Commerce

Paratus has appointed Neill Nortje as country manager of Zambia. (Image source: Paratus)

Pan-African telecommunications provider Paratus has named Neill Nortje as the new Country Manager for Paratus Zambia, following the promotion of Marius van Vuuren to the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Paratus Group

Nortje has been part of Paratus Zambia for the past two years, initially establishing the company's consumer business before advancing to Operations Manager. During his time with the company, he has played a key role in strengthening operations and expanding services. His promotion provides leadership continuity as Paratus Zambia continues to build on its market presence and pursue its next phase of growth.

He brings broad telecommunications expertise gained across Africa, with experience covering wholesale voice and data services, enterprise connectivity, cloud solutions, data centre operations and network management.

Prior to joining Paratus, Nortje held senior leadership roles at Wingu Africa, Telecom Italia and NeoTel, where he developed extensive expertise in wholesale telecommunications, pan-African data centre infrastructure and regional connectivity.

"Paratus has always stood out to me as a wonderful company with strong brand reputation in Zambia," says Nortje. "Not only is it a company that gets things done – and done right – but it has also built an outstanding reputation in Zambia, supported by an exceptional team and a strong customer-first culture. Marius leaves behind a fantastic foundation and I relish the challenge of building on the company’s success as we continue to grow and strengthen our market position."

Looking ahead, Nortje believes Zambia's digital economy is well positioned for continued expansion, supported by a stable economic environment, increased investment and rising demand for dependable digital infrastructure and connectivity services. He says the company's immediate priorities include expanding network capacity within Zambia and across neighbouring markets, strengthening its enterprise portfolio and reinforcing the country's position as a regional connectivity hub while continuing to deliver the high levels of reliability and customer service associated with the Paratus brand.

"Our immediate priorities are to continue expanding network capacity into Zambia and beyond, strengthening our enterprise offering and further developing Zambia's role as a regional connectivity hub. We also want to continue enhancing the customer experience by delivering the reliability, resilience and service excellence for which Paratus is credited."

Enterprise solutions will remain central to the company's strategy as more organisations migrate to cloud platforms and adapt to evolving data localisation requirements. Nortje says Paratus Zambia is well placed to meet these needs through its advanced infrastructure, locally hosted cloud services, Tier III data centre in Lusaka and the group's high-quality African network.

He also believes there is considerable scope to strengthen Zambia's digital landscape by improving local internet peering and encouraging closer cooperation among network operators.

"Too much internet traffic still travels outside Zambia before returning to local users. By improving local connectivity and keeping more content closer to the users here in Zambia, we can deliver a faster, more resilient and more affordable internet service for businesses and communities alike."

Beyond business growth, Nortje is committed to ensuring technology delivers wider social benefits. He points to initiatives such as providing Starlink connectivity to a previously unconnected rural school in Zambia as examples of how internet access can improve educational opportunities and support community development.

"Connectivity has the power to change lives," he says. "Whether it's enabling businesses to compete globally or giving children access to educational resources they never had before, technology creates opportunities that have a lasting and positive impact."

Commenting on the appointment, Chief Executive Officer of Paratus Group, Schalk Erasmus says: "Neill combines deep industry expertise with an excellent understanding of the Zambian market and our business. Having already played an important role in Paratus Zambia's recent success, we are confident he will lead the company to yet more growth and new horizons."

BoC and Scale launch virtual prepaid Mastercard cards to simplify payments and financial access for African creators. (Image source: BoC)

BoC Technologies Limited has partnered with Scale, Africa's card-issuing orchestration platform, to introduce virtual prepaid Mastercard cards for creators and creative businesses ahead of the launch of its platform in the third quarter of 2026

The collaboration enables BoC to integrate a card layer into its platform through Scale's infrastructure, allowing creators to access, manage and spend available funds more easily. The programme will operate on the Mastercard network, with UBA Kenya serving as the regulated sponsor bank.

