Procurement Controller — M-KOPA, Kenya

You've closed the deals that mattered. You've walked into a negotiation everyone else thought was lost and walked out with a number nobody expected. You're good at this — genuinely good — and the people you work with know it.

So here's a question worth sitting with: what would it feel like to run that same playbook, but have the outcome show up as a motorbike a rider can now afford, a solar system lighting a home for the first time, or a smartphone that becomes someone's route into the formal economy?

That's the trade you'd be making.

The scale you'd be sourcing for

M-KOPA now serves 7 million customers across Africa, having unlocked over $2 billion in credit for people who, in many cases, had never been able to access formal financial products before. Today, 86% of our customers report a real improvement in their quality of life, and 70% are using what they've financed to generate income — not just to consume, but to build something.

Behind that is a business of real scale: 2,300+ employees, a network of 35,000 agents, 2 million smartphones assembled in Kenya, and 4,000+ e-motorbikes financed so far, saving riders an average of $5.62 a day in fuel costs. We've contributed $45 million in taxes to the markets we operate in. None of that happens without procurement that can move fast, negotiate hard, and protect value at every stage.

Why this timing matters

We've gone from 5 million customers to 7 million in the space of a year, and we're building toward 10 million next. That's not a milestone you reach by doing more of the same — it means new categories of spend, new capital projects, new supplier relationships, and a procurement function that can scale with the business rather than trail behind it. If you've noticed M-KOPA hiring across several functions right now, that's not a coincidence — it's deliberate infrastructure-building for the next phase of growth, and procurement sits right at the centre of it.

What makes this different

Most procurement roles ask you to run a process. This one asks you to own outcomes — end-to-end, across some of the most varied spend categories a sourcing professional can work in: Mobility, Retail, Facilities, Construction, Fleet, Technology, and Professional Services. You won't be siloed into one category for years on end. You'll be trusted to lead strategic sourcing, complex negotiations, and full contract awards with real autonomy, and your commercial judgment will directly shape capital projects that support financial inclusion at a continental scale.

What the work actually looks like

On any given week, you might be building a should-cost model to pressure-test a supplier's pricing on a construction project, running a sourcing event for a new technology platform, and sitting across the table from a business stakeholder helping them think through the commercial trade-offs of a decision they're about to make. You'll develop category strategies that look two or three years out, not just at the next PO. You'll manage supplier relationships that matter — the kind where a poor renewal conversation could cost the business real money, and a good one builds resilience into the supply chain for years. And you'll do all of this while keeping governance tight: clean documentation, transparent evaluations, audit-ready records, and reporting that gives leadership real visibility into what procurement is delivering.

What you bring

• Extensive, progressive experience in procurement and supply chain, with a demonstrated track record across strategic sourcing, category management, supplier relationship management, and end-to-end delivery of cross-functional procurement projects — CapEx, construction, facilities, technology, logistics, or retail expansion.

• Strong commercial acumen and negotiation capability, backed by hands-on experience applying Total Cost of Ownership modelling, spend analysis, supplier benchmarking, and market intelligence to drive decisions with measurable value — supported by relevant procurement qualifications (CIPS or KISM; progress toward MCIPS is a plus).

• Comfort operating with real autonomy, independently juggling multiple sourcing projects at once, and working confidently in ERP/eProcurement environments such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, Oracle, Coupa, or Ariba.

A background in Procurement & Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Business Administration, or a related field rounds out the profile — though what matters most is what you've actually delivered.

A reality check

This role will stretch you. You'll be managing competing priorities across very different categories at the same time, some of them high-pressure capital projects with real deadlines attached. You'll need to build trust with stakeholders who don't report to you and suppliers who don't always want to move at your pace. If that sounds like more responsibility than reassurance — good. That's usually the sign you're ready for it.

Why this matters

Every contract you negotiate well, every supplier relationship you strengthen, every category strategy you get right — it shows up downstream as more customers reached, more credit unlocked responsibly, and more people accessing formal financial services for the first time. That's the throughline connecting your spreadsheet to someone's life changing. Not every procurement role can say that.

If you're reading this and thinking about what your next negotiation could actually be for — let's talk.

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.