Who Was Eva Ngigi-Sarwari? Inside the Career of Equity Group’s Payments Chief
Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, a Kenyan financial services executive who worked with Visa, Standard Chartered and Equity Group, has died at the age of 45 while on a business trip to China.
Her death was announced on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, sending shockwaves through the financial services industry. Her colleagues described her passing as a sudden and profound loss. However, they did not disclose the cause of her death.
Before her death, Ngigi-Sarwari had spent more than 20 years building a career in banking, digital payments and financial technology.
She most recently served as managing director of Finserve Africa, Equity Group’s digital financial services subsidiary. She also held the position of group director for payments and international banking.
Her career took her from traditional banking into leadership roles at some of the world’s major financial institutions.
How Eva Ngigi-Sarwari started her career
Ngigi-Sarwari began her banking career in 2005 at Co-operative Bank of Kenya.
Her first assignments were far removed from the executive responsibilities she would later hold. In an account of her early career, she recalled printing customer statements, folding them, placing them in envelopes and distributing them.
She subsequently moved into teller operations and sales before becoming a relationship manager.
At Co-operative Bank, she helped businesses adopt electronic banking services. Her responsibilities included demonstrating products, overseeing installations and training customers to use the systems.
The experience introduced her to the role technology could play in improving financial services.
In 2010, she moved to Stanbic Bank Kenya, where she worked in transactional products and services sales.
Two years later, she joined Standard Chartered Bank. She spent more than seven years there, progressing through transaction banking roles before becoming head of transaction banking for commercial banking in East Africa.
She also gained experience in digital transformation, business development and client relationships.
From Standard Chartered to Visa
In 2020, Ngigi-Sarwari moved to SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture-building arm, where she worked as a venture lead.
Later that year, she joined Visa as senior director and country manager for Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia.
The appointment expanded her responsibilities beyond traditional banking. She was tasked with developing and implementing Visa’s growth strategy across the three markets.
She remained with the global payments company until December 2024.
Her experience at Visa strengthened her background in digital payments, commercial strategy and financial services across different markets.
Her final roles at Equity Group
Ngigi-Sarwari joined Equity Group in January 2025 as group director for payments and international banking.
In that role, she was responsible for implementing the group’s payments strategy across its African markets.
In April 2026, she became managing director of Finserve Africa, where she oversaw the subsidiary’s strategy, commercial direction and operations.
Her appointment placed her at the centre of Equity Group’s digital financial services business.
Finserve Africa focuses on digital financial services and payment solutions, making the role an extension of her longstanding work in banking technology and electronic transactions.
The legacy of Eva Ngigi-Sarwari
Ngigi-Sarwari’s career spanned local banking, regional financial services, international banking, venture building and global payments.
She also pursued further education while building her career. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Moi University and an MBA from the University of Nairobi. She later undertook additional studies in digital business and fintech.
Her professional journey reflected a shift in the financial services industry, where banks and payment companies increasingly rely on technology to deliver services to customers and businesses.
From helping customers adopt electronic banking to leading payment operations across several African markets, she worked in an industry undergoing significant digital change.
Her death at 45 has cut short a career that had reached senior leadership in one of Africa’s major banking groups.
As colleagues and the financial services community mourn her passing, her professional record remains a reminder of the growing role of digital payments in Africa’s financial sector.