African funds know-how firm Cellulant has named Darren Makarem as its new Chief Monetary Officer (CFO), bolstering its government bench because it pushes to deepen its place as the popular funds accomplice for international and regional enterprises working throughout the continent.
Makarem brings over 20 years of expertise in digital finance and fintech, with a observe document that spans institutional accounting, international platform finance, and digital belongings.
His appointment comes as Cellulant scales off a milestone yr. The corporate achieved profitability in 2024 and now processes greater than 4.5 million transactions each day throughout its African funds infrastructure.
The rent is notable for what Makarem brings past the numbers. As former International CFO at journey know-how agency Agoda, he oversaw a funds community processing roughly USD 12 billion in annual transaction quantity, navigating multi-currency settlement, conversion fee optimisation, and the operational calls for of high-uptime fee infrastructure at scale.
“Darren doesn’t simply perceive the numbers; he understands the shopper,” stated Cellulant CEO Peter O’Toole. “His expertise as a high-volume consumer of fee providers at Agoda provides him a novel perspective on what companies must develop. He’ll leverage these insights to construct a finance centre of excellence, making certain our monetary operations are as revolutionary, agile, and customer-centric as our merchandise.”
Makarem is an ACA-qualified skilled who started his profession at EY in England earlier than incomes an MBA from the Kellogg College of Administration. He has since held senior finance roles throughout complicated regulatory environments, together with serving as APAC and LATAM CFO at Binance and most just lately as CEO of OnRamp, expertise in digital belongings and controlled enterprise fashions that Cellulant says might be related because it explores new fee and settlement frameworks.
“What excites me about Cellulant is the standard of what has already been constructed, a deep fee community, robust enterprise partnerships, and an actual concentrate on buyer worth,” stated Makarem. “My precedence is to make sure the enterprise has the monetary self-discipline, perception, and operational assist to maneuver quick, keep daring, and maintain delivering.”
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