Visa Appoints Aminata Kane as Head of Western and Central Africa
Global payments company Visa has chosen Aminata Kane, who was born in Senegal, to become the Senior Vice President and Head of Western and Central Africa. Her new job will officially start on September 4, 2025.
This decision is part of a big change happening inside Visa. The company is now setting up four major offices in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Kinshasa (DRC), and Lagos (Nigeria) to better manage its work in the region.
Aminata Kane will be based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and she will lead a new team that will handle business in 23 different countries. These include big economies like Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, and also smaller or growing markets in places like the Sahel and the Congo Basin.
Helping Young People and Women Through Tech
Before joining Visa, Aminata Kane helped create the Orange Foundation and the Orange Digital Centre in Sierra Leone. These centers give young people and women the chance to learn digital and tech skills. Visa says that Kane has always cared about helping people grow into leaders and improving their digital skills.
Why Visa Chose Her
Andrew Torre, Visa’s Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said that Kane’s skills and leadership in digital financial services will be very helpful. He believes she will help Visa reach more people and bring more digital payment services to places that don’t have enough access right now.
He said,
“We’re happy she’s joining us. Her smart planning and leadership will help us create more useful, fair, and modern digital payment systems in this fast-growing region.”
Why This Region Matters
Visa is expanding in West and Central Africa. Many people in these areas use mobile money (payments made through phones). This makes the region full of potential. However, there are still many problems like:
Poor banking systems
Slow or outdated technology
Few platforms to support payments
Small businesses (SMEs) with little access to banks
Visa wants to solve these problems by:
Building local partnerships
Creating inclusive digital tools
Supporting small digital startups through its Fintech Accelerator Program
Teaching people about cybersecurity and financial literacy
Visa also promised to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to support its goals.
Aminata Kane’s Experience
Aminata Kane is well-known in Africa’s digital finance and telecoms industry. She has over 10 years of experience working with Orange, a major phone and money service provider in Africa and the Middle East.
She recently worked as the Regional CEO of Orange Money Group, where she led mobile money services in 17 African countries. She also started a Digital Center in Sierra Leone to train young people and women in technology.
Aminata studied at HEC Paris and the MIT Sloan School of Management. She worked at Goldman Sachs and as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Paris. There, she focused on helping businesses grow and improve.
She has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has been listed as one of the 100 most influential female CEOs in Africa.
A Message from Aminata Kane
Aminata Kane said she is excited about her new role. She said:
“This is a special chance for me to help build a digital world that truly shows the talent and dreams of the people in West and Central Africa. I’m proud to join Visa at such an important time. I’m ready to work with teams, partners, and governments to bring better payment services that support growth and opportunity for everyone.”
She plans to continue her work to make digital and financial services easier to access across the region.
