Visa Appoints Maurice Newa as New Country Manager for Southern Africa

Global leader in payments, Visa, has appointed Maurice Newa, as the new Head of the Southern Africa region. As the lead for Southern Africa, Maurice will be responsible for the development and implementation of Visa’s growth strategy in the region. He will report to Aida Diarra Senior Vice President and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa and will be part of the Sub-Saharan Africa Leadership team.

Prior to joining Visa, Maurice Newa served as Chief Executive Officer of Vaya Technologies Limited, a subsidiary of Econet Group. Before then, he served as the Chief Business Development Officer at Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.

Maurice began his professional career in 2010 as the Chief Operating Officer at Mobile Telecoms Company (MTC) Namibia. He joined Safaricom as Director of Marketing Strategy and Customer Care in 2011 before moving on to Bharti Airtel as Deputy Managing Director and Executive Board Director in its Malawian subsidiary in 2012.

Maurice was Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel Nigeria from 2014 to 2016 before joining Econet Telecom in Lesotho as Chief Commercial Officer and Turn-around Strategist.

He brings over 25 years of experience in regional and global roles in mobile telephony, Fintech (mobile money and mobile insurance), digital technology solutions and blue-chip FMCG companies.

Speaking on the new appointment, Senior Vice President at Visa and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, Aida Diarra expressed Visa’s excitement at bringing Maurice on board the team to lead its Southern African business.

His appointment reflects the importance we place on the Southern Africa markets and supporting our clients and partners. The depth of experience that he brings will enable him to make immediate contributions to our strategy and growth

Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President at Visa and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa

“We look forward to Maurice’s leadership in building on our continued efforts to help accelerate digitizing commerce in Southern Africa,” she added.

Maurice Newa holds a Bachelors of Social Science degree in Economics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting and is a Fellow of the Institute of Marketing Management. He is also an alumni of INSEAD, London Business School and Harvard Business School in leadership, strategy development and management.