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Not only has he worked for the world’s leaders in digital payments at senior levels, but he has also done so at a scale. Molla is presently the Managing Director & Head of Sub-Saharan Africa for Banking Payments Commerce (BPC)- a region, covering 22 countries in Subsaharan Africa.
Banking, Payments and Commerce (BPC) is a Switzerland headquartered global financial technology company that builds payment solutions for Central banks, commercial (neo)banks, issuers, acquirers, PSPs, transport operators and governments in over 100 countries across 5 continents.
At BPC, Molla is leading the setting up of a BPC team while at the same time, leading the execution of key projects across the continent. BPC, has implemented over 30 national switches globally and 10 of these are in Africa where Frank is part of the team managing this. Some of the African countries where BPC has set up switches, include Malawi, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
A national payment switch acts as a front and back-end processor for payments that support various payment networks. Usually hosted by a country’s central bank, a national payment switch is robust and scalable enough to handle current and future needs and innovations, as well as meets very high standards of security and fraud management. They are an integral part of every country’s financial services sector.
Although he is relatively new at the BPC- he joined in February 2021, he is already making waves. He is a winner of the Winner BPC president’s Award 2021 for high professional skills, responsibility and a creative approach to business tasks. On behalf of BPC, he was also awarded the Digital Banking Award East Africa for thought leadership around the future of digital leadership by DigiBank. DigiBank is a thought leader and hosts a series of international industry engagements on digital banking.
Building a firm bridge between real life and how mankind banks, transacts and pays
“Growing up I was always amazed by how technology created a business environment in which time and distance are less important, I realized very early on in my career that I am driven by seeking solutions to problems using technology and bridging real life to digital,” he speaks about his passion for technology.
“I’m a believer in bridging real life to digital to impact how we bank, transact and pay. Developing Africa with the right relationships and partnerships. I believe in Linking & Bridging Real Life needs to Smart Digital solutions Across Africa to build meaningful ecosystems,” he adds.
Before joining BPC, between 2016 and 2021, he worked with Mastercard as Director of Business Development in Eastern Africa & Growth Markets- a region of 11 countries that includes Uganda. He was part of the team that built and led the Mastercard business in Eastern Africa, expanding revenue in many folds in five years.
Closer to home, Molla, jointly with the Uganda Bankers Association, under the leadership of Fabian Kasi and Wilbrod Owor pioneered the first Annual Bankers Conference. The conference to date remains the biggest industry event. For his various master moves at Mastercard, he was recognised as the Winner Mastercard President’s Club Award across the Globe. He also scooped Mastercard’s most prestigious sales award in Excellence, Leadership and Achievement for 2020.
Between 2011 and 2013, he worked for American Express (AMEX), Europe as the Business Development Manager – Global Corporate Payments, based in Madrid, Spain. He later moved to the London office as Marketing & Business Development Manager in Charge of bank partnerships for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region between 2013 and 2016. He is credited for being part of the key team members who literary brought Amex business into Sub-Saharan Africa and its expansion in the region. He was also part of the team that launched the first American Express card partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa with Equity Bank as well as the first Amex Debit Card, among many other achievements.
Before entering the digital payments specs, Molla was the Senior Sales and Business Development Manager for Absa Bank (then Barclays) in Kenya for 5 years.
A believer in “continuous learning, unlearning and re-learning, Molla, who is a Harvard Business School (Boston, USA) certified negotiator, has also completed various other executive education courses at other globally prestigious business schools such as the Nanyang Business School (Singapore), China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), National University of Singapore (Singapore), IESE Business School in Spain and Strathmore Business School (Kenya).
His philosophy as a business and people leader?
“I envision a world where people always wake up very inspired, motivated and feel safe that you are their leader. People will not care how much we know as leaders, but they will want to know how much we care about them,” he emphasises.
Writing about Molla on LinkedIn, Guillermo Brenes, his former Supervisor at Amex, describes Frank (Molla) as “perhaps the one member of my team that I learned the most from”.
“Our story goes back to when I had to start the commercial cards business for Amex in Sub-Saharan Africa. Frank became our first full-time employee. His entrepreneurial skills, leadership, energy and persistence resulted in the start of operations in record time. Not only was he able to take a complex suite of Travel & Expense (T&E) products to Kenya, but he rapidly expanded the footprint throughout East and South Africa,” he adds.
Ani Kharajian Senior Portfolio Director at Harvard Business School describes him as “a true leader who is trusted by peers and team members”.
Asked about what sets BPC apart, he simply says: “We encourage our clients to worry about the what and why, and we will worry about the how”.