Chief Executive Officer/Country Lead

Job Description: CEO / Country Lead

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Reports To: Co-Founder(s)

The CEO / Country Lead will lead Solv's Kenya operations while driving the development and expansion of the MSME business across East Africa. The role requires a unique blend of strategic leadership, MSME ecosystem expertise, fintech experience, commercial acumen, partnership development, and operational execution. The successful candidate will be responsible for identifying growth opportunities, building strategic partnerships, driving customer acquisition, developing scalable products and financing solutions, and creating a high-performing local team.

• Develop and execute Solv's Kenya and actively support its East Africa growth strategy.
  
• Own country P&L and ensure sustainable business growth and profitability.
  
• Lead the assessment and execution of product and business expansion opportunities
  
• Build and scale a sustainable MSME business platform.
  
• Identify new market opportunities, customer segments, and expansion initiatives.
  
• Drive revenue growth, customer acquisition, and portfolio performance.
  
• Establish Solv as a leading MSME growth and financing platform within the region.
  

MSME Ecosystem Development

• Develop deep understanding of MSME customer needs, working capital challenges, and supply chain dynamics.
  
• Design and scale solutions that improve MSME access to finance, procurement, distribution, and growth opportunities.
  
• Build ecosystems connecting MSMEs with financial institutions, suppliers, distributors, and business service providers.
  
• Drive adoption of embedded finance and supply chain financing solutions.
  

Strategic Partnerships

• Develop and manage strategic partnerships across financial institutions, fintech, distributors, corporates, industry associations, regulators and ecosystem stakeholders to accelerate growth and expand access to capital, markets and customers.
  

Product & Innovation Leadership

• Provide strategic direction for the development and enhancement of customer-centric MSME solutions
  
• Work cross-functionally with product, technology, risk and operations teams to deliver scalable and commercially viable offerings.
  

Commercial and Portfolio Management

• Monitor and optimize key business, portfolio and customer performance metrics.
  
• Monitor portfolio quality and lending performance in collaboration with financing partners.
  
• Drive customer retention, engagement, and profitability.
  
• Establish robust performance tracking and reporting mechanisms.
  

Team Leadership

• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing local team.
  
• Foster a strong culture of execution, innovation, customer focus, and accountability.
  
• Build organizational capabilities required for regional expansion.
  

Stakeholder Management

• Represent Solv with investors, regulators, partners, and key external stakeholders.
  
• Act as the company's primary spokesperson and business leader within Kenya.
  
• Provide regular strategic updates and market insights into executive leadership.
  
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, risk standards and governance frameworks.
  

Risk Management and Governance

• Oversee identification, assessment, management, monitoring, mitigation and reporting of compliance (including regulatory, conduct and financial crime) risks.
  
• Oversee the formulation of compliance policies and standards for approval by the relevant governing body (as necessary) under the Company’s governance framework.
  
• Oversee the development of controls for the Company for all risk types as set out in the relevant Risk Management Frameworks.
  
• Ensure independence, timely responses and escalation of risks and issues where it is felt that the risk tolerance of the company is exceeded.
  
• Lead the regulatory relationships with each of the regulators, whose rules the Company is subject to.
  
• Ensure that the relevant staff understand and accept their responsibilities in relation to risks, governance and controls.
  
• Collaborate with other governance, risk, and compliance teams to anticipate horizon risks that may have a significant impact on the Company and support the development of effective strategies to mitigate such horizon risks, including global standards for conduct of business.
  

Requirements

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Finance, Economics, Commerce, Engineering, Technology or a related field.
  
• 15+ years of leadership experience in fintech, SME banking, embedded finance, digital commerce, lending, supply chain finance, or financial services.
  
• Proven experience leading and scaling a business unit, country operation, or growth function, with accountability for revenue growth and business performance.
  
• Strong understanding of MSME financing, working capital solutions, credit ecosystems, and distribution networks
  
• Track record of building strategic partnerships and delivering commercial growth.
  
• Experience managing cross-functional teams in dynamic and fast-growing environments.
  
• East Africa market experience strongly preferred.
  
  

Key Success Measures

• Revenue growth
  
• MSME customer acquisition and retention
  
• Strategic partnerships established
  
• Regional expansion milestones
  
• Customer acquisition, engagement and portfolio growth
  
• Portfolio quality and sustainability
  
• Team development and organizational capability
  
• Successful execution of Kenya and East Africa growth strategy