LONDON- AIM-listed Cambria Africa Plc, said on Monday it had appointed former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Zimbabwe country manager, Christian Beddies as chief executive officer (CEO) for its Harare based Payserv Africa, a FinTech company with US$7,57 million in revenues in FY 2018.
The appointment is with effect from June 1, 2019 when current CEO, Sibert Dube, leaves the firm.
Payserv’s Zimbabwe subsidiary, Paynet processes about 30 million transactions a year, valued at about US$70 billion, according to a report released by Cambria on Monday.
This is almost three times bigger than Zimbabwe’s US$25 billion gross domestic product, and makes it one of the most influential firms in the southern African country.
“Cambria is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Christian Herbert Beddies as the incoming CEO of its wholly owned and largest subsidiary, Payserv Zimbabwe, Cambria said in a statement.
Beddies will join Payserv Zimbabwe shortly after early retirement from the IMF on June 1, 2019 according to Cambria.
The IMF appointed Beddies to lead the Zimbabwe re-engagement process in 2014, about ten years after the fund had closed its Harare office.
He arrived in Harare from a previous assignment as the IMF’s deputy division chief in the Middle East and Central Asia department.
He had also worked as mission chief to the Kyrgyz Republic.
Prior to his assignment to Central Asia, Beddies had focused on various policy issues including debt relief, debt sustainability, and debt limits, and represented the IMF at Paris Club meetings, according to Cambria’s statement.
It said Beddies holds a PhD in Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London and a Masters in Economics from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
“The board of Cambria Africa welcomes Mr Beddies to the group. The board is confident that Mr Beddies will lead Payserv’s continued growth in the FinTech space through innovations aimed at greater financial inclusion in Zimbabwe. Cambria’s board would like to express its gratitude for Mr Dube’s many years of dedicated service to Payserv Zimbabwe and his invaluable contribution to Cambria’s turnaround. The Board wishes him continued success in all his future endeavours,” the statement said.
It said Sean Gammon had been appointed as Payserv Zimbabwe non-executive director.
He brings a wealth of corporate finance and institutional banking experience to the Payserv Zimbabwe board, said Cambria.
Gammon is the managing director of Imara Corporate Finance Zimbabwe and executive director of Imara Capital Zimbabwe.
Following graduation in 1989, he spent seven years working in the banking and finance sector in the UK and Zimbabwe before joining Imara Edwards Securities as an industrial analyst in 1997.
He was appointed director of research in 1998 before moving to Imara Corporate Finance.
Cambria said Gammon has considerable experience in mergers, acquisitions, capital raisings and investment banking having been involved in the largest transactions in this field in Zimbabwe.
He holds the bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa.