The initiative is designed to address the financial challenges faced by Africa's growing creator economy, where professionals across sectors such as music, film, design, gaming, photography, fashion and digital commerce often receive income from multiple sources, currencies and payment cycles. As a result, creators frequently experience delays between earning revenue and being able to use those funds to support their businesses.

BoC aims to bridge this gap through its financial intelligence engine, SIBWE, and AI-powered copilot, MC Harvey, which are designed to help creators understand the value of their work, manage their finances and improve access to capital. The addition of virtual prepaid cards provides a practical way for users to access and spend funds once they become available.

"Africa’s creative economy is producing real commercial value, but too much of that value remains invisible to the systems that serve small businesses," said Syed Raza, founder and CEO of BoC.

"Our mission is to connect capital with creativity, helping creators see the value they are building, manage it with confidence and access capital when they need it most. This partnership with Scale gives creators a practical first touchpoint with that vision from day one."

Scale said the partnership reflects its focus on expanding modern financial infrastructure for Africa's fast-growing fintech sector.

Barbara Woollams, head of partnerships at Scale, stated, "Africa's creators are building real brands and businesses, but are underserved by a financial infrastructure built for traditional business. Scale exists to put modern card infrastructure within reach of the fintechs, solving exactly that. We're proud to power the card programme at the heart of BoC's ecosystem to give creators a fast, simple way to access and spend what they earn, and to give BoC the foundation to scale."

The collaboration is centred in Kenya, where BoC recently obtained fintech certification from the Nairobi International Financial Centre Authority (NIFCA). The certification provides the company with a regulatory foundation to launch its services in Kenya before expanding its creator-focused financial platform across other African markets.

Mastercard leadership reshuffle strengthens global customer focus

Mastercard has announced a series of leadership updates designed to strengthen execution, deepen customer engagement and support the company’s continued growth strategy

The changes are intended to reinforce the company’s customer-centric approach by bringing customer-facing functions together under a unified structure. According to Mastercard, the move will enhance coordination, accountability and support across markets while ensuring customer perspectives remain central to the development of products and services.

Effective 3 August 2026, several senior executives will assume new roles across the organisation.

Ling Hai, currently president of Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, will become chief financial officer, succeeding Sachin Mehra. Mastercard said Ling Hai brings extensive operating experience across international markets, deep customer and product knowledge, and a strong commercial perspective to the position.

Sachin Mehra will transition from chief financial officer to the newly created role of chief business officer. In this position, he will oversee country operations worldwide and lead Sales Enablement, Global Partnerships and Digital Commercialization under a unified global go-to-market structure. The company highlighted his operational discipline, financial expertise and commercial acumen as key strengths for the role.

Linda Kirkpatrick, currently president of the Americas, will become chief services officer, succeeding Craig Vosburg. Mastercard noted her role in expanding the company’s engagements beyond payments, strengthening partnerships and growing services offerings for financial institutions, merchants, fintechs and digital partners.

Dimi Dosis, president of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, will assume the role of chief commercial payments officer, leading Commercial & New Payment Flows. He succeeds Raj Seshadri and brings significant regional and enterprise leadership experience, alongside a strong track record of driving growth and executing global strategies at the local level.

Jorn Lambert, chief product officer, will continue to lead Consumer Payments, bringing together Mastercard’s stablecoin, agentic and core payments activities.

Craig Vosburg will move from chief services officer to vice chair, serving as a global ambassador for the company while supporting regional leadership teams in developing senior stakeholder relationships.

Raj Seshadri, currently chief commercial payments officer, will become senior strategic advisor to the CEO, focusing on senior client engagement, key partnerships and emerging strategic priorities.

Meanwhile, Tim Murphy, vice chair, will retire from Mastercard in October as previously planned.

“Mastercard has built strong momentum by staying close to customers and anticipating where their needs are headed. That drives our innovation and how we deliver meaningful solutions for their customers,” said Michael Miebach, chief executive officer of Mastercard. “These leadership updates build on our strategy by aligning our team to that opportunity — strengthening execution, advancing a more connected customer experience and positioning the company for our continued growth.”