Moroccan fintech company Chari has appointed former Visa executive Aurélien Pichon as an independent director on its board as the company expands beyond its original retail business and moves deeper into financial infrastructure across Francophone Africa.
Pichon recently served as Visa’s Global Head of Client Operations and Services, overseeing a worldwide organisation of nearly 5,000 employees. He took up the global position in 2024 after previously leading Operations and Client Services for Visa’s Central Europe, Middle East and Africa region, which includes several of the markets where Chari operates.
His career spans more than two decades in technology, data and payments. Before joining Visa, Pichon held senior positions at Thomson Reuters and Google and built experience working across different parts of the financial and technology sectors.
Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj and headquartered in Casablanca, Chari initially focused on B2B commerce and distribution services for retailers. The company is now broadening its operations by developing financial infrastructure for banks, telecommunications companies, corporations, fintechs and other financial institutions.
One of its key areas of expansion is agency banking, through which neighbourhood shops can provide cash in and cash out services as well as other financial products. Chari says its agency banking network, currently made up of thousands of service points, is expected to expand to tens of thousands.
The company is also developing its banking as a service business, allowing third party financial institutions and businesses to access Chari’s financial infrastructure.
This strategy represents a shift in Chari’s role within the financial ecosystem. Rather than focusing mainly on its direct relationship with retailers, the company is seeking to provide the infrastructure that connects financial institutions, businesses and merchants.
Pichon’s experience in large scale payment operations is expected to support that expansion. Chari said his board responsibilities will include contributing his knowledge of payments, institutional relationships across Africa and the Middle East, and experience in managing large operational organisations.
His professional background includes work with issuers, acquirers, processors and regulators in emerging markets. Chari also highlighted his experience in developing large service organisations as the company prepares to expand its infrastructure services for external clients.
Pichon said Chari was working on an important but often overlooked part of the financial system by focusing on the last mile that connects financial services to small businesses.
He said his previous experience working closely with institutions serving small and medium sized businesses, including those involved in issuing and acquiring payments, would complement Chari’s growing connection with merchants across the region.
Chari co founder and Chief Executive Officer Ismael Belkhayat said the company wanted someone with practical experience managing payment operations at the scale it hopes to achieve.
Belkhayat said Pichon was selected not simply because of his name or previous position, but because of his direct experience in payments and his understanding of both institutional financial services and the merchant side of the business.
He added that Pichon’s experience extends beyond Chari’s immediate markets to other fast growing regions, including Asia and Latin America.
A Y Combinator alumnus, Chari has increasingly positioned its banking as a service business as a way to make its financial infrastructure available to organisations outside its own retail network.
The strategy could broaden the company’s role in African financial services, moving it from distributing financial products through merchants to providing the underlying infrastructure that other financial service providers can use.
Pichon joins the board as Chari continues to develop its financial infrastructure alongside its Super App and agency banking operations across Francophone Africa.
