Head of Legal, Regulatory & Compliance – Financial Services, West Africa

M-KOPA is a fintech and digital financial services company that provides smartphones and a range of financial products to everyday earners across sub-Saharan Africa, operating in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. The company uses an asset-financing model that allows customers to make an initial deposit on a smartphone and then pay it off through affordable daily, weekly, or monthly installments, building a credit history in the process. This approach has enabled M-KOPA to serve over 10 million customers and unlock more than $2 billion in credit for individuals who are largely excluded from traditional financial systems. M-KOPA's suite of services extends beyond device ownership to include digital loans, health insurance, device protection, and affordable data bundles, all designed to expand economic opportunity for low-income populations. The company also operates a large network of over 35,000 sales agents, many of whom are themselves beneficiaries of the economic empowerment model M-KOPA promotes. M-KOPA has been recognized among the world's top fintech companies and continues to scale its impact across the African continent. While M-KOPA is primarily categorized as a fintech company, its roots are in the renewable energy and pay-as-you-go solar sector, where it pioneered off-grid solar solutions for underserved communities before expanding into smartphones and broader financial services. This evolution reflects the company's enduring mission to connect underserved populations to transformative technologies and financial tools that improve quality of life and drive sustainable economic inclusion.

We are looking for a Head of Legal, Regulatory & Compliance – Financial Services, West Africa, to join our Legal group, as we scale up and drive digital and financial inclusion across our markets.

Job Purpose

To provide group-wide leadership on financial services regulatory strategy and external affairs in West Africa, ensuring M-KOPA obtains and maintains required licences and meets supervisory expectations, while overseeing West Africa regulatory engagement and compliance execution.

Key Job Functions

• Own and drive M-KOPA’s group-wide financial services regulatory strategy, providing senior leadership on regulatory risk, supervisory expectations, regulatory engagement, and governance requirements across all markets.

• Lead regulatory approvals and ongoing supervisory engagement for key licences and regulated activities, including the Digital Credit Service Provider (DCSP) licence in Ghana, financial services licenses in Nigeria, and other relevant licensing/authorisation processes (e.g., MFI licensing, payments, lending, consumer finance).

• Monitor changes in financial services regulation and supervisory priorities, assess impact on M-KOPA’s business model, and translate requirements into actionable guidance, controls, and governance enhancements to manage enforcement and conduct risk.

• Partner with Product, Credit, Operations, Risk, and Legal to embed “regulatory-by-design” into new product development and market expansion, including advising on licensing scope, disclosures, customer outcomes, and regulator expectations.

• Set the regulatory compliance tone for financial services, driving training and awareness programmes and strengthening first-line ownership of regulatory obligations across markets.

• Provide senior support on regulatory reporting, assurance, and due diligence requirements, including engagement with investors, auditors, and development finance partners on financial services regulatory matters.

• Lead external affairs for financial services regulation, representing M-KOPA in industry bodies, regulatory consultations, and policy discussions; and drive senior-level regulatory engagement strategy for West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana).

• Develop, maintain, and oversee the implementation of financial services compliance policies, procedures, and regulatory playbooks, including an appropriate review cycle aligned to supervisory frameworks.

• Partner with Risk, Internal Audit, Legal, Data Protection, and Operations to design and test regulatory controls, track remediation, and provide confidence in the effectiveness of the compliance framework for regulated activities.

• Oversee responses to regulatory inquiries, examinations, and information requests; ensure timely, accurate high-stakes submissions and position papers; and provide escalation and direction to in-country compliance leads on regulatory filings and inspections.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with regulators and key external stakeholders, ensuring appropriate regulator accessibility, effective communication, and proactive management of supervisory expectations.

• Work flexibly and collaboratively across all teams in the organisation to ensure the greatest impact and effectiveness of the Compliance Team’s day-to-day work

• Undertake all other reasonable and related tasks associated with this role.

Reporting Structure

This role reports to the Director of Compliance

Experience/ Skills & Competencies/ Licences & Certifications/ Education Required

• 8+ years’ experience in financial services compliance, regulatory affairs, or in-house legal/regulatory roles within a regulated environment (digital credit, lending, payments, consumer finance, fintech, or banking).

• Demonstrated experience leading licensing/authorisation processes and managing ongoing supervisory engagement, examinations, and regulatory reporting.

• Strong knowledge of financial services regulatory frameworks and conduct risk, including consumer protection, AML/CFT, and (where applicable) data protection.

• Proven ability to engage credibly with regulators, investors, auditors, and senior internal stakeholders, translating requirements into pragmatic, implementable controls.

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills; strong policy drafting, regulatory writing, and attention to detail.

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Compliance, Finance, Business, or a related field; a relevant professional qualification (e.g., bar admission, CAMS/ICA, or similar) is an advantage.

• Strong planning and execution skills, with the ability to operate strategically while driving delivery through country teams.

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. Explore more at m-kopa.com.

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), named on CNBC's World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 & 2026 and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 10 million customers, unlocking $2 billion in cumulative credit for the everyday earners across Africa, in addition to over 10,000 e-bikes financed in Kenya.

Important Notice

M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships. 

M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.

If your application is successful M-KOPA undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.