Finance & Operations Lead

KLABU is on a mission to build the world’s largest sports club for refugees by building and operating community-driven clubhouses in refugee camps worldwide. Since 2019, the organization has grown steadily. Sustaining this growth, requires a stronger financial conscience. The Finance & Operations Lead brings structure, ensuring the organization remains financially healthy while scaling its global impact.

About KLABU

Aged 18, Jan van Hövell, a young intern at the UNHCR in Ghana, joined a soccer game in the Buduburam refugee camp. That moment of connection sparked an idea that would eventually grow into KLABU. He realized that while refugees need safety, they also need joy and pride. KLABU, meaning “club” in Swahili, was founded in 2019 in Amsterdam to provide exactly that. The organization builds community-driven clubhouses in refugee camps, offering sports equipment, solar power, and Wi-Fi. KLABU operates as a non-profit with a hybrid business model. Most income comes from sponsorships by major partners such as On, Adyen, Postcode Loterij, and soccer club Paris Saint-Germain. In addition, KLABU creates and sells its unique sportswear brand to support fundraising.

Today, KLABU is transitioning from a pioneering start-up to a professional scale-up. Revenue on the Foundation side has grown to 1.5 million euros, and the team consists of eleven dedicated professionals. With a store based in the Haarlemmerdijk and an office in the Houthavens, both in Amsterdam, the culture is ambitious, international, and deeply mission-driven. At the same time, the team remains relatively small, calling for a balance between visionary dreaming and operational realism. Professionalizing the financial backbone is the next critical step.

Vacancy: Finance & Operations Lead

With a founder full of visionary ideas and a young, eager team, KLABU generates more initiatives than it can execute. The Finance & Operations Lead enters as the strategic and operational anchor, building the financial backbone necessary and professionalizing the financial and operational infrastructure. While an external partner handles data entry in the bookkeeping system, the Finance & Operations Lead provides structure by optimizing processes, automating tasks, and implementing internal controls. Responsibilities include overseeing the monthly close, ensuring statutory compliance, and working closely with internal teams to clarify budgets and spending. Beyond the basics, annual budgets and forecasts are developed to guide decision-making. These financial insights allow the Finance & Operations Lead to advise the Board and the founders on what the organization can realistically absorb in order to maintain sustainable growth.

Operationally, the Finance & Operations Lead brings rhythm to the chaos, designing processes that streamline workflows across the Programs, Storytelling, and Partnerships teams. A hands-on approach is essential; the organization is too small for a manager who only delegates. The complexity of the role lies in the hybrid nature of the business. Managing the finances involves overseeing both the Foundation, with its grant reporting requirements, and the smaller retail arm, with its inventory and sales metrics. The ideal candidate integrates these two worlds into a cohesive financial strategy, identifying risks early and providing the data-driven insights needed to navigate the company’s expansion into new markets and refugee settlements.

The ideal candidate has a strong financial background and the confidence to push back when needed, protecting the team’s focus. She/he is comfortable zooming in on the details of a spreadsheet one moment and discussing long-term strategy with the Supervisory Board the next. Experience with Dutch statutory books and proficiency in Dutch is strongly preferred for navigating local regulations, and NGO experience is also a plus. This is an opportunity for a structured professional to partner with a visionary founder, turning ambitious dreams into tangible impact for refugees worldwide.

Interested?

KLABU is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Esme Bakker at esme.bakker@topofminds.com