Klasha – a San Francisco and Lagos-based technology company transforming cross-border African commerce – has announced the appointment of Nile Younis as chief commercial officer.
Younis will be based in Dubai, UAE and joins Klasha after a successful 10-year career at Mastercard, where he created leading go-to-market strategies across the MEA region for real-time and multi-rail payments interoperability.
Most recently, Younis 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, Younis 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.
The appointment follows Klasha’s recent announcement of a US$4.5 million seed funding round backed by Amex Ventures – its first investment in an African-focused start-up – and Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm.
“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nile Younis as chief commercial officer at Klasha,” said Jess Anuna, Founder and CEO of Klasha. “Younis’ 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.”