Nigerian fintech company, Flutterwave, has appointed Oneal Bhambani as the new Chief Financial Officer ave. Oneal comes to the company from American Express and Kabbage, where he oversaw large-scale fintech businesses and led the sale of Kabbage and its integration into American Express’ Global Commercial Services unit.
Flutterwave is experiencing significant expansion, having just closed a $250 million Series D fundraising round, valuing the company at more than $3 billion.
As Chief Financial Officer, Oneal will play a critical role in enabling the company’s growth by implementing best-in-class discipline, operational controls, and financial rigor.
Oneal was in charge of all of Kabbage’s financial operations and services, including IPO-ready financial and operational controls. Following the American Express acquisition, he served as CFO and Head of Capital Markets for the Kabbage business segment, which provides credit, banking, and payments solutions to American Express’ commercial customers through April 2022.
Oneal was a significant shareholder in capital allocation and led critical strategic initiatives for the firm both before and after the acquisition. Previously, Oneal worked as a growth-stage investor at The TCW Group (a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group) and Riverwood Capital. At UBS, he began his career in investment banking.
During this period of expansion, Flutterwave has added to its Global Finance team by bringing in executives with extensive experience in controllership, treasury, and tax. Rebecca Mendel, a former Kabbage Controller, and Daniel Eidson, a former Kabbage Head of Treasury and Tax, were hired. Rebecca and Daniel both report directly to Oneal.
“I am excited to welcome Oneal to Flutterwave. His track record of operating finance to enable scale and innovation with listed company standard financial controls will help us accelerate our growth as we continue to meet the needs of our expanding global customer base. I am also looking forward to working with Oneal on deal-related initiatives, given the number of inorganic opportunities we are seeing in today’s market environment.” Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said.
“It is a rare opportunity to join a high-scale, de facto market leader in one of the fastest growing markets in the world. I am looking forward to partnering with Flutterwave’s team to enable solutions for our customers in Africa and across the globe. I fully expect to apply best-in-class strategies learned from my tenures at American Express and Kabbage.” Oneal Bhambani said.