Vult, Sierra Leone’s fast-growing digital financial super app, appointed Esther Linda Nigiwan as its Chief Operations Officer not so long ago. Nigiwan relocated to Freetown to take up the role, bringing more than 10 years of experience in digital financial services, market expansion, and commercial leadership across Sub-Saharan Africa.
She joins Vult from Pyypl, where she served as Head of Africa, leading multi-country expansion and owning regional P&L performance across eight African markets, including Sierra Leone. In that role, she directed the rollout of a remittance corridor linking the UAE to Sub-Saharan Africa, generating close to $7 million in transaction value within the first six months and building a hybrid team of more than 70 people across multiple jurisdictions. She also negotiated strategic partnerships with Ripple, Flutterwave, and Binance, securing improved pricing and stronger cross-border liquidity for the business.
Before Pyypl, Nigiwan spent over three years at SeerBit Uganda as Country Sales Manager, where she led the country’s digital payments expansion and originated a white-label banking partnership that onboarded more than two million customers within three months. She began her career in distribution and go-to-market roles at Wave Mobile Money and Numida Technologies, where she built agent networks and sales strategies for two of Uganda’s earliest digital financial services players.
In her new role, Nigiwan will lead operations strategy at Vult as the super app deepens financial inclusion in Sierra Leone and expands its wallet, card, and merchant payment offerings to individuals and businesses across the country.
As Vult moves into its next phase of growth, Esther will lead their commercial strategy, expanding access to secure and customer-centric financial services while deepening financial inclusion for individuals and merchants across Sierra Leone. Her track record of scaling digital financial services across multiple African markets makes her the right leader for this stage of our journey.
Nigiwan holds an MBA with a major in Strategy from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Makerere University Business School. She also writes Africa Fintech Insider, a LinkedIn newsletter on fintech, market expansion, and digital finance across the continent.
