Country Launcher

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about 3 years old

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Our mission

We're making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, nearly 60% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In November 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. In 2019, we expanded to Cote d'Ivoire. Now, we have millions of users and are growing fast. Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent. And that's where you come in....

How you'll help us achieve it

We’re looking for someone who’s excited to roll up their sleeves and jump into launching and growing Wave in new markets. You’ll own all aspects of launching Wave and be supported by Wave's product, engineering and people teams in the initial few months.

Here’s some of what that will involve:

  • Own the process of growing our user base from week to week
    • 1) Recruit and train agents in strategic locations
    • 2) Convince the people around them to try Wave
    • 3) Solve any problems that arise until they love our product
    • 4) Build a growth team to repeat steps 1-3 in more and more places until we’re an unstoppable force
  • Hire people to build up and manage the following teams
    • Growth team - acquires new users for Wave by adding agents and convincing users to try them
    • Cash management team – makes sure our agents always have enough cash to do any size of withdrawal
    • Agent management team - trains and monitors new agents and warns and fires underperforming agents
    • Customer support team – assists customers and agents over the phone with any issues/questions
  • Build the business partnerships needed to launch operations


This isn't a typical 9am - 5pm role, on some days you will be at a port early in the morning speaking to fishermen. On other days you'll be visiting offices to rent or carrying out phone interviews.

That being said, it's a marathon not a sprint! We care deeply about our employees and want to make sure you take the time off you need and take care of yourself so you can be your happiest and most productive.

Requirements

  • Fluent in English and French 
  • 3 or more years of experience as founder or manager of an early stage African startup
  • At least one year of experience managing teams
  • Deep knowledge of the country that you’d be launching

You might be a good fit if you

  • Have previously founded and grown a B2C company
  • Think from first principles about how things should work
  • Quickly absorb new cultural settings and understand how they might impact strategy
  • Are intellectually curious and driven to understand unfamiliar environments
  • Are adaptable and can change your strategy quickly based on new information
  • Can build rapport with a diverse range of people
  • Are comfortable taking risks, trying new approaches, and making decisions when the probability of success is unclear
  • Have a high tolerance for uncertainty, travel, and noisy marketplaces
  • Communicate effectively and often, both in writing and in-person, to the point of over-communication

 

Our team

  • We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte D'Ivoire, Mali and Uganda, plus remote team members spread across the world. We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
  • We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your own projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
  • We’re backed by world-class investors including Sequoia, Stripe, Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and the cofounders of PayPal.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume plus a cover letter, both written in English, describing your interest in Wave and the role. We review applications on a rolling basis.

Wave is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.