Online video-on-demand service Showmax has named tech and product executive Emma Gichonge as General Manager of Operations for East Africa.
Gichonge is a qualified leader and boasts of building high-performance teams, a skill she honed working across multiple industries and countries.
She led the implementation of mobile money solutions across Africa and Asia while working at Yutap, a start-up tech firm.
She also worked at telco giant Safaricom where she led the migration of the M-Pesa mobile money platform and pioneered an Enterprise Project Management Office at the telco.
“With our ambition to be Africa’s number one streamer, we’re very happy to welcome Emma, whose wealth of experience will serve our customers in the key East African market,” said Showmax Chief Operating Officer Joe Heshu.
Most recently, Gichonge served as the Managing Director (MD) at MultiChoice Malawi, responsible for several commercial initiatives in the country.
“Showmax is a bold business and is in an exciting stage in its story – moving onto the globally scaled Peacock platform, increasing its loved local content slate and introducing affordable new plans. With my passion for innovation, and for East Africa, I’m looking forward to building the business with the Kenyan Showmax team,” commented Gichonge on her new appointment.
“We’re already hard at work with our partners Safaricom to re-integrate in-app M-Pesa payments with our new technology. Currently, customers can pay using M-Pesa USSD (*375#) but full M-Pesa options will launch soon,” she added.
Gichonge holds a Masters degree (IT Management) and a Bachelor of Science degree (Information Technology).
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