Ex-Uber W’Africa manager, Atawodi, joins Netflix as director of payments

UBER’S Manager, Ebi Atawodi, is joining Netflix after playing an instrumental role in Uber’s entry and growth in West Africa. 

The renowned ‘citizen of the world’, as she likes to call herself, announced the move on LinkedIn, describing her six years at Uber as “a ride of a lifetime.” 

During her spell at Uber as general manager, Atawodi spearheaded Uber’s expansion in Lagos and other West African cities. One milestone was in March 2016 when Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, became Uber’s 400th city. 

Atawodi later emerged Uber’s Head of Product (payments) in February 2017, after being on the ground and leading those operations. Upon her switch from the ride-sharing and logistics industry to entertainment, her focus still remains on payments.

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with Netflix – the culture, the product, the impact it has had on the art of storytelling. Excited to be joining Netflix as Director of Payments, [Europe, the Middle East and Africa] and can’t wait to do the ‘best work of my life’,” Atawodi wrote.

According to TechCabal, Netflix added 8.5 million new subscribers in the last quarter of 2020, riding the pandemic’s work-from-home and lockdown wave. The company ended 2020 with over 200 million paying subscribers. No other streaming platform in the world has as many users.

Netflix launched in Africa in 2016.

About 66.7 million Netflix subscribers are from the EMEA region. However, according to The Motley Fool, EMEA subscribers are expected to surpass those in North America in about two years.

Recently, the streaming giant has recently been exploring mobile-only subscription plans to take advantage of the growth in smartphone and internet penetration. 

At first, Netflix started testing “Mobile” and “Mobile+” plans in Egypt in 2018 and South Africa in 2019. The viewing plans will be priced at $2.30 and $3.50 per month, respectively.

The new role will have Atawodi oversee these payment dynamics to keep Netflix ahead of shrewd competitors in Africa’s streaming video on-demand market, with Showmax on the forefront.

Owned by Multichoice, Showmax has continued to make efforts to edge other field players in the market by offering on-demand video streaming and live TV including football matches, music and news. 

Prior to joining Uber in 2014, Atawodi worked as head of Corporate Communications and sponsorships at Etisalat (now 9Mobile), a Nigerian telecommunications company.

During her time at Etisalat, the new Netflix Director of Payments played a role in Etisalat’s partnership with the Nigeria Communications Commission. The partnership was to enable Etisalat users port their numbers between different providers of telecommunication.