CEO of AfricaNenda Foundation, Robert Ochola has described the Archie Hesse as “an aficionado” in the payments space in Africa, as Archies bows out after 18 years of stellar performance and dedicated service to the space across the continent.
AfricaNenda Foundation is an Africa-based, African-led nonprofit working with central banks and payment ecosystem stakeholders to accelerate the design, development, launch, and improvement of inclusive instant payment systems across the continent.
As part of its work, AfricaNenda puts together that State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) in Africa report every year to help stakeholders measure the progress made so far and to guide them towards achieving mature inclusive instant payment systems everywhere on the continent by the year 2030.
As part of their work, the require a lot of collaboration from central bank and instant payment systems like GhIPSS. Over the years, GhIPSS, under the leadership of Archie, have not only been very open to AfricaNenda, but also been one of the few high performers and a shining example for others on the continent.
Robert Ochola noted that Archie’s openness and willingness to share his vast knowledge and experience to drive financial inclusion in Africa is something everyone in the payment ecosystem in Africa must learn from.
“Although we shall miss him we know (and I told him) that he will never be truly allowed to retire cause our job of driving financial inclusion has just started and we need him on this journey,” he said.
He thanked Archie for being a mentor and a dear friend.
On her part, the affable Deputy CEO of AfricaNenda Foundation, Sabine Mensah described Archie as “a leader who walks the talk”, saying that upon meeting AfricaNenda in 2022, Arhcie immediately supported the initiative to contribute to the the SIIPS report in Africa and volunteered to showcase GhIPSS in this breakthrough report.
She said Archie has since then, been relentless in contributing to impacting the growth of inclusive instant payment systems across Africa.
Sabine Mensah said Archie’s contribution to AfricaNenda’s noble agenda has been invaluable, adding that he has devoted time, shared expertise, supported knowledge sharing and led in building relevant solutions to drive financial inclusion in Africa and beyond.
“He was particularly instrumental in enabling several learning visits to central banks and IPS operators across the continent to share GhIPSS’ experience and lessons learned on their journey to inclusive payments,” she said.
Sabine Mensah said she will miss Archie’s inspirational leadership to drive relevant innovations in the African Payment ecosystem, but she wished him the best in the next chapter of his life.
