Summary

The Head of Growth & Business Development is responsible for leading the company's growth and business development strategy with the objective of increasing customers, transactions, transaction value, revenue, and profitability. The role will identify and develop new business opportunities, strategic partnerships, merchant payment opportunities, digital lending initiatives, and other commercial opportunities that support the company's long-term growth. The position will provide overall leadership for commercial growth initiatives and ensure that new business opportunities are supported by clear targets, business cases, implementation plans, and measurable results.

Responsibilities

A. Growth Strategy

• Develop and implement the company's growth and business development strategy.
• Identify priority areas for customer, transaction, and revenue growth.
• Set annual, quarterly, and monthly growth targets.
• Develop initiatives to increase active customers and transaction frequency.
• Identify new commercial opportunities and revenue streams.
• Monitor performance against agreed growth objectives.
• Recommend corrective actions where growth targets are not achieved.

B. Business Development

• Identify new business opportunities within mobile money, fintech, and digital financial services.
• Develop business cases for new commercial opportunities.
• Assess the commercial viability of new products, partnerships, and business models.
• Lead negotiations for strategic commercial partnerships.
• Coordinate implementation of approved business development initiatives.
• Develop proposals and presentations for management review.
• Maintain a pipeline of potential business opportunities.

C. Strategic Partnerships

• Identify and develop strategic partnerships with banks, fintech companies, merchants, aggregators, government institutions, and other organizations.
• Lead commercial discussions and partnership negotiations.
• Coordinate internal evaluation of partnership opportunities.
• Monitor partner performance against agreed targets.
• Identify opportunities to expand or improve existing partnerships.
• Ensure partnerships contribute measurable value to the company.

D. Merchant Business Growth

• Provide strategic direction for the merchant payment business.
• Set merchant acquisition, activation, transaction, and revenue targets.
• Monitor merchant business performance.
• Identify high-value merchant opportunities.
• Develop strategies to improve merchant usage and transaction frequency.
• Support development of merchant pricing, incentives, and engagement models.

E. Digital Lending & New Financial Services

• Provide strategic oversight of digital lending initiatives.
• Identify opportunities for overdrafts, short-term credit, and other digital financial products.
• Support identification and evaluation of licensed lending partners.
• Review the commercial performance of lending products.
• Ensure lending initiatives support the company's growth objectives.
• Monitor customer adoption and revenue from lending products.

F. Commercial Performance Management

• Monitor growth performance across products, customers, merchants, and partnerships.
• Review key indicators including active customers, transactions, transaction value, revenue, merchant activity, partnership contribution, and product adoption.
• Identify underperforming areas and recommend interventions.
• Prepare growth performance reports for management.

G. New Product & Market Opportunities

• Work with Product Development and Marketing teams to identify market opportunities.
• Review customer and competitor insights.
• Identify opportunities arising from changes in customer behaviour or market conditions.
• Support development of commercially attractive products.
• Participate in pricing and product positioning decisions.

H. Cross-Functional Coordination

• Coordinate with Business, Product, Marketing, Technical, Customer Experience, Finance, Legal, and Compliance teams.
• Ensure growth initiatives have clear owners, timelines, and deliverables.
• Resolve cross-functional issues affecting commercial initiatives.
• Follow up on implementation of management-approved growth actions.

I. Budget & Commercial Planning

• Support preparation of Growth & Business Development budgets.
• Develop revenue forecasts for new business initiatives.
• Monitor expenditure against approved budgets.
• Evaluate expected returns from commercial initiatives.
• Recommend prioritisation of opportunities based on commercial value.

J. Team Leadership

• Lead and supervise the Growth & Business Development team.
• Set clear objectives and KPIs for team members.
• Monitor individual and team performance.
• Provide coaching and guidance.
• Promote commercial accountability and results-oriented execution.

3. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

• Growth in active customers.
• Growth in total transactions.
• Growth in transaction value.
• Growth in revenue.
• Number and value of new business opportunities implemented.
• Number of successful strategic partnerships.
• Merchant transaction and revenue growth.
• Digital lending customer and revenue growth.
• Percentage achievement against growth targets.
• Commercial contribution of new initiatives.
• Timeliness of implementation of growth projects.

Education and Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, Finance, Commerce, or a related field.
• Master's Degree in Business Administration or a related discipline will be an added advantage.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5–7 years of relevant experience in business development, commercial management, fintech, banking, telecommunications, or digital financial services.
• At least 2 years of leadership or supervisory experience is preferred.
• Experience in partnerships, merchant payments, or digital financial products is highly desirable.

Characteristics

• Commercial thinking.
• Strategic thinking.
• Leadership.
• Results orientation.
• Negotiation.
• Analytical thinking.
• Innovation.
• Accountability.
• Decision-making.
• Relationship management.
• Problem-solving.
• Strong communication.

Reporting To

Managing Director / Assigned Director