Ecobank appoints Diallo as Senior Fintech Advisor

&NewLine;<p> Ecobank Group&comma; the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group&comma; with current presence in 36 African countries&comma; has  announced the appointment of Mrs&period; Aissatou Djiba Djiba Diallo&comma; formerly of Microsoft&comma; as its new Senior Fintech Advisor to strategically raise Ecobank’s support for the fintech sector&period; She  holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Université Pierre et Marie Curie&comma; France&comma; and she is an aeronautics enthusiast&period;<br> A statement by Apo Group&comma; made available to OpenLife stated that in her new role&comma; Djiba will lead the Group’s fintech initiatives and advise senior management on the banking group’s fintech strategy&period; Her appointment is an important step in the ongoing implementation of the group’s broader digital strategy and demonstrates Ecobank’s commitment to playing a major and high-profile role in helping Africa’s innovative fintech sector to achieve significant global market share&period;<br> Prior to joining the Ecobank Group&comma; Djiba was the Head of Innovations at Microsoft4Afrika&comma; where she built the strategy to identify&comma; support and attract key African fintech start-ups and partners to the Microsoft Cloud platform and oversaw 50 countries&period; Before that she was Marketing Manager and Partner and Strategy Program Lead for West and Central Africa&comma; Microsoft&period;<br> Speaking on the appointment&comma; Eddy Ogbogu&comma; Group Executive&comma; Operations and Technology&comma; noted that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Djiba’s appointment represents an important step in the overall Ecobank Group’s fintech and digital agenda&period; The expertise&comma; passion and innovation she brings to the role will allow us take the next crucial steps on our path to further cementing our position as Africa’s leading digital bank&period;”<br> A large part of Djiba’s role will focus on growing the bank’s flagship annual fintech initiative – the Ecobank Fintech Challenge and Ecobank Fintech Fellowship – through which the Ecobank group has promoted Africa’s most promising fintech start-ups&period; The programme provides selected fintechs with the opportunity to fast-track their growth by gaining a commercial partnership and product integration with Ecobank’s pan-African platform and unified ecosystem&period; The Challenge and Fellowship has been run for two years &lpar;2017 and 2018&rpar; and is poised for an enhanced third edition in 2020&period;<br> Djiba&comma; who has served as a Judge of the two previous editions of The Challenge and Fellowship&comma; said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am delighted to become a part of the vision of the Ecobank Group in supporting the development of African fintechs and further drive the continent’s economic development&period; Fintech is an important part of the Bank’s goal to vastly increase its customer numbers across its pan-African footprint of 33 countries and open up market access and integration for Africa’s fintech ecosystem&period;” She added that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In the past three years&comma; the bank has significantly strengthened its partnerships with start-ups and I am excited that our Group CEO and senior management have prioritised new waves of initiatives to expand our work with fintechs and deliver a whole new level of win-win collaborations that will positively impact African lives and grow African fintech businesses&period;”  <br><br><br><br><br><&sol;p>&NewLine;