Mervyn Goliath, Clickatell

Locally established Clickatell, a global mobile messaging and transactional services company, has announced a new addition to its executive team as part of its sub-Saharan Africa strategy.

Mervyn Goliath, former COO of digital banking services at Absa, joins Clickatell’s executive team as executive VP of engineering and operations. Goliath has over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications, mobile banking, payment and transaction services industries. Prior to his Absa role, Goliath served as CTO and GM of technology and operations at local Internet service provider, MWeb, and as group head in national telematics and data services at Telkom.

Clickatell CEO Pieter de Villiers says Goliath’s experience, leadership and expertise will be invaluable to the company’s enterprise mobile-enablement strategy in its Pan-Africa plans.

De Villiers says Goliath is joining a Clickatell executive team that is immersed in the mobile fi nancial services space in Africa – the region that is leading the charge in mobile transactions and payments. “Africa is the fastest growing mobile financial services market because of the technology’s ubiquity, cost-effectiveness and the unmet demand for financial services.”

Goliath says Clickatell’s enterprise and financial services experience in Africa positions the company well to grow technology in the area. “We have seen just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of mobile financial services in Africa.”

Clickatell claims to be the international pioneer for business-to-consumer messaging, and today serves more than 65% of SA’s top banks, insurance companies and retailers. The company recently announced plans to expand into West and East Africa.