SOLV’s vision is to build a business to business (B2B) Marketplace for Financing and Business Support solutions to simplify and accelerate growth for Ghanaian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by leveraging technology and data in a trusted environment.

MSMEs are the heartbeat of Ghana’s economy and SOLV, in collaboration with multiple financial institutions and business service providers, is working to transform the way MSMEs do business. Come and help us positively and sustainably impact the MSME business ecosystem for good.

Operating out of our base office in Ridge, Accra; we are 100% owned by Standard Chartered Plc., UK and are incubated by SC Ventures (SCV), the innovation investment unit of the Standard Chartered Group. If you are looking to build a Ghana-first digital Marketplace that delivers simplified sustainable growth to MSMEs across Ghana and impacts millions of lives, let’s talk!

Our Values

At SOLV we believe that strong core values, listed below, are the foundation of an inspirational business model.

• Customer First
• Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast
• Win or Lose Together
• Focused Execution
• Value Creation
• Frugality
• Emotional Intelligence & Diversity
• Respect, Humility, and Integrity
• Keeping it Real
• Having Fun

Our people and customers are at the centre of everything we do. In our endeavour to ensure that we prioritize them, our values act as our beacon. Our values are interwoven throughout the cultural tapestry of SOLV and constantly evolves with the contributions each person makes. Internalizing our values has resulted in a powerful team, immensely dedicated to simplifying the growth of our clients.

Job Summary

The Finance Lead is a critical member of SOLV. A trusted advisor to the business responsible for creating a culture of driving business performance with data driven insights. The Finance Lead is responsible not just for the accounting & operational aspects of SOLV, but also building the analytics backbone that would enable the organisation to be a truly digital and data driven business.

Based in Accra and reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the ideal Finance Lead candidate will be a highly driven and collaborative leader with an in-depth knowledge of treasury / cash operations, technology, digital data, and financial processes to help SOLV Ghana achieve its aspiration as a digital Marketplace.

Key Responsibilities

Business

• Provide the strategic thought leadership on all the financial and operational affairs of SOLV Ghana. This requires delivery of strong financial management support, metrics, and insights to SOLV Ghana management and to enable decision making.
• Drive enhanced analytical reporting for the profit and loss and key financial indicators. This will require a wider understanding of how financial performance is delivered to a variety of stakeholders, through business focused conversations at all levels of the team.
• Manage SOLV Ghana’s Liquidity, engaging with Treasury on deposit rates and partnering with external third parties on cash management facilities.
• Engage with SCV and Investors on financial performance, valuation and support the CEO in fund raising activities.
• Oversee product operations with a key focus on Supply Chain Financing.
• Support the Chief Commercial Officer to continue to refine business model to reflect financial product pipeline.

Processes

• Ensure financial and operational control is established. This will involve setting up new financial systems with third party providers as well as ensuring accurate and timely information reporting to SCV and related stakeholders.
• Possess a control mindset and adhere to the relevant risk framework for Business Ventures.
• Partner with external Tax team i.e. Deloitte to support tax compliance.
• Providing inputs for SCV’s reporting schedules (half-year, year-end) as requested
• Lead the forecasting, annual budgeting exercise.
• Ensure operational continuity.

Risk Management

• Manage the overall design and outcome of the end-to-end finance and related processes for SOLV Ghana, starting from within the digital Marketplace and extending to SOLV Ghana’s financial operations.
• The role will own the process output performance in terms of client service, financial performance, and risk, where appointed as Process Owner.
• Develop and maintain effective financial information systems to satisfy the reporting needs of SOLV Ghana, SCV, and local regulators where applicable.
• Apply SCV accounting and financial control policies, standards, procedures, and internal control practices as applicable.
• Identify, assess, treat, and monitor significant operational risks and propose risk acceptance requests with justification to the authorized risk acceptance authority and abide by any conditions of acceptance.
• Promptly execute any remediation or risk treatment actions to remain within risk tolerance.

Talent

• Lead through example and build the appropriate culture and values.
• Collaborate with the CEO to build a lean Finance and Operations function to efficiently and deliver on its mandate.
• Lead a team of Finance and Operations managers and vendors to ensure the organization fulfils all the statutory requirements.

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across SOLV Ghana. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and Code of Conduct.
• Lead SOLV Ghana to achieve the outcomes set out in SOLV’s Conduct Principles.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate, and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.
• Exercise authorities delegated by the Board of Directors and act in accordance with Articles of Association.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a first degree; master’s degree will be an advantage.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience in managing client led profitability, pricing strategies and KPI setting and overseeing profitability through cost initiatives and efficiencies.
• Possessing detailed technical thought in key accounting and financial elements to develop as a subject matter expert for SOLV Ghana.
• The successful candidate will be expected to continually assess the impact of on-going internal and external developments on business.
• Oversee and manage the operational aspects of running the business, including business management, as well as engaging with external consultants.
• Significant experience in a variety of Business Finance and Treasury roles.
• Energy and desire to succeed; follows through on commitments; pushes self and others to deliver exceptional results.
• Ability to see things from multiple perspectives.
• Strong People leader with ability to lead and grow talent; problem solver, collaborator, trusted partner is a prerequisite.
• Highly adaptable, quick learner, self-starter with a structured mindset to approaching problem solving.
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills.

About SC Ventures

SC Ventures is Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm. We were established to reinvent banking, as the significant technological disruptions to the industry was impacting its ability to serve clients and customers, in the ways they needed to be served.

We are a unique ecosystem of innovators, banking experts, business builders and partners who are focused on rewiring the DNA in banking and bringing breakthrough ideas to scale, together.

We are building ecosystems around four high conviction themes: Online Economy & Lifestyle, SMEs & World Trade, Digital Assets, and Sustainability & Inclusion.

We are a global team of “Members” (excluding individual ventures), including dedicated colleagues from the Group’s support functions, based in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

About Standard Chartered

We’re an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we’ve worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you’re looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can’t wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you’ll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together We

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What We Offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies – everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.