Rajeev Suri has been named as chairman of the M-KOPA board.

M-KOPA, an emerging markets fintech company, has appointed tech veteran Rajeev Suri as chairman of its board, effective December 1, 2024.

He succeeds Elizabeth Littlefield, who led the board for six years.

Suri, a well-known technology and telecoms executive, is expected to lend his expertise to M-KOPA's expanding operations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.

The 57-year-old Indian-born Singaporean business executive previously led Nokia and Inmarsat. He is currently the chairperson of Digicel and a board director of Singtel.

Jesse Moore, CEO and co-founder of M-KOPA, expressed confidence that Suri's executive and board-level experience will assist the company continue to grow its market reach.

“His proven leadership in steering international companies through periods of rapid expansion will be invaluable,” said Moore.

M-KOPA welcomes Suri at a time when it is rapidly growing and providing financed smartphones to the underbanked.

The company has achieved significant scale, with over 5 million customers and more than US$1.5bn of credit deployed across five markets.

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."