Sales Manager

About Kora

Kora is the marketplace for everything payments. We offer a robust payment API for payment collections, disbursements and conversions for businesses anywhere in Africa.

Our vision, which is at the core of what we do every day, is to create a world void of digital financial barriers. We are committed to delivering reliable, secure, and easy-to-use digital financial solutions to every single customer with a guarantee that it is improving their lives. To achieve this mission, we need people like you.

We strongly believe in our ability to find Water in the Desert and pick the Sands in the Ocean.

We value positive energy, and clear communication and are committed to building an inclusive environment for people from every background.

About the role

As a Sales & Partnerships Manager at Kora, you will be responsible for expanding our clientele and identifying new opportunities in the country to generate revenue, improve profitability, and help our business grow. You will also be responsible for identifying new business prospects and selling our products to them. A huge part of your role will revolve around fostering relationships with current clients and building and maintaining relationships with new clients.

In this role, You will be heavily involved in scoping new partners, ensuring that the partnerships are closed and strategies are implemented as we continue to scale and meet the ever-growing demands of our merchants and the business.

You’ll be driving our growth machine, reaching out to businesses, meeting clients, pitching, negotiating, and closing deals with high-value customers in the industry. Hence, we seek a dynamic and experienced salesperson who will lead our operations and drive our business growth in the country.

You will also work closely with Senior Management to execute our strategy in the country, building partnerships, and ensuring compliance with local regulations.

This role requires a strategic thinker with strong operational expertise, relationship management and a deep understanding of the payments market in your country.

Here are a couple of things you'll be doing:

• Managing and maintaining relationships with new and existing clients.
• Building a pipeline of prospective partners, and then aggressively pursuing the highest value relationships to close.
• Create and execute the operational strategy for designated locations, including establishing the infrastructure required to support business growth
• Selling our APIs to High Volume Merchants (HVMs), medium-level merchants, and institutions and collecting APIs from all banks/fintech and other strategic partners for a more robust infrastructure.
• Lead negotiations and execute commercial partnerships and agreements, ensuring mutually beneficial terms and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
• Managing your own sales pipeline: prospecting, leading meetings/negotiations, and deal closing with business stakeholders in all industries.
• Deep understanding of how to create a new business offering from scratch via different forms of partnerships, and strategic investments while keeping a laser focus on revenue, profitability, and market share growth.
• Recommending and implementing appropriate strategies and design tactics to improve B2B sales.
• Collaborate with the senior leadership team to develop and implement the country strategy, aligning it with organizational goals
• Identify and cultivate strategic relationships with partners, acquirers, payment processors, banks, and other stakeholders to unlock growth opportunities
• Understanding the industry, business, and/or technology trends and competitor strategies to make effective decisions and compromises.
• Maintaining an expert level of understanding of the company to provide knowledgeable support to top clients and potential partners both externally and internally.
• Stay informed about regulatory changes, maintain compliance, and engage with regulators when necessary
• Maintain a strong personal network, actively participate in professional organizations, and attend conferences, and industry events to enhance the company's brand visibility
• Engage with local legal experts, accountants, tax professionals, and regulators to ensure smooth operations and compliance with local regulations. Stay updated on local market dynamics, and regulatory changes, and leverage local knowledge to drive business success and operational excellence.
• Collaborating with other teams to negotiate on behalf of the business to relentlessly deliver solutions that will serve evolving customer needs and drive an exceptional customer service culture.
• Researching and identifying new business opportunities - including new markets, growth areas, trends, customers, partnerships, and services - or new ways of reaching existing markets.
• Think strategically - seeing the bigger picture and setting aims and objectives in order to develop and improve the business and implement sales strategies that will further drive enhanced revenue generation for the business.
• Presenting sales and revenue forecast to the Head of sales. Since it’s your pipeline, you’ll be able to inform and update the team on your progress and successes.
• Collaborate with internal teams, including expansion, product, technology, legal, compliance, and commercial teams, to align on operational, product, and technology roadmaps. Facilitate seamless integration of partnerships and optimize processes for maximum synergiesesses need.
• Working closely with the Product, Merchant Success, and Operations teams to translate relevant data and insights into actionable strategies that will drive sales and lead to the achievement of targets.

Here's what we are looking for:

• A minimum of 5 years experience as a Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, or similar role experience in a fast-paced B2B payment infrastructure environment, financial services, or banking industry.
• Strong network in the key industries (Gaming, Remittance, PSPs, Education and aviation) with strong influence on your current clients.
• In-depth knowledge and technical understanding of the organization’s business, product, and service offerings.
• Track record of cultivating strategic partnerships and driving operational excellence
• Proven expertise in Africa’s payments or financial systems.
• Tenacity and drive to seek new business and meet or exceed targets.
• A self-starter, who understands how to build and manage their own pipeline of opportunities.
• Strong business sense and industry expertise in selling business services to large businesses.
• Interpersonal skills for building and developing relationships with clients and an ability to influence stakeholders.
• Great written and verbal communication skills - needed for communicating with a range of people, both internally and externally, and good presentation skills.
• Finally, someone with the ability to sell water to a drowning man!

Reporting Structure: This role reports to the Head, Sales

Interview Process

Below is the interview process you can expect for this role. It may look like a lot of steps, but rest assured that we move quickly and the steps are designed to help you get the information needed to determine if we’re the right fit for you… Interviewing is a two-way street, after all!

We expect the interview process to take a maximum of 3 weeks and an average of 2.5 hours in total. Please note that the interview is virtual.

👋Introduction Stage - we have initial conversations to get acquainted with you and overall experience.

[15m] Recruiter Screen - Abayomi Ishmael

Feedback from the Recruiter (Abayomi Ishmael)

🧑‍💻 [60m] Team Interview Stage (Sales Team) - We proceed to explore your professional background in greater detail and facilitate introductions to team members, including those from various cross-functional areas.

🧑‍💻 [5 Days] Sales Manager Assessment (Sales Team) - We proceed to evaluate your ability to understand the product and our market, understand the problem, find a solution and execute on your plan based on the take-home assessment/project.

[60m] Cultural Fit Interview (Our Core Values)- At this stage, you'll engage in a conversation with the CEO, Kora's COO, the Head of People and Culture, and the head of the team you’re being considered for. The aim is to understand you better and assess the alignment of your beliefs and values with Kora's distinctive culture. We'd like to emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers expected. However, we encourage you to maintain a positive attitude during this session.

Please note that you are welcome to ask questions and inquire during this process. We assure you of complete transparency throughout the interview process.

Working hours

Given that we are an all-remote company and hire almost anywhere in the world, we don’t have a location requirement for this role. However, your working hours must coincide with 9:00 am - 5:00 pm WAT for at least 40 hours/week.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Kora is an equal-opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, and business needs. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented communities and diverse ethnic groups to apply.

Please feel free to inform us if you need any accommodations to facilitate your participation in the recruitment process. Any details you share will be used solely to ensure we can support and accommodate your needs appropriately

If you require more information on our HR Data Privacy, please visit here.

• Health insurance
• Sponsored and tailored training
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time-off
• Flexible work style
• Low-interest loans
• Group Life Insurance
• Access to up to four therapy sessions monthly
• Day off on your birthday 🎂 🎁 🎉
• Employee interest groups that provide supportive communities within Kora
• Great company culture and the opportunity to work with a highly collaborative team building something great!

Note: We recognise imposter syndrome is real - any candidate who does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply.