Fintech company M-KOPA has announced appointment of Rajeev Suri as Chairperson of its Board, effective 1st December 2024.
Rajeev Suri has served as CEO of Nokia as well as Inmarsat, and now also serving as chairperson of Digicel and board director at Singtel.
M-KOPA provides financed smartphones to underbanked every day earners and builds an ongoing financial relationship through its AI credit analytics and smartphone app. Suri joins at a time when M-KOPA has achieved scale, with over 5 million customers and more than US $1.5bn of credit deployed across five markets.
“We are thrilled to welcome Rajeev to the board as we enter this next phase of growth for the business,” said Jesse Moore CEO & Co-Founder of M-KOPA. “His proven leadership in steering international companies through periods of rapid expansion will be invaluable.”
Commenting on his appointment Suri said “M-KOPA represents one of the most exciting fintech propositions, not only in Africa but globally. Their use of leading-edge technologies and AI to solve the critical challenge of digital and financial inclusion is compelling and has the potential to change the way we think about consumers in emerging markets. I am excited to join this team and look forward to driving impactful solutions together”
Outgoing board chair Elizabeth Littlefield will continue serving as an independent board director and chair of the ESG and Impact committee. Commenting on the outgoing chair Moore said, “We are deeply grateful to Elizabeth for her outstanding leadership over the past six years. She and the board have guided M-KOPA through significant transformation and remarkable growth. While she will be stepping down as chair, we are fortunate to have her continue with the board as an independent director.”
M-KOPA is a UK-headquartered emerging market fintech that provides affordable smartphones and digital financial services. With operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, the company has extended over $1.5 billion in credit to more than 5 million customers.
Using a financing model based on daily repayments, M-KOPA provides affordable smartphones embedded with financial services that fit with the cash flow of millions of underserved individuals who earn their income on a daily basis.