Malak El Baba is Egypt’s Country Manager and Vice President at Visa, the world leader in digital payments. Under her role, Malak works on deepening Visa’s partnerships with key clients and engage with local internal and external stakeholders including government, banking partners, merchants, telcos and fintech firms- with the aim of accelerating Visa's growth.
Following leading Visa in Egypt in May 2020, El Baba has grown visa’s market share and introduced new payment flows in Egypt by focusing on new business lines and untapped business segments. She has presented market development projects enabling the market with new technologies and preparing it for the emerging ecosystem of new players and market entrants. Malak’s leadership has seen the net revenue grow 2.4x in just three years from FY20 to FY24. One of her significant achievements has been transitioning Egypt from an acquiring market to an issuing market. Malak’s leadership and focus to drive growth in Egypt has been instrumental. Consistent positive engagement scores across functions in Egypt office. Viewed as a trend setter with her clients in Egypt and one of the key female leaders in the country.
Previously, El Baba served as the Senior Marketing Director for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan Region at Visa from November 2018 until May 2020. Before that, she served as Visa's Marketing Director for North and Francophone Africa from January 2012 to May 2020. During her role, Malak has built a reputation for developing marketing and business strategies, incubating new business models, and building strategic partnerships. Her marketing and creative background shaped her ability to identify market gaps and gave her insights on customer’s needs.
Leading the digital payments giant business in Egypt, triggered her passion to support fintech and startups, Malak is a mentor and observer in Endeavor Egypt, and a member of the investment committee at Falak Start-ups, both organizations main focus is selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world, to drive economic growth and job creation in addition to being a mentor at Endeavor Egypt.
Malak also leads the Visa Women Network in the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region, for 2 years and she Brought She's Next Global Visa's initiative for supporting women businesses to the MENA region for the first time (Egypt, UAE, KSA, Pakistan and Morocco). She is also a member of the board of directors of INJAZ Egypt foundation, her role includes guidance on the expansion of the organization and acting as its ambassador for youth employability and entrepreneurship in Egypt. She is also a board Member of CEO Women in Egypt, and Non-executive board member of ESLSCA University in Egypt.
She is also a member of AmCham’s Digital Transformation Core Committee to champion Egypt’s economic development opportunities and policy advocacy.
Prior to joining Visa, El Baba worked for several regional trade companies and banks operating in Levant, Western Europe, and Africa handling commercial and marketing departments.
Along her career, El Baba worked as a certified trainer in the American University Training Center of Beirut, delivering training courses in sales, marketing and driving change across different multinational clients in Levant and GCC regions. El Baba won several internal and external accolades of creativity and leadership including four MENA Effies Award and two Media Efficiency Awards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with emphasis on Economic Development from the Lebanese American University.
Following leading Visa in Egypt in May 2020, El Baba has grown visa’s market share and introduced new payment flows in Egypt by focusing on new business lines and untapped business segments. She has presented market development projects enabling the market with new technologies and preparing it for the emerging ecosystem of new players and market entrants. Malak’s leadership has seen the net revenue grow 2.4x in just three years from FY20 to FY24. One of her significant achievements has been transitioning Egypt from an acquiring market to an issuing market. Malak’s leadership and focus to drive growth in Egypt has been instrumental. Consistent positive engagement scores across functions in Egypt office. Viewed as a trend setter with her clients in Egypt and one of the key female leaders in the country.
Previously, El Baba served as the Senior Marketing Director for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan Region at Visa from November 2018 until May 2020. Before that, she served as Visa's Marketing Director for North and Francophone Africa from January 2012 to May 2020. During her role, Malak has built a reputation for developing marketing and business strategies, incubating new business models, and building strategic partnerships. Her marketing and creative background shaped her ability to identify market gaps and gave her insights on customer’s needs.
Leading the digital payments giant business in Egypt, triggered her passion to support fintech and startups, Malak is a mentor and observer in Endeavor Egypt, and a member of the investment committee at Falak Start-ups, both organizations main focus is selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world, to drive economic growth and job creation in addition to being a mentor at Endeavor Egypt.
Malak also leads the Visa Women Network in the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region, for 2 years and she Brought She's Next Global Visa's initiative for supporting women businesses to the MENA region for the first time (Egypt, UAE, KSA, Pakistan and Morocco). She is also a member of the board of directors of INJAZ Egypt foundation, her role includes guidance on the expansion of the organization and acting as its ambassador for youth employability and entrepreneurship in Egypt. She is also a board Member of CEO Women in Egypt, and Non-executive board member of ESLSCA University in Egypt.
She is also a member of AmCham’s Digital Transformation Core Committee to champion Egypt’s economic development opportunities and policy advocacy.
Prior to joining Visa, El Baba worked for several regional trade companies and banks operating in Levant, Western Europe, and Africa handling commercial and marketing departments.
Along her career, El Baba worked as a certified trainer in the American University Training Center of Beirut, delivering training courses in sales, marketing and driving change across different multinational clients in Levant and GCC regions. El Baba won several internal and external accolades of creativity and leadership including four MENA Effies Award and two Media Efficiency Awards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with emphasis on Economic Development from the Lebanese American University.
