Anne Kinuthia Otieno has stepped down as managing director of Airtel Money Kenya after nearly five years, leaving the mobile money business just months before parent company Airtel Africa plans to list the unit in London.
- +Airtel Money Kenya chief exits months before planned London listing
Her departure comes weeks after Airtel Kenya appointed a new managing director and days after Safaricom announced the exit of its top financial services executive, extending a wave of leadership changes at Kenya’s two largest mobile money providers.
Her departure comes weeks after Airtel Kenya appointed a new managing director and days after Safaricom announced the exit of its top financial services executive, extending a wave of leadership changes at Kenya’s two largest mobile money providers.
Kinuthia Otieno announced her departure in a LinkedIn post on Saturday, saying she would soon begin a new chapter but did not disclose her next role.
“Together with an incredible team, we strengthened Airtel Money’s position in the market,” she wrote, citing an expansion of its merchant and agent network, new partnerships and an overhaul of its core mobile money platform.
She joined Airtel in August 2021 after more than a decade in banking, including senior roles in governance and sales distribution at Absa Group and more than seven years at Barclays.
During her tenure, Airtel Money significantly narrowed the gap with market leader M-PESA, albeit from a low base. Airtel Money held just 3.1% of Kenya’s mobile money subscriptions in September 2021, shortly after she took over, compared with M-PESA’s 96.8%, according to Communications Authority of Kenya data.
By March 2026, Airtel Money’s share had climbed to 10.9%, while M-PESA’s had fallen to 89.1%. Kenya had 53.4 million active mobile money subscriptions at the end of the period, up 3.9% from the previous quarter, bringing the penetration rate to 100.1%.
The leadership change comes at a pivotal moment for Airtel Africa. On July 23, the company confirmed London as its preferred venue for the initial public offering (IPO) of its mobile money business, targeting a listing in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and market conditions.
Airtel Money had 56.5 million customers across Africa at the end of June, up 23.3% from a year earlier, while annualised transaction value exceeded $245 billion, according to Airtel Africa’s first-quarter results.
Kinuthia Otieno’s exit follows a leadership change at Airtel Kenya’s telecommunications business. On July 1, Djibril Tobe succeeded Ashish Malhotra as managing director of Airtel Kenya after previously leading the company’s operations in Congo Brazzaville and Chad. Malhotra moved to head Indus Towers’ African operations.
Airtel Money Kenya has operated independently from Airtel Kenya since 2022, when the group transferred its mobile money operations to a standalone company regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya.
Her departure coincides with leadership changes at rival Safaricom. Esther Waititu, the company’s chief financial services officer, is due to leave on July 31 after nearly three years in the role. Safaricom announced on July 20 that Boniface Mungania would serve as interim chief financial services officer. The move follows the earlier departure of Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, former managing director of M-PESA Africa, who has since joined Absa Group.
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