Moroccan fintech company Chari has appointed Aurélien Pichon, a former Visa executive, to its board as an independent director. This move comes as Chari expands its services beyond its original B2B commerce and retailer-distribution business to focus on building financial infrastructure for banks, telcos, corporations, and fintechs across Francophone Africa. Pichon previously served as Global Head of Client Operations and Services at Visa, leading a worldwide organization of nearly 5,000 people. He brings over two decades of experience in technology, data, and payments to the role.
Pichon's appointment is significant for Chari, which was founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj and is headquartered in Casablanca. His experience in running large-scale payments operations is expected to support Chari's shift in focus towards financial infrastructure. Pichon spent more than 20 years working across technology, data, and payments, including senior roles at Thomson Reuters and Google before joining Visa. His expertise spans issuers, acquirers, processors, and regulators across emerging markets.
Chari is developing agency banking services that turn neighborhood shops into cash-in, cash-out, and financial-service points. The company expects its agency-banking network to grow from thousands to tens of thousands of points of service. Additionally, Chari is building fintech-infrastructure-as-a-service through its BaaS business, making its financial rails available to banks, telecommunications companies, corporations, fintechs, startups, and other financial institutions. This expansion puts greater emphasis on the infrastructure connecting financial institutions with merchants.
Pichon's board mandate will focus on payments expertise at scale, institutional relationships across Africa and the Middle East, and operating discipline as Chari expands its infrastructure business. His experience in building and running large service organizations will be crucial as Chari prepares to industrialize its infrastructure for third-party clients. Pichon expressed his excitement about joining Chari's board, highlighting the importance of the company's mission to build essential financial infrastructure.
Chari co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ismael Belkhayat emphasized the company's need for someone with direct experience operating payments businesses at the scale it aims to reach. Belkhayat noted that Pichon brings experience from Chari's region as well as other high-growth markets, including Asia and Latin America. Chari is a Y Combinator alumnus and has positioned its BaaS business as a way to make its infrastructure available beyond its own retail network.
The strategy broadens Chari's potential role in the payments ecosystem from distributing financial services through merchants to providing infrastructure that other financial-services providers can use. Pichon's appointment comes as Chari develops its infrastructure business alongside its Super App and agency-banking operations across Francophone Africa. This move is expected to enhance Chari's presence in the region and provide more comprehensive financial services to its clients.
With Pichon's appointment, Chari is well-positioned to achieve its goals in the financial infrastructure space. The company's focus on building essential infrastructure will be crucial in supporting the growth of small and medium businesses in the region. As Pichon noted, the combination of Chari's infrastructure and his experience in payments operations will be instrumental in shaping the next decade of payments in Africa.
Key points
- Aurélien Pichon brings over 20 years of experience in technology, data, and payments to Chari's board.
- Chari expects its agency-banking network to grow from thousands to tens of thousands of points of service.
- Pichon's appointment supports Chari's shift in focus towards building financial infrastructure for banks, telcos, corporations, and fintechs across Francophone Africa.
