CarePay Names Moses Kuria Acting CEO After Pieter Prickaerts Exit

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALMarch 13, 2026 at 12:33 PM UTC

TLDR

Moses G. Kuria appointed acting CEO of Care International and M-TIBA after Pieter Prickaerts steps down.
Kuria, with 10 years at CarePay, to oversee group strategy and regional expansion of health insurance technology platform.
CarePay's M-TIBA connects patients, providers, and insurers through mobile health wallet, expanding operations in Nigeria and Tanzania.

CarePay Group named Moses G. Kuria as acting CEO of Care International and its health platform M-TIBA, the company said in a statement.

The appointment follows the departure of Pieter Prickaerts, who stepped down after nearly 7 years at the company. Prickaerts served as Group CEO for the last 2 years. The board said he helped build the organization and expand its operations in East Africa.

“The Board thanks Pieter for his leadership and contribution to building the organisation and the foundation for its next phase of growth,” CarePay said.

Kuria has worked at CarePay for 10 years. He previously served as Group CFO and managing director of M-TIBA. He holds an MBA from the University of Nairobi. In his new role he will oversee group strategy and regional expansion of the company’s health insurance technology platform.

CarePay also named Irene Nafula as acting managing director of M-TIBA Kenya. She was previously Commercial Director at the platform. Nafula has more than 15 years of experience in healthcare operations, product development, and service delivery.

She holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development from the United States International University. The company said she will oversee operations in Kenya, including partnerships with insurers and healthcare providers, operational performance, and service delivery to members.

CarePay began in Kenya in 2015 through the launch of M-TIBA, a mobile health wallet designed to connect patients, healthcare providers, and insurers. The platform allows members to receive, store, and spend funds for healthcare services using mobile technology.

The company has since expanded its operations beyond Kenya and now operates in Nigeria and Tanzania. Its technology platform is used by insurers, governments, and development partners to manage healthcare payments and insurance programs.

CarePay’s platform connects millions of members to healthcare providers and payers across its markets.

The company faced scrutiny in 2024 after a cyberattack on the M-TIBA platform exposed personal and medical information of nearly 5 million users in Kenya. The breach went undetected for about 10 days before it was identified and reported.

The leadership change comes as the company continues to expand its digital health payments infrastructure across African healthcare systems.

Key Takeaways

CarePay’s leadership change reflects a shift in digital health infrastructure across Africa. Platforms such as M-TIBA aim to solve a core problem in the region’s healthcare systems: fragmented payments and limited insurance coverage. Kenya has one of the most developed mobile money ecosystems in the world, which allows health wallets to operate at scale. M-TIBA links patients, insurers, governments, and healthcare providers through a single payment platform. This structure allows insurers to control how funds are used and helps providers receive verified payments. It also allows governments and donors to distribute healthcare funding to specific users or services. The model is gaining interest across African health systems where insurance penetration remains low and out-of-pocket payments dominate healthcare spending. Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund and other programs have explored digital distribution channels to expand coverage. Digital health payment systems are also attracting interest from global health organizations and development finance institutions that fund healthcare access programs. As these platforms expand across countries such as Nigeria and Tanzania, they are becoming part of the infrastructure used to manage insurance, health financing, and patient data in emerging healthcare systems. The next phase for companies such as CarePay will depend on scaling secure digital infrastructure while managing data protection risks that come with large health databases.

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