Ezra announces the appointment of its Chief Risk Officer

Ezra, microloan fintech that offers ‘easy and fast’ cross-border credit solutions Africa and emerging marketshas announced the employment of Andrew Goodrich as Chief Risk Officer. This appointment is an important milestone in Ezra’s ambitious expansion strategy to support the economically underserved in emerging economies.

Bringing more than 30 years of experience to the role, Andrew will oversee the data engineering, predictive analytics and credit risk/fraud functions at Ezra, progressing and ensuring business optimization is achieved through improved standardization and credit risk management. In addition, he will be tasked with streamlining efficiency within these functions across the many markets in which Ezra operates.

Andrew, who has spent much of his life in South Africa, will be based out of Ezra’s office in Dubai. Prior to joining Ezra, Andrew held the position of BankTech Executive at MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator. During his tenure, Andrew was responsible for defining, establishing and driving the BankTech strategy, a new credit product vertical within the MTN Group. Andrew has also worked as Credit Risk Director at JUMO, where he established the credit risk, prediction and fraud analysis structure, focused on standardization and drove improved prediction and credit risk assessment to internal and external stakeholders.

Some of Andrew’s other career highlights involve working for a number of start-ups. These include a niche credit risk solutions company, which was successful in assisting several start-ups in South Africa, as well as an e-commerce/digital credit provider, and a number of fintech and finserv companies across Africa and Asia.

In his new role, Andrew will report directly to CEO, Erwan Gelebart, and will be part of the company’s management team.

Commenting on his appointment, Andrew Goodrich said: “I’m excited to help drive a financial inclusion agenda with a forward-thinking company like Ezra. My mandate will cover the full spectrum of credit risk by serving financial credit responsibly, particularly in emerging markets, where we have an opportunity to help our clients move up the financial services ladder.

I like to drive a sustainable approach so that we can build long-term relationships with customers, support and provide them with relevant credit products. Overall, risk management is critical to maintaining the balance between providing access to credit and protecting both lenders and consumers. I am excited to help drive the company’s vision and, together with our partners, leverage alternative credit scoring to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Erwan Gelebert, CEO of Ezra, comments on the appointment: “We are delighted to welcome Andrew to the team. With decades of experience in the consumer finance and finance industry, Andrew will play an integral role in helping to strengthen our presence, particularly in emerging markets where we work with banks, telecoms, mobile wallets and utilities, to help businesses innovate faster and meet customers’ needs on a large scale.”