Overview

M-KOPA | Finance Business Partnering Manager

Translating Numbers into Business Impact

You've spent years being the most commercially fluent person in the room. Now lead a team of people who are.

You're a qualified finance leader who's moved well beyond technical execution. You translate complex financial data into decisions that actually land. You've built credibility with senior stakeholders not because you report numbers, but because you know what they mean — and what to do about them. You're good at what you do. Your team respects you.

But here's the question: when was the last time the scale of what you were working on actually matched the scale of what you're capable of?

Why M-KOPA. Why now.

M-KOPA is one of Africa's most consequential fintech businesses — not by aspiration, but by evidence. We've unlocked more than $2 billion in credit for customers who had no prior access to formal financial services. We serve 7 million customers across our markets, 55% of whom are accessing financial products for the first time in their lives. Eighty-six percent report a measurable improvement in their quality of life. Seventy percent use what we provide to generate income.

We're not a mature business in maintenance mode. We're a business in motion — scaling deliberately from 7 million toward 10 million customers, building the financial infrastructure and leadership depth that growth demands. That's why we're hiring. Not because something broke, but because something is working, and we need the people to carry it forward.

This is one of those moments.

The role: Finance Business Partnering Manager

This is a senior leadership position sitting within M-KOPA's Group Finance Business Partnering function, reporting to the Group Head of Finance Business Partnering. You'll lead a team of Finance Business Partners embedded across M-KOPA's cost centres and operating markets — coaching them, developing their commercial capability, and setting the standard for what excellent partnering looks like at scale.

But this isn't a pure people management role. You'll also operate as senior Business Partner in your own right, providing strategic financial counsel to leaders across commercial, operations, and technology. You'll challenge and support simultaneously — bringing rigorous financial analysis, scenario modelling, and forward-looking insight to decisions that shape how this business grows and where it invests.

What your days will actually look like:

You'll run planning and budgeting cycles with your team, ensuring submissions across all cost centres are commercially grounded and defensible under scrutiny. You'll develop performance frameworks — dashboards, KPIs, variance analysis — that drive genuine accountability rather than retrospective comfort. You'll build business cases for strategic investments, new market initiatives, and product launches across M-KOPA's footprint. And you'll translate all of it into compelling narratives for non-finance audiences, because insight that can't be communicated doesn't drive decisions.

You'll also develop your people. You'll conduct coaching conversations and performance reviews that build careers, not just capabilities. You'll create standardised best practices across markets so that the quality of partnering doesn't depend on which Business Partner a cost centre owner happens to have.

What makes this role different

Most finance leadership roles ask you to manage financial performance. This role asks you to shape it — across multiple markets, multiple business units, and a team of finance professionals who will take their cue from how you operate.

You won't be presenting to stakeholders who are passively interested. You'll be partnering with Group-level leadership, market GMs, commercial directors, and technology leads who expect finance to bring answers, not just analysis. That's a meaningful difference.

And the context matters. When your work contributes to financial decisions at M-KOPA, you're contributing to a business that is — in a very direct and measurable way — expanding economic access across Africa. That's not a footnote to the role. It's the reason it exists.

What you bring

Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with a strong post-qualification track record in Business Partnering, FP&A, or Commercial Finance — and demonstrable experience leading and developing finance teams.

Proven ability to partner with senior business stakeholders, translating financial complexity into clear strategic recommendations that influence decisions at the highest levels.

Extensive experience across budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, and financial modelling in complex, multi-entity environments — with the commercial acumen to connect financial data to business performance drivers.

The honest part

This role covers multiple markets. Your team is distributed. The pace of M-KOPA's growth means priorities shift and ambiguity is a constant companion. If you're looking for a role where the playbook is fully written, this isn't it. If you're looking for a role where you get to help write it — across a business scaling toward 10 million customers — then you're probably already thinking about this differently.

If this is the kind of challenge you've been waiting for — leading the people who partner the business, while partnering it yourself — let's have a conversation.

Why M-KOPA?

At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together.

• Run planning and budgeting cycles with your team, ensuring submissions across all cost centres are commercially grounded and defensible under scrutiny.
• Develop performance frameworks — dashboards, KPIs, variance analysis — that drive genuine accountability rather than retrospective comfort.
• Build business cases for strategic investments, new market initiatives, and product launches across M-KOPA's footprint.
• Translate financial insights into compelling narratives for non-finance audiences.
• Conduct coaching conversations and performance reviews that build careers.
• Create standardised best practices across markets for finance partnering.
• Provide strategic financial counsel to leaders across commercial, operations, and technology.
• Challenge and support business decisions with rigorous financial analysis, scenario modelling, and forward-looking insight.

• Commercial fluency
• Translating complex financial data into actionable decisions
• Building credibility with senior stakeholders
• Leading and developing finance teams
• Strategic financial counsel
• Rigorous financial analysis
• Scenario modelling
• Forward-looking insight
• Budgeting and planning
• Performance framework development (dashboards, KPIs, variance analysis)
• Business case development
• Compelling narrative creation for non-finance audiences
• Coaching and performance management
• Standardisation of best practices
• Financial modelling
• Commercial acumen

• Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent)
• Strong post-qualification track record in Business Partnering, FP&A, or Commercial Finance
• Demonstrable experience leading and developing finance teams
• Proven ability to partner with senior business stakeholders
• Extensive experience across budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, and financial modelling in complex, multi-entity environments