Senior Internal Control Lead at Welcome2Africa

Role Overview

• The Senior Internal Control Lead is a critical hire at the HoldCo level, responsible for designing, implementing, and embedding the group's internal control, compliance, and risk management frameworks across all five entities. This role sits at the intersection of governance, finance, and operational accountability. The postholder will be the first dedicated internal control function within the organisation and is expected to build the control environment largely from the ground up, establishing standards and systems that can scale with the group's ambitions.
• This is a senior, high-ownership role suited to someone who combines technical control expertise with the confidence to operate at group leadership level, influence cross-entity stakeholders, and drive institutional-grade compliance in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment.

Key Responsibilities

Internal Controls & Risk Management

• Design and implement the W2A Group internal control framework, covering financial controls, operational controls, and process governance across all entities.
• Conduct regular risk assessments at both group and entity level, identifying exposures in finance, trade, investment facilitation, and project delivery.
• Develop, maintain, and enforce the group's risk register, ensuring risk owners are identified and mitigation plans are active.
• Establish a control testing programme to assess the effectiveness of controls on a quarterly basis.

Audit & Compliance

• Lead preparation for W2A's inaugural internal audit cycle and serve as the primary liaison for any external or third-party audit engagements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements across W2A's Nigerian and UK operational bases, including FIRS, CAC, HMRC, and sector-specific regulatory bodies.
• Develop and enforce compliance policies for anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Client (KYC), data privacy, and trade documentation standards.
• Monitor adherence to approved SOPs across finance, contracting, procurement, and approvals, escalating material breaches to the CEO.

Financial Governance

• Work closely with the Group Finance Lead to ensure financial reporting integrity, including accurate revenue recognition, cost allocation, and entity-level P&L accountability.
• Review and strengthen financial approval workflows, authority matrices, and expenditure controls.
• Oversee the implementation of financial governance standards for W2A's trade finance operations, investment disbursements, and event revenue cycles.
• Support preparation for Big-4 audit readiness as the group moves toward institutional-grade financial reporting.

SOP Development & Process Governance

• Finalise and maintain group-wide SOPs governing approvals, contracting, payments, vendor management, and reporting.
• Ensure SOPs are operationalised across entities, not merely documented — driving accountability at department level.
• Establish a version-controlled SOP library and an ongoing review cycle to keep processes current with business growth.

Reporting & Governance Support

• Produce periodic internal control reports for the CEO, highlighting findings, risk exposures, audit outcomes, and remediation progress.
• Support the Group CFO and COO in building the governance architecture required for institutional investors, development finance institutions (DFIs), and bilateral partners.
• Contribute to the Group Performance Dashboard by providing control and compliance metrics on a monthly and quarterly basis.
• Assist with preparation of the group's Annual Report, specifically the governance and risk sections.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in internal audit, internal control, compliance, or risk management.
• Professional qualification in one or more of the following: ACA, ACCA, CIA, CISA, or equivalent.
• Strong working knowledge of Nigerian regulatory and financial compliance requirements (FIRS, CAC, CBN guidelines).
• Demonstrable experience designing or significantly improving an internal control framework within a multi-entity or group structure.
• Proven ability to develop SOPs, audit plans, and risk registers to a professional standard.
• High proficiency in financial documentation, control testing, and audit trail management.

Desirable

• Exposure to trade finance, investment facilitation, or development sector operations.
• Familiarity with UK regulatory requirements (Companies House, HMRC) for cross-border group structures.
• Experience supporting Big-4 or similar external audit engagements.
• Understanding of blended finance, donor fund compliance, or DFI reporting standards.
• Experience using ERP systems or financial governance tools (e.g. SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks Enterprise, or equivalent).

Personal Attributes

• High personal integrity and a non-negotiable commitment to ethical governance.
• Ability to work with autonomy and lead without a pre-existing team structure.
• Confident communicator who can engage senior leadership and external stakeholders equally well.
• Detail-oriented, organised, and disciplined — able to maintain rigour in a dynamic environment.
• Constructively assertive: willing to raise concerns and enforce standards even when inconvenient.