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Mitchell Elegbe
EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2025 Judge
Founder and Group Managing Director, Interswitch Group, Nigeria
Mitchell is driving payment innovation and social impact across Africa.
Mitchell Elegbe is the Founder, Group Managing Director and a member of the board of directors at Interswitch, which he has led since 2002. Under his leadership, Interswitch has diversified its business, broadened distribution channels and expanded into new markets across Africa, driving revolutionary payment innovation and social impact and delivering strong growth in revenue and profits.
Mitchell is an Electronic Engineering graduate from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and an alumnus of the IESE/Wharton/CEIBS Global CEO Program. He is a consummate people-centric leader who believes in motivating his colleagues at Interswitch to have confidence in their value as individuals, in the value of the work they do, and in their value as team members, while relentlessly pursuing sustainable value for stakeholders.
In addition to leading Interswitch to win numerous coveted industry awards, Mitchell’s leadership abilities have earned him several awards. These include the CNBC/Forbes All African Business Leader for West Africa in 2012, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award, the International Finance Corporation’s Inclusive Business Leader Award and the acclaimed African Leadership Network 2013 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship. This distinguished Africa-focused award program has given more than US$200,000 in prize money to outstanding African entrepreneurs who demonstrate business excellence and social impact. In June 2019, Mitchell was named as the 2019 African Banker Icon by The African Banker. Most recently, he received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 West Africa Masters Award and was inducted into the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Hall of Fame.
A Bishop Desmond Tutu fellow of the African Leadership Institute, he enjoys actively mentoring young entrepreneurs as a member of the board of Endeavor Nigeria.
Mitchell is EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2023 West Africa.