The company was spun off Airtel Uganda in June 2021, following the enactment of the National Payment Systems (NPS) Act, 2020, on 4th September 2020. The company was in May 2021 one of two first licensees for the Payment Systems Operator (Large Funds Transfer) and Payment Service Provider (Class A (Large electronic money issuer)) licenses, the other being MTN Mobile Money Uganda Limited.
According to our sources, Japhet’s appointment was approved by Bank of Uganda approved last week.
David Birungi, the Public Relations Manager at Airtel Uganda confirmed the appointment to this reporter on phone.
“Yes, it is true,” he said, adding that there will be an official communication soon.
Who is Japhet Aritho?
Little is known about Japhet, but according to his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as an “expert in mobile financial services, digital banking, payments, remittances, e-commerce both from the technology, business development, strategy formulation, distribution and marketing, regulator engagement, agent network development, compliance, tariffing, product development and processes and procedure.”
Letters to My Younger Self: What Uganda’s CEOs and Professionals Wish They Knew at the StartHe also says he has good knowledge in IT-Billing and Value-Added Services management / IT project management as well as software design and deployment.
Before joining the Airtel Group, from April 2016 to February 2019, he worked as the Econet Group Chief Operating Officer in Johannesburg, South Africa and was responsible for EcoCash Business development in the company’s existing four markets (Zimbabwe, Burundi, Lesotho and South Africa). Before that, he worked as the Chief Operating Officer –EcoCash Group from November 2015 to April 2016 where he was responsible for the company’s operations in Zimbabwe, Burundi and Lesotho.
From 2010 to 2012, Japhet worked with Safaricom as Head of Department, M-PESA Product Development and Operations.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from Swiss Management Academy and a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Nairobi.
Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited is the second biggest player in the mobile payment business and according to the latest industry intelligence, controls about 46% of the market share compared to MTN’s 54% as of the end of 2021.
