NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 21 – Former Visa Kenya country manager Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, who most recently led payments and international banking at Equity Group, has died while on a business trip to China.

Ngigi-Sarwari, 45, was the managing director of Finserve Africa, Equity Group’s digital financial services subsidiary, having joined the lender in January 2025 as group director for payments and international banking.

Her death was confirmed by colleagues on Tuesday, October 20, who described the loss as sudden and expressed condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. 

The cause of death had not been disclosed by the time of publication. 

Her departure comes at a time when banks and financial technology firms are expanding digital payment services, transaction banking and cross-border financial infrastructure to serve businesses and consumers across Africa.

At Equity Group, Ngigi-Sarwari was responsible for the lender’s payments and international banking business, including solutions for corporate clients and institutions. 

In April 2026, she took over as managing director of Finserve Africa, overseeing the subsidiary’s strategy, commercial direction and operations.

Before joining Equity, she spent more than four years at Visa, where she served as senior director and country manager for Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia from September 2020 to December 2024.

Her responsibilities included developing and implementing growth strategies across the three markets, as the payments industry sought to expand electronic transactions and improve the adoption of digital payment services.

Ngigi-Sarwari began her banking career at Co-operative Bank of Kenya in 2005, working in customer relationships and electronic banking. 

She later joined Stanbic Bank before moving to Standard Chartered Kenya in 2012, where she rose to head transaction banking for commercial banking.

In 2020, she moved to SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture-building arm, before taking up the Visa leadership role.