CEO, Solv Kenya

Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited is a leading financial institution in Kenya, established in 1911, offering a range of banking and financial services.

This executive leadership position involves overseeing Solv's operations in Kenya and spearheading the growth of its MSME business throughout the East African region. The successful candidate will be tasked with identifying new market opportunities, cultivating strategic partnerships, driving customer acquisition, developing scalable products and financing solutions, and building a high-performing local team. The role demands a unique combination of strategic vision, deep expertise in the MSME ecosystem, extensive fintech experience, strong commercial acumen, and effective operational execution.

1. Develop and implement Solv's growth strategy for Kenya and support East Africa expansion.
2. Manage the country's profit and loss, ensuring sustainable business growth and profitability.
3. Lead the evaluation and execution of product and business expansion initiatives.
4. Build and scale a sustainable platform for MSME businesses.
5. Identify new market opportunities, customer segments, and expansion initiatives.
6. Drive revenue growth, customer acquisition, and portfolio performance.
7. Establish Solv as a leading growth and financing platform for MSMEs in the region.
8. Gain a deep understanding of MSME customer needs, working capital challenges, and supply chain dynamics.
9. Design and scale solutions to improve MSME access to finance, procurement, distribution, and growth opportunities.
10. Build ecosystems connecting MSMEs with financial institutions, suppliers, distributors, and business service providers.
11. Promote the adoption of embedded finance and supply chain financing solutions.
12. Develop and manage strategic partnerships with financial institutions, fintechs, distributors, corporates, industry associations, regulators, and other ecosystem stakeholders to accelerate growth and expand access to capital, markets, and customers.
13. Provide strategic direction for developing and enhancing customer-centric MSME solutions.
14. Collaborate with product, technology, risk, and operations teams to deliver scalable and commercially viable offerings.
15. Monitor and optimize key business, portfolio, and customer performance metrics.
16. Monitor portfolio quality and lending performance in collaboration with financing partners.
17. Drive customer retention, engagement, and profitability.
18. Establish robust performance tracking and reporting mechanisms.
19. Represent Solv with investors, regulators, partners, and key external stakeholders.
20. Act as the primary spokesperson and business leader for the company in Kenya.
21. Provide regular strategic updates and market insights to executive leadership.
22. Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, risk standards, and governance frameworks.
23. Oversee the identification, assessment, management, monitoring, mitigation, and reporting of compliance risks (regulatory, conduct, financial crime).
24. Oversee the formulation of compliance policies and standards for approval by the relevant governing body.
25. Oversee the development of controls for all risk types as outlined in the Risk Management Frameworks.
26. Ensure independence, timely responses, and escalation of risks and issues when the company's risk tolerance is exceeded.
27. Lead regulatory relationships with all relevant regulators.
28. Ensure staff understand and accept their responsibilities regarding risks, governance, and controls.
29. Collaborate with other governance, risk, and compliance teams to anticipate horizon risks and support mitigation strategies.

1. Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Commerce, Engineering, Technology, or a related field.
2. Over 15 years of leadership experience in fintech, SME banking, embedded finance, digital commerce, lending, supply chain finance, or financial services.
3. Proven experience leading and scaling a business unit, country operation, or growth function, with accountability for revenue growth and business performance.
4. Strong understanding of MSME financing, working capital solutions, credit ecosystems, and distribution networks.
5. Demonstrated track record of building strategic partnerships and achieving commercial growth.
6. Experience managing cross-functional teams in dynamic and fast-growing environments.
7. East Africa market experience is strongly preferred.
8. Entrepreneurial and commercially driven leader with a proven ability to build and scale businesses within the MSME, fintech, digital commerce, or financial services ecosystem.
9. Ability to combine strategic vision with strong execution capabilities.
10. Deep understanding of SME customer needs, working capital challenges, embedded finance, and partnership-driven growth models.
11. Demonstrated track record of leading growth, building high-performing teams, establishing strategic partnerships, and delivering sustainable commercial results in emerging markets.