Bio

Bernard Matthewman joined Motive Partners in 2018 and is a Client Partner on the Motive Create Team based out of the London office. At Motive, Bernard focuses on innovation strategy and value creation with respect to Motive Labs engagement of Motive’s portfolio companies and industry relationships. In parallel, Bernard serves as the Chairman of an electronic waste recycling business that he founded in East Africa and sits on the UK-Africa Fintech Investment Group. Prior to joining Motive Partners, Bernard spent over 20 years building financial technology businesses across Africa as a highly experienced CEO. In 2003, he formed the Paynet Group in Zimbabwe and East Africa, a fintech payments business that worked with a large number of banks and mobile money providers across Africa. Under his leadership, Paynet Group built the first link between ATMs and MPESA Mobile Money, by using cardless transactions. In 2008, Bernard sold Paynet Zimbabwe to AIM-listed Lonzim and in 2015, he sold the East African Paynet business to Interswitch. At the time of sale, Paynet connected over 70 banks and 5 mobile money providers throughout East Africa. Prior to Paynet, Bernard founded Tradanet Zimbabwe in 1997, the first e-business in Africa outside of South Africa, which was quickly acquired by African Lakes plc in 1999.