A
Ashley Cooper
Ashley Cooper
About
Detail
Head of Talent Acquisition
United Kingdom
Most TA functions are request processors. Vacancy arrives. Clock starts. Offer made. Repeat.
I've spent 20 years figuring out why that isn't enough — and building something better.
I'm Head of Talent Acquisition at M-KOPA, a fintech operating across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK. We hire fast, at scale, across six different labour markets, in roles ranging from field sales to Group leadership. In 2025 my team made 722 hires. Our offer acceptance rate sits at 96%. Candidate NPS is 61.
Those numbers aren't lucky. They're the result of a hiring model we built deliberately — one that combines structured assessment, values-based screening, and AI augmentation in a way that most TA teams haven't attempted yet.
I care about two things most TA leaders don't talk about enough: what happens after the hire, and whether the process actually selects for performance or just confidence. The first shapes your attrition data. The second shapes everything else.
Outside M-KOPA, I write and publish under TalentBroker — a newsletter for recruiters who are serious about the profession and tired of the hype. Topics include AI in hiring, performance management critique, values-based selection, and the uncomfortable questions TA keeps avoiding.
If your TA function is growing and you're starting to wonder whether the process is scaling with it — that's usually where the interesting conversations start.
I've spent 20 years figuring out why that isn't enough — and building something better.
I'm Head of Talent Acquisition at M-KOPA, a fintech operating across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK. We hire fast, at scale, across six different labour markets, in roles ranging from field sales to Group leadership. In 2025 my team made 722 hires. Our offer acceptance rate sits at 96%. Candidate NPS is 61.
Those numbers aren't lucky. They're the result of a hiring model we built deliberately — one that combines structured assessment, values-based screening, and AI augmentation in a way that most TA teams haven't attempted yet.
I care about two things most TA leaders don't talk about enough: what happens after the hire, and whether the process actually selects for performance or just confidence. The first shapes your attrition data. The second shapes everything else.
Outside M-KOPA, I write and publish under TalentBroker — a newsletter for recruiters who are serious about the profession and tired of the hype. Topics include AI in hiring, performance management critique, values-based selection, and the uncomfortable questions TA keeps avoiding.
If your TA function is growing and you're starting to wonder whether the process is scaling with it — that's usually where the interesting conversations start.
