# Episode 185 - Building Innovation in Africa & the Middle East at Celpay & Zain: The Making of Tito Alai | Part 3

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/pure-digital-passion-with-moses-kemibaro-5830846/episode-185-building-innovation-in-africa-the-middle-east-at-celpay-zain-the-making-of-tito-alai-part-3
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/pure-digital-passion-with-moses-kemibaro-5830846/episode-185-building-innovation-in-africa-the-middle-east-at-celpay-zain-the-making-of-tito-alai-part-3.md
Podcast: [Pure Digital Passion with Moses Kemibaro](https://stenobird.com/podcast/pure-digital-passion-with-moses-kemibaro-5830846)
Published: 2026-07-11T19:29:35+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moseskemibaro/episodes/Episode-185---Building-Innovation-in-Africa--the-Middle-East-at-Celpay--Zain-The-Making-of-Tito-Alai--Part-3-e3lv14h
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/6c93c08/podcast/play/122700369/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-11%2F427778488-44100-2-2544472603c25.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3473

## Resource

The final part of my three-part conversation with Tito Alai begins with one of the most important and least widely understood stories in African technology: the origins of Celpay. According to Tito’s first-hand account, Celtel’s mobile-money journey began with market research in Zambia. The company noticed that airtime purchased in one city was often activated in another. People were already finding ways to support relatives, employees and business partners remotely. Me2U made it possible to transfer airtime directly from one user to another. The next insight was even more significant. Recipients were sometimes exchanging that airtime for cash or goods. In a hyperinflationary environment with limited access to conventional banking and card infrastructure, airtime had become a proxy for money. Tito explains how Celtel attempted to formalise that behaviour through Celpay and why the company eventually sold the business to focus resources on the rapid expansion of its core telecommunications network. The episode then moves into Celtel’s entry into Kenya and Nigeria, including the complexities of growing through acquisition rather than building every operation from the ground up. The second half of the conversation explores Celtel’s acquisition by MTC of Kuwait and the creation of Zain. Tito was asked to take on integrated commercial leadership across the Middle East and Africa. The group had strong operations but lacked one coherent identity. Celtel had powerful African brand equity, but simply exporting that identity into the Middle East would have required diluting what made it meaningful. The solution was to create a new brand. Tito takes us inside the process that produced Zain, from hundreds of possible names to market research, executive choice, visual identity and…

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## Transcript

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