Former Mastercard Executive joins Klasha Inc. as new Chief Commercial Officer

Klasha Inc. has appointed former Mastercard executive Nile Younis as its Chief Commercial Officer.

In a statement by the Lagos-based technology company, it stated that Younis will be based in Dubai. The former Mastercard executive joined the company after a successful ten-year career at Mastercard.

Before he left Mastercard, Younis created the leading go-to-market strategies across the MEA region for real-time and multi-rail payments interoperability.

He was the P&L business owner responsible for building and establishing Digital Payment Ecosystems at national levels for Mastercard in MEA. In the last five years, he and his team successfully digitised large cash flows across multiple sectors.

Younis has over 20 years of global experience in solution sales, product management, and business development, which focuses on e/m-commerce alongside cyber and Card-Not-Present fraud solutions. Brought up in Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf, Younis’ experience includes working in the UK, Holland, Bahrain, Tanzania, and the UAE.

In his new role, Younis will develop and execute a commercialisation strategy at Klasha, including structuring and growing the organisation to drive essential market adoption of the company’s products and services.

Jess Anuna, Founder and CEO of Klasha, said:

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nile Younis as Chief Commercial Officer at Klasha. Nile’s global experience, most recently at Mastercard, will build the commercial infrastructure needed for more international businesses to tap into the African market via Klasha, and provide a seamless cross-border experience for African consumers. His wealth of experience will add immediate upstream and downstream value to Klasha as we bullishly scale the business this year.”

“Our goal at Klasha is to continue providing real value to our customers by addressing the vast opportunity available in the African e-commerce sector. By 2025, half of the world’s working population will live and work in Africa, but today only 30% of the over one billion population have ever made online payments. Klasha aims to create easy access to the world’s largest emerging and fastest-growing consumer market, and I am thrilled to have recently joined the energetic, driven and focused team of talent that makes Klasha so unique,” said Younis.  

His appointment follows Klasha’s recent announcement of a $4.5 million seed funding round backed by Amex Ventures – its first investment in an African-focused startup – and Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm.

Klasha is a San Francisco and Lagos-based technology company established with the aim of transforming cross-border African commerce.