MDP, the leading issuing & payment processing powerhouse in the Middle East and Africa, has appointed Frank Molla as the Managing Director of MDP Africa. In this role, Molla will lead MDP’s efforts to deepen growth and explore new and localized opportunities for scale and partnerships on the continent. His priorities will be to further develop MDP’s strategic direction in Africa, steer the next growth phase, and build increased value through sustained excellence and innovation.
Over the last 30 years, MDP has provided card and payment processing solutions for banks, fintechs, and other businesses across different markets and sectors in the Middle East and North Africa. By leveraging a blend of innovative payment solutions and strategic partnerships, MDP has simplified payments for over 1,000 companies and more than 300 million people. The company seeks to extend its impact by becoming the partner of choice, covering end-to-end card issuing & payment processing solutions for banks, fintechs, telcos, corporates, and challenger banks across Africa. Molla’s appointment is expected to help achieve this goal as his leadership will combine deep financial services, technology, and market experience with MDP’s groundbreaking technology to deploy market-leading solutions in Africa.
Speaking about Molla’s appointment, Ahmed Nafie, CEO at MDP, said, “Frank’s extensive experience and impressive track record in the Payments industry and his commitment to excellence align perfectly with our vision for the future. His appointment further underscores MDP’s commitment to enhancing its presence in Africa and advancing our mission – of simplifying payment experiences for Banks, Fintechs & SMEs – and accelerating embedded financial solutions across the African Continent. We look forward to Frank’s leadership & contributions as we continue to drive growth & innovations in the payments industry across Africa.”
“With Frank, We have a brilliant opportunity to handshake one of the foremost business leaders in financial technology with a compelling Africa macro-opportunity that we believe will create value and drive increased innovation for the continent’s payment market. We are delighted to have Frank holding the reins, given his track record of scaling organizations and focusing teams to capitalize on market opportunities and valuable business outcomes.” Ahmed Nafie added.
“I am confident that MDP is still in the early stages of forging improved and exciting payment opportunities in Africa, and I believe that we are well positioned to create and capture meaningful value in Africa’s predicted Fintech growth of $65 billion by 2030. I am excited to work with an exceptional team to entrench MDP’s value through partnerships, build out the next level of growth that the continent presents, and radically accelerate our Africa footprint,” noted Molla on his appointment.
Frank Molla joins MDP as an accomplished executive with two decades of experience in the payments industry, which has seen him work in diverse markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Prior to joining MDP, Molla was Managing Director and Head of sub-Saharan Africa at BPC Banking Technologies and coordinated the company’s digital and technology expansion in the region. Before that, he drove Mastercard’s business strategy in Eastern Africa through innovation and technology to build payment ecosystems and solutions.
Molla was also once at American Express in Spain and the United Kingdom, where he led the efforts to identify, grow, and defend the company’s market share in sub-Saharan Africa in the corporate multinational space and bank partnerships. At the Barclays Bank of Kenya, now Absa, where he began his career, Molla held several senior commercial manager roles. Certified as a master negotiator by Harvard and Strathmore Business School, Frank currently sits on two boards. He is the Digital Strategy Lead Advisor for the Digital Economy Advisory Council (DEAC), Zanzibar e-Government, and a board member in charge of Business Strategy Development and Information Technology at LPC Global Logistics.
