Nigeria’s Obinna Ukwuani appointed chief digital officer in Rwandan bank

Obinna Ukwuani, a former executive with Paystack, has been appointed as the chief digital officer at the Bank of Kigali in Rwanda.

Ukwuani’s appointment was announced in a statement on Monday.

He will replace Regis Rugemanshuro who was appointed to head Rwanda Social Security Board in February.

The new role requires Ukwuani to head the digital factory division for product innovation and development in digital banking at the country’s largest commercial bank.

The division is responsible for innovation such as Ikofi, a digital wallet that offers financial services with a focus on Rwandan farmers, agro-dealers, agri-businesses and other stakeholders in the agricultural ecosystem.

Before he joined the bank in June, Ukwuani worked with Paystack, a tech startup involved in facilitating payments, where he worked in the business operations and product management division.

He is an entrepreneur with investments in software development, agricultural processing and education.

With a degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in US and an interest in robotics, Ukwuani founded the Exposure Robotics Academy where STEM programs are taught to secondary school pupils between 2011 and 2014.

The academy is said to have educated 100 students and received significant funding from companies like Shell Oil and Interswitch.

In 2016, he founded NESA by Makers with a focus to teach web development and other soft skills to youths.

Ukwuani is also the founder and chief executive officer of Brük Oil Mills, a palm oil processing company in Nigeria where he currently oversees factory development and leads plantation development efforts.