Ex-Gojek Product Chief Joins FairMoney

FairMoney today (Feb. 15, 2021) named a new chief product officer — Rohan Khara, formerly head of product at Gojek.

FairMoney, which provides financial services to customers in Nigeria and in India, said in a news release that Khara has been tasked with “driving product innovation as FairMoney continues its expansion into more emerging markets.”

In September 2019, PYMNTS reported that FairMoney was striving to build a business serving populations hampered by, among other things, the lack of traditional credit scores that can be used to earn lenders’ trust.

“What we are trying to do is introduce data that traditional banks don’t use today,” told PYMNTS at the time. “We look at quite a number of alternative data points beyond credit scores — for example, what other apps do (potential borrowers) have, and what other information can they provide that we can verify.”

In today’s announcement, FairMoney lauded Khara for developing “cross-cultural and cross-geographical product management, product research and product design teams” at Gojek.

“Rohan comes with a wealth of experience in building mobile consumer products in large emerging markets, and he will help us in achieving our mission to transform the financial services sector in Nigeria,” FairMoney Chief Executive Laurin Hainy said in a prepared statement.

Fairmoney added in its announcement that Khara brings to his new role a “unique combination of technical aptitude and product expertise” that “will inform FairMoney product development, investment and engagement with users as the company pursues expansion.”

Khara said, also in a prepared statement: “I am very excited to take on this new challenge to ensure that FairMoney builds a robust suite of financial services products for those who need it the most in Nigeria, which will be my 3rd emerging market after India and Indonesia. The beauty of emerging markets is that there is no cookie-cutter approach to solving problems, and each market has its own spirit and nuances. This is important to keep at the back of our minds as we focus on pushing the envelope in Nigeria and India.”

Khara earned an MS in management science and engineering from Stanford University. Before Gojek, he worked at Microsoft, Quikr and MobiKwik.

FairMoney was founded in Paris in 2017.