Lesaka’s Ali Mazanderani on South Africa’s desperate need for a regulatory shake-up to promote digitalisation and innovation

Mazanderani, the Executive Chairman at Lesaka Technologies, is an entrepreneur and investor with extensive experience in emerging market fintech sectors.

His career has included the following roles:

• Co-founder and Chairman of Teya, a pan-European fintech company.

• Non-executive director on the board of Thunes, a Singapore-based private fintech company.

• Board member of leading payment companies such as StoneCo and Network International Holdings PLC.

• Lead strategy consultant at FNB.

Mazanderani also boasts a wide range of impressive academic qualifications.

These include an MSc (Economics) from the University of Oxford; an MSc (Economic History) from the London School of Economics and Political Science; an MBA from INSEAD; a Master’s degree in Business Law from the University of St Gallen; and a BCom in Economics (Honours) from the University of Pretoria.

The interview

In this Business Talk interview, Mazanderani provides an overview of how regulations can either facilitate or hinder progress in the fintech industry.

He shares his views on the South African regulatory environment for banking and payments, and highlights the inefficiencies that need to be fixed.

Mazanderani then estimates the impact that outdated regulations are currently having on South African businesses, and provides his thoughts on the SARB’s plan to bring local payment regulations in line with international practices.

He concludes the interview by outlining the purpose of the Association of South African Payment Providers, and explaining where he thinks it will have the most significant impact.

Watch the full interview with Ali Mazanderani below.