Vinod Sharma began his career in the late 1990s, just as banking was starting to go digital. Since then, he has worked across business and tech roles in financial services, helping shape forward-looking products like payments and embedded finance, while also strengthening compliance and fraud prevention – always with an eye on where the industry is headed next and what he can do to drive innovation.
From the dawn of his career in the late 1990s, Vinod Sharma, the CITO at M-Pesa Africa, has evolved through various roles in sales, team leadership and eventually into the telecommunications domain. His big turning point came in 2008 when he worked with an early form of a neobank in the UK, sparking his passion for the banking sector.
And now, after years of driving fintech innovation across Asia and Africa, Vinod has returned to Kenya with a bold mission: to build financial solutions that go beyond simple inclusion. Now part of M-Pesa Africa, he is focused on helping underserved communities grow their wealth, not just access it. “We are building a wealth management product that’s useful for a segment that cannot access banks,” Vinod says.
His vision is shaped by two decades of experience working across India, the UK, Southeast Asia and Africa, where he witnessed firsthand the limitations of traditional financial services. Vinod believes that simply offering access to banking or mobile money is no longer enough. He believes that to truly transform economies, financial solutions must help users build wealth, manage risk, and secure their financial futures.
This insight has emerged from his breadth of experience including his early work in banking and observing the early stages of mobile money in Indonesia. It was also informed by his role as CTO in Zimbabwe where he spearheaded the innovative “Save Now, Buy Later” (SNBL) initiative, a model encouraging saving over debt, his work with a digital international money transfer operator and also his focus on wealth, insurance, lending, and home wallets.
Beyond inclusion
“In my view, financial inclusion has been a critical first step, but it’s not the final goal,” says Vinod. “Just giving people access to banking or mobile money isn’t enough if we’re not helping them build financial health and real wealth. That’s why I look at fintech in four quadrants; starting with basic services like cash-in, cash-out, airtime, and P2P payments, but quickly moving beyond that into revenue-generating services like savings, investments, insurance, and remittances, ultimately focusing on wealth creation.”
“If we only stop at access, we are missing the opportunity to empower people to truly change their economic futures. At M-Pesa Africa, we are focused on building an ecosystem that supports every step of that journey, not just opening the door but helping people walk through it and thrive,” he continues.
Building on this philosophy, Vinod is prioritising two key areas. First is the development of accessible financial services tailored for those traditionally excluded from banking services.
“International remittances and wealth management – that is very close to my heart, and I’m deeply rooted in this. How can we build a product which is useful for a segment which cannot enter the bank?” he explains, underscoring the ambition to empower individuals to grow their assets.
The second priority, he states, is changing how easily people can access payment methods. “The payment is basically done in a pull manner where the merchant comes and hunts money from you; you’re not the one who’s pushing the payments. This is where we are looking at how we can help the consumer who doesn’t need to worry whether they are carrying the M-Pesa wallet or a virtual card but can compete with the rest of the payment instruments,” Vinod elaborates, highlighting the need to move beyond simple P2P transfers. He envisions a future where payment is seamless, smart, hyper-personal and inclusive.
Asian inspiration
Vinod’s way of thinking about technology is shaped by his experiences, especially in Asia, where he worked with technologies like cloud computing, machine learning and blockchain. One interesting project was using blockchain for farm-to-table tracking, demonstrating his belief in technology that builds trust and transparency.
This vision was informed by his experience in Asia, where he saw the potential of digital platforms to enable even small-scale investors to participate in wealth-building through initiatives like fractional ownership of digital gold and shares in a fractionalised way.
Reflecting on his motivations, Vinod explains, “I am very passionate about touching people’s lives, where I add value and contribute to improve people. And that’s when I started looking out and luckily this opportunity with M-Pesa Africa came up... I came back to Africa, where I feel more connected to the African people and the culture.”
This deep connection and a belief in the continent’s potential drive his mission at M-Pesa Africa to use the right technology to solve real problems and forge a lasting positive difference in how finance empowers people across Africa, moving beyond mere access to genuine financial health.
Beyond the spreadsheets and algorithms, Vinod says that he lives in the tension between two worlds. “Outside of the razor-sharp logic of mathematics, physics and quant finance, I immerse myself in the messy, luminous beauty of photography. For me, the camera isn’t just a hobby – it’s how I see. Some people balance career and creativity; for me they’re the same fight – to uncover what’s true, whether through a lens or a stochastic model.”
Vinod's photo of Kashmir winter
