Naima Yusuf has left Safaricom after 19 years to join Absa Group as Executive Head of Absa Pay. She announced the move in a farewell note that traces a career from a retail counter in Mombasa to the leadership of M-Pesa’s product and payments business.
A career that began at a Mombasa retail centre
Yusuf joined Safaricom in July 2007 as a retail centre agent in Mombasa. She spent six months in the role. Her duties included meeting the centre’s revenue targets, keeping operating costs within budget and updating customer records.
She sold phones worth more than 1 million in a single month and recruited retailers who raised regional sales. She won Sales Person of the Month for the highest sales figures.
“Nineteen years and three months ago, I walked into Safaricom as a retail centre agent,” Yusuf said. “Today I walked away with experience, friendships and lessons that have shaped both my career and who I am.”
From human resources to M-Pesa
Yusuf worked across several functions at Safaricom. She moved through human resources and special projects, including a deployment of CCTV cameras across Mombasa with the National Police Service. She then spent her later years on M-Pesa from a digital product angle.
In addition, she served on a board and worked with colleagues and partners across Africa to expand global and international payments. The agenda included cross border transfers on the M-Pesa platform. In May 2025, Swift Connect Africa listed her as Executive Head Global Payments at M-Pesa in Kenya.
Her professional profile describes her last post as Executive Head of Products at M-Pesa Africa. “I lead innovative product strategies that drive financial inclusion and digital transformation across the continent,” she wrote. She lists support analysis, product management, project management and product ownership among her skills.
Her next chapter
“To everyone who has been part of this journey, thank you,” Yusuf said in her farewell note. “The next chapter begins and I am excited for what lies ahead.”
Absa’s recent hires from M-Pesa
Yusuf’s move follows other transfers from M-Pesa to Absa this year. Absa Group announced Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, then Managing Director of M-Pesa Africa, as Chief Executive for Personal and Private Banking, effective April 1, 2026. He joined as part of a leadership overhaul led by Group Chief Executive Kenny Fihla.
Absa has since launched Absa Next, a savings and loans app that does not require an Absa account, and chose Kenya as the first market. Safaricom has lost other senior staff in the same period. Chief Strategy Officer Michael Mutiga announced he would leave to become CEO of Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan from August 1, 2026.
Education and training
Yusuf holds a Bachelor in International Business Administration from the United States International University Africa, which she attended from 2003 to 2006. She completed a Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management at the College of Human Resource Management between 2016 and 2018 and graduated with a high pass.
She took a Digital Product Management course with Boston University through edX in 2020 and completed the Innovation Leadership Bootcamp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2021. At university she belonged to the Taekwondo Club and the Business Club.
