By A Correspondent| Could the richest Zimbabwean woman be living thousands of miles away from Harare, quietly making waves in London’s financial circles?

Valerie Moran, a fintech entrepreneur born in Zimbabwe, has etched her name into the record books — not only as the only Black woman on the UK’s Rich List but also as Zimbabwe’s richest woman, according to recent wealth rankings.

Moran and her husband, Noel, are jointly worth an estimated £122 million (US\$158.6 million) — a fortune that places them at No. 970 on The Sunday Times 2024 list of Britain’s wealthiest individuals. That same valuation makes Valerie the wealthiest Zimbabwean woman on record, according to multiple international and regional assessments.

Their company, Prepaid Financial Services, a fintech firm specializing in electronic payment solutions, is behind their wealth. The couple holds an 81.5% stake, with Moran herself owning 16.3%. She currently serves as the Head of Client Relations and Operations, a role she earned through grit — having been the company’s very first employee when it launched in 2008.

In a past interview with IdeaMensch, Moran said she typically works 15-hour days and emphasized that her greatest strength as a leader is communication. “I never stop listening, learning, and taking on board feedback and comments from my staff and employees,” she said.

Her rise to wealth stands in stark contrast to Zimbabwe’s economic landscape, where most women remain excluded from high-level entrepreneurial ecosystems. Valerie’s success is not only rare — it’s groundbreaking.

By comparison, women like Kirsten Rausing (of the Tetra Pak dynasty) and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken (of Heineken) still dominate Europe’s billionaire charts with fortunes in the billions, but Moran’s visibility as a Black African woman on such lists is monumental.

So yes — Valerie Moran isn’t just flying the Zimbabwean flag abroad. She’s rewriting the narrative of what’s possible for African women in global business.