Top Inspiring Business Leaders of Excellence Driving Nigeria’s Economic growth: Interswitch Group

Dr. Cherry Eromosele the Executive Vice President & Group Chief and  Communications Officer of Interswitch

To Celebrate Inspiring business leaders of Excellence driving Nigeria’s Economic growth Chioma kachi Ewelike sat with the professional par excellence in person of Dr. Cherry Eromosele the Executive Vice President & Group Chief and  Communications Officer of Interswitch to discuss business so far.

1. Tell us about what inspired the creation of Interswitch and how has this Vision evolved over time.

When people ask about Interswitch and what inspired our creation, I often say: we were born out of a simple but urgent question “Why should moving money digitally – and getting access to money just-in-time from the bank be so hard in Nigeria?”

Back in 2002, our founder who remains Group CEO today, Mitchell Elegbe, saw firsthand how fragmented, cash-heavy and exclusionary the payment landscape was. People wasted hours in queues, businesses struggled to collect and reconcile payments, and the promise of a truly connected African economy seemed distant. Interswitch emerged as a bold response: to build the rails that would move value as seamlessly and reliably as information travels across a network.

At the heart of that decision was not technology for its own sake, but a deep conviction that if we could connect people to their money in smarter ways, we would unlock opportunity at scale, transforming how we live, work, trade and thrive.

Over the years, we’ve moved from enabling ATM and card transactions to powering a broad digital commerce ecosystem: across payments, Verve, Quickteller, and our enterprise solutions, serving individuals, SMEs, large corporations, and governments. The ambition has also grown beyond Nigeria, into a pan-African vision: to help build a truly interoperable, inclusive payment fabric for the continent.

What remains constant is our obsession with impact. Today, we’re not just asking how to process the next transaction faster; we’re asking how to create the next million entrepreneurs, how to power the next wave of African innovation, and how to make digital payments so intuitive and ubiquitous that they quietly enable progress in the background of everyday life.

Interswitch started as an answer to a pain point. It has become a platform for possibility—and we are still at the beginning of what Africa can achieve when its payment infrastructure is not a barrier, but a catalyst for growth

2. What do you believe sets Interswitch apart from other payment Technology Companies on the Continent?

What sets Interswitch apart is not just what we do, but how long, how deeply and how intentionally we’ve been doing it.

First, we are builders of rails, not just riders of trends. From as far back as 2002, we invested in the hard, often invisible work of creating the underlying infrastructure; switching, connectivity, interoperability, which many of today’s solutions quietly run on. Long before “fintech” became a buzzword, Interswitch was already in the engine room, wiring together banks, ATMs, cards and, eventually, digital channels.

Second, our perspective is end-to-end and ecosystem-wide. We don’t see payments as a single product or channel; we see it as an integrated fabric connecting people, businesses, and governments. That’s why our portfolio spans consumer services like Quickteller and Verve, enterprise and government solutions, and the core infrastructure that underpins them. We operate at the intersection where policy, technology, and everyday life converge.

Third, our differentiation is rooted in resilience and trust. Processing millions of transactions daily, in some of the most complex, infrastructure-challenged yet extremely dynamic markets in the world, has shaped our culture around reliability, security and scale. For our partners and customers, Interswitch is not just an enabler; we are a backbone they can depend on.

Fourth, we are proudly African in origin and in orientation. Our solutions are not imported templates; they are designed from lived experience, responding to uniquely African realities: power, connectivity, informality, regulatory nuance, and the diversity of our markets. This local insight, combined with global standards, gives us a distinct edge.

Finally, what truly sets us apart is our sense of purpose. Inspiring Africa to Greatness through innovation, value-creation and excellence. We don’t see payments just as an industry; we see it as an instrument. An instrument for inclusion, for entrepreneurship, for digitising value chains, for unlocking intra-African trade and enabling the next generation of innovators. We’re not just trying to win in the market; we’re trying to move the market forward.

Interswitch is different because we are not only building technology; we are helping to re-architect how value flows across Africa; boldly, consistently, and with an eye on the long-term transformation of the continent’s economic story.

3. How do you balance Innovation with regulation in a market as dynamic as Africa

At Interswitch, we really don’t see balancing innovation with regulation in Africa as a ‘tug-of-war’ for us; No…it’s a partnership question: How do we innovate in a way that strengthens trust, stability and inclusion in the ecosystem?

From my vantage point, there are three key principles.

First, we innovate with regulators, not around them. Payments touch the very core of national and continental economic stability. So, we engage early, we listen carefully, and we co-create where possible. We see regulation not as a brake, but as a guardrail that protects consumers, builds confidence and ultimately expands the market we all serve.

Second, we design with African realities and future ambition in mind. Our markets are dynamic: young, digital, entrepreneurial; but they’re also nuanced: infrastructure gaps, informal economies, evolving policies. Our job is to build solutions that are robust enough to meet regulatory requirements today, yet flexible and scalable enough to power what tomorrow will demand. That’s why we invest heavily in compliance, security and risk management at the same depth as we invest in product and experience design.

Third, we communicate with radical clarity and responsibility. Part of my role is ensuring that stakeholders -customers, partners, policymakers, the public – understand not just what we’re building, but why and how it is safe, compliant and beneficial. When innovation is clearly understood, it is far easier for regulation to evolve in constructive ways.

Ultimately, in Africa’s fast-moving landscape, sustainable innovation is not about moving fast and breaking things; it’s about moving purposefully and building things that last. Our north star at Interswitch is progress that is both bold and responsible – where every new solution advances inclusion and convenience, without compromising the trust on which the entire payments ecosystem depends.

4. What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned as a Fintech leader in emerging markets.

As a pioneer and fintech leader in emerging markets, a few lessons have become very clear to us over time:

1. Innovation must be context-first, not technology-first.
   What works in one part of the world cannot simply be copied and pasted into Africa. You must start with a deep understanding of people’s realities: informal economies, cash dominance, infrastructure gaps, cultural nuances, then build solutions that fit into their lives, not the other way round.
2. Trust is the real currency.
   In payments, people are not just giving you their money; they are giving you their confidence. Reliability, transparency, security and responsiveness matter as much as product features. One public failure can erase years of quiet success, so resilience isn’t optional; frankly, it’s existential.
3. Regulation is a strategic relationship, and not necessarily a constraint (though it could be to an extent).
   In emerging markets, the rules are often evolving alongside the innovation. I’ve learned that it’s better to lean in, engage, educate and collaborate with regulators and policymakers. When they understand your intent and your risk controls, they’re more likely to see the bigger picture being painted and support/enable sustainable innovation.
4. Scale is meaningless without inclusion.
   It’s easy to chase numbers: users, transactions, valuations. But true impact in emerging markets is measured by how many people move from the margins into the mainstream of economic life: SMEs getting paid faster, young entrepreneurs accessing digital tools, governments collecting revenue more efficiently, consumers transacting with dignity and convenience.
5. Culture and purpose are competitive advantages.
   In fast-moving markets, strategy will change, products will pivot, but a clear sense of purpose and a strong, values-driven culture keep teams grounded. At Interswitch, our overarching purpose; to inspire Africa to greatness through innovation-driven payment solutions has been a compass when the environment is volatile.
6. Long-term thinking wins in a short-term world.
   Building rails, not just apps, takes patience. You invest ahead of the curve, endure cycles of hype and scepticism, and keep showing up. The markets that once questioned digital payments are now shaped by them. The lesson: stay committed to the long view, even when the short term feels noisy.

Ultimately, leading in fintech across emerging markets has taught me that we are not merely building products or platforms; we are, in many ways, helping to rewrite the script of economic participation. That responsibility demands not just intelligence and agility, but humility, empathy and a deep respect for the people whose lives we aim to improve.

5. How Does Interswitch Infrastructure support business operating across Multiple African Countries and Currencies.

For businesses operating across multiple African countries and currencies, Interswitch functions as both the rails and the connective tissue of digital commerce.

Our infrastructure is built to:

• Handle multi-currency, multi-market complexity behind the scenes, so businesses can offer customers a seamless, localized payment experience at the front end.
• Ensure interoperability across channels: cards, accounts, mobile, online – so value can move efficiently across borders and platforms.

Critically, we don’t do this alone. Our longstanding partnerships with global schemes/partners like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others allow African businesses to plug into worldwide acceptance, while still leveraging local intelligence and resilience.

At the same time, our deep relationships with pan-African financial institutions such as UBA, Ecobank and other key financial services players mean we can co-create and scale solutions rapidly across markets, integrating switching, issuing, acquiring, and digital services into a coherent, continent-wide proposition.

In essence, Interswitch gives businesses one integrated backbone to serve many countries, many currencies, and many customer segments reliably, securely and at scale.

6. What role do you think developers play in shaping the next generation of payment innovation?

From our standpoint as one of Africa’s earliest investors into the tech talent ecosystem and pipeline, developers, to us, are no longer just “building features” in payments; they are architects of how value will move in the future.

They play three critical roles:

1. Translators of real-life friction into elegant solutions
   Developers sit, arguably, closest to the pain points – failed checkouts, poor UX, fragmented channels, and they convert these into code, APIs and products that make payments feel almost invisible to the end user.
2. Integrators of the ecosystem
   The future of payments is not a single app; it’s an interconnected mesh of banks, fintechs, telcos, merchants, and platforms. Developers stitch this ecosystem together—using APIs, SDKs and standards, to create seamless, interoperable experiences across borders, devices and use cases.
3. Guardians of trust and security
   Increasingly, in today’s contemporary tech context, the reality is that every line of code can either strengthen or weaken consumer confidence. In emerging markets especially, developers are at the frontline of fraud prevention, data protection and system resilience. Their decisions determine whether people feel safe to go digital.

Summarily, here at Interswitch, we see developers as co-creators of Africa’s payment future, not just users of our infrastructure. The next generation of payment innovation will be shaped at the intersection of developer creativity, open platforms and robust rails, and our job is to ensure they have the tools, support and ecosystem to build boldly, securely and at scale!

7. What is your approach to talent development and building a strong team at InterswitchTalent development sits formally within the remit of my colleagues in Human Resources and Talent, nonetheless from where I sit, a few principles are non‑negotiable:

First, we hire for purpose and potential, not just proficiency. Payments in Africa is not a “nine-to-five” space; it demands people who are intellectually curious, resilient and genuinely excited about solving hard problems at scale.

Second, we create room for stretch. Some of the most impactful leaders at Interswitch grew by being trusted with assignments that were slightly or in many instances, significantly bigger than their comfort zones – new markets, cross-functional projects, major brand or product transformations, backed by coaching, not micromanagement.

Third, we treat culture as infrastructure. Just as our payment rails quietly power commerce, our values; performance, innovation, collaboration, ethics – they quietly power how teams show up, debate, decide and deliver. Essentially, my role in Marketing & Corporate Communications is to continually reinforce that shared story: who we are, why our work matters, and how each person connects to the larger mission.

Finally, we see people as long-term partners, not short-term capacity. In a high-velocity industry, it’s tempting to think in quarters. We try to think in careers: investing in learning, exposure and mobility so that as Interswitch grows, our people grow with it.

In essence, building a strong team at Interswitch is about more than filling roles; it is about curating a community of builders who are technically excellent, emotionally grounded, and deeply aligned with the idea that payments can be a catalyst for Africa’s progress!