Program Finance Head of Governance, Compliance & Business Controls - Mastercard Foundation

Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work.

Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. The Foundation is independent with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

THE WORK AT THE FOUNDATION

We have entered a very exciting time at the Foundation as we scale up our operations across Africa to realize our Young Africa Works strategy. Our role at the Mastercard Foundation is to be a catalyst. Our Young Africa Works strategy focuses on working with others to spur systemic change so young people have the opportunity to find work that is dignified and fulfilling.

The Foundation has opened offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda, building a broader leadership presence in Africa to develop specific strategies that support youth employment.

Within a country, we work with governments, the private sector, educators, young people, and other funders to improve the quality of education and vocational training, prepare young people for the workforce, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and connect job seekers to dignified and fulfilling work.

We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide. We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work. We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful.

UNDERSTANDING CANADA PROGRAMS AT THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation has begun working within Canada in partnership with Indigenous communities and post-secondary institutions to listen, learn, and best understand how we can act in meaningful ways. The EleV strategy was co-created with Indigenous communities, young people, and partners to enable 30,000 Indigenous youth to complete their education and transition to dignified work aligned with their values and aspirations.

As reflected in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, education is a key driver of improved socio-economic well-being. Through building partnerships with Indigenous communities, we look to expand our initiative ultimately helping to support a generation of transformative Indigenous young leaders who will be change agents within their communities.

We believe that by setting a bold target, we will encourage engagement across sectors and create momentum that will elevate the strengths and opportunities of Indigenous youth. In keeping with our approach, Indigenous communities and young people will be the drivers of this transformation. The program will promote innovations to address longer-term systemic change to achieve economic prosperity and social well-being within Indigenous communities.

The EleV team oversees current and emerging partnerships related to Indigenous education. Consistent with our overall vision and Youth Africa Works strategy, we will share learnings and opportunities to connect across the work of the Foundation. While operating in distinct contexts, the centrality of youth voice and vision, affirmation of culture and identity, and priority to enhance community capacity for self-determination are common threads upon which our work is strengthened and reinforced.

If you are an experienced Finance Operations professional looking to increase your impact, read on!

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Head of Finance & Accounting, Africa, the role will be responsible for ensuring the Financial & Operational Processes across the foundation related to Programs and, Program Finance, including policies & Procedures, are designed, implemented and operating effectively to safeguard the Foundation resources from Financial & operational risks as well as partner the programs and program finance teams to strengthening the controls & compliance environment within the end to end programming processes within the foundation (Financial & Operational Risks) in collaboration with the Head Business Controls & ERP and the Strategy and Planning Programs Team.

The successful candidate will be based in any of our Africa hubs; Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• SME (Subject Matter Expert). Provide first-line advice and support to the program finance teams in terms of the Due. Diligence/Contracting/Deliver process as well as other program Finance processes and ensure that identified issues are escalated to second line support as required (2nd line would be Legal) or that proposed solutions are sufficient to mitigate the risks.
• Masterdata & Financial data integrity of the grant management system.
• SME for the grant management system on financial matters and usage of the system.
• Partner with IT to ensure that process improvement impacting the grants management system are tracked & implemented and controls are not compromised.
• Design, lead & implement a process of Controls Self-assessment of program finance processes to ensure controls are operating as designed across the portfolio.
• Lead the implementation of new process improvement and processes improvements/enhancement within the program Finance function in partnership with the Strategy & planning as well as the controller function.

• Ensure that all control gaps and incidences identified within the program finance processes are remediated in a timely & complete manner in coordination with the assurance function and in partnership with the programs teams (Incident Management).
• Continuous control assessment of our design to deliver programming processes to ensure we have adequate/sufficient internal controls (Financial) to mitigate against key risk (Emphasis on financial risks & partners with other functions for operational risks) and together with the Strategic Ops team and Enterprise Risk Management Team update processes, policies, tools etc to support a Strengthening of the controls environment.
• Ensure the automated and manual controls processes in relevant grants management systems are designed and operating effectively (e.g. Fluxx) are in place related to Program Finance, DD, etc.
• Oversee and continuous improvement of the Financial routines in the Design to deliver phase of the programming process.
• Partner with the RD and the Programs team in the Peer Review Process, to drive continuous improvement and driving for the embedding of learnings.
• Working together with other business processes champions to ensure processes, policies and tools developed are aligned and efficient in support of the programming process without any dilution of the controls environment.
• Ensure that learnings from escalations and matters arising are embedded into process improvement for the program finance team to strengthen the control environment and deliver an effective & efficient process that enables programming.
• Lead the implementation and embedding of the Programs compliance framework with program Finance teams as developed by legal & compliance in partnership with the key stakeholders whilst ensuring synergies with program finance processes and the principle of strengthening Financial and operational controls.
• Continuous self-assessment of programs to check for compliance & institute corrective actions as appropriate together with the program + Legal and compliance teams.
• Together with L&D & Other functions support in the development and dissemination of information, learnings and development of training materials with the objective of disseminating knowledge on program finance processes to other functions and support the capacity building of program Finance team to drive the culture of continuous improvement within the team.
• Support the continuous training of the program finance teams on the processes and governance to ensure we minimize significant control deficiencies.
• Develop and implement and run the finance onboarding program in partnership with the controller function and the programs and L&D function to ensure teams are enabled to deliver their work.
• Develop relationship of a trusted partner with mainly internal stakeholders (Business Controller, Global Controller, Legal & Compliance and Strategy & Planning & Assurance/ERM Etc) and external stakeholders (Program Partners).
• Partner & support the Controller function in the development of the ERP system.
• Other Projects and work as maybe required from time to time.

Who You Are

• A University Degree, Qualified Accountant or another relevant qualification is required.
• Minimum of 13 year work experience in Finance, Finance Operations, Shared Services or related fields.
• Experience in Transformation programs and Projects at a regional/global scale an added advantage.
• Experience in designing, implementing & managing Operational Internal Control Systems, processes and Policies.
• Proven ability in managing Financial Processes & Accounting Operations Management, experience in programming, project management an added advantage.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in identifying, designing & Mitigate Operational, Financial and Business Risks.
• Sigma six Black belt added advantage.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize and execute.
• Innovative and able to formulate new or creative approaches to problems.
• Ability to effectively interact and influence across a matrix business organizational structure and work closely in liaison with finance and business teams.
• Flexible, open to change and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Tenacious, Independent and works with Initiative.
• Problem-solving: Effectiveness in identifying problems, seeking pertinent data, recognizing important information and identifying possible causes of problems and solutions to challenges.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• Demonstrate a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.