Cellulant Names Darren Makarem as New Finance Chief

Cellulant has appointed Darren Makarem, former Agoda CFO, as its new finance chief, completing a leadership overhaul as the Kenyan payments processor renews pan-African growth plans. Makarem joins from Agoda, where as Global CFO he oversaw a payments network managing over $12 billion in annual transaction volumes. His experience in multi-currency settlement and high-uptime payment infrastructure gives him a rare "customer-side" understanding of the payments business, according to CEO Peter O’Toole. The hire follows February’s appointment of Michael Muriuki as chief product and technology officer, seen as rebuilding Cellulant’s executive spine after leadership exits and strategic recalibration. Cellulant, processing over 4.5 million daily transactions and profitable since 2024, is positioning to capture a larger share of Africa’s digital payments, projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. Makarem’s background could prove useful as Cellulant experiments with alternative settlement rails and expands cross-border payments. His priority is ensuring financial operations are innovative, agile, and customer-centric.

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/03/18/cellulant-gires-former-agoda-cfo-expansion/