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 problem 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 August 2019, we expanded to Cote d'Ivoire. Now, we're enabling millions of payments a month and expanding across the continent. And that's where you come in...
How you'll help us achieve it
We’re looking for a Head of Sales with a great network who is resourceful, organized and proactive about getting things done.
As the first Sales team hire at Wave in CI, you will be responsible for building Wave’s Sales team, acquiring new businesses for Wave’s business products and overseeing account management of these new customers.
In this role, you'll:
- Own all aspects of the sales funnel for businesses who could be users of Wave's bulk-payments and other business products (payments). This includes:
- Sourcing businesses, identifying business leads and pitching Wave to potential businesses
- Negotiating and signing contracts with businesses
- Onboarding and managing business accounts
- Ensuring a great customer experience
- Coordinate and facilitate communication between businesses and Wave teams (Engineers, Finance, Distribution)
- Work closely with product team on sales team needs, including effectively prioritizing product requests based on needs of businesses
- Develop presentations, proposals and source partnerships
- Take notes in meetings and share relevant information with key individuals
- Research and contact potential new partners for Wave’s products
- Build the sales team to meet growing needs of the business
Key details
- Based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
- Work authorization in Ivory Coast required
Requirements
- At least 8 years' experience in sales or business development with a fintech (at least 2 years in Cote d'Ivoire)
- Track record in preparing presentations and documents in French/English for external partners
- Fluent in French and English
- Secondary degree education in Communications, International Relations, Business Management, or a comparable field
You might be a good fit if you are:
- You have a strong network of friends and former colleagues from your work in sales that you are excited for an excuse to call, meet and work with
- You have identified and professionally engaged with strategic partners within a week's time by seizing upon mutually beneficial opportunities and being relentless in your pursuit
- You are equally at ease in a boardroom giving a presentation or preparing partner on-boarding documents in French/English
- You’ve worked on business partnerships for payments across diverse sectors (agriculture, security, government)
- You're enthusiastic about Wave's mission and excited to do what needs to be done to achieve it
- A clear and proactive communicator, you are able to independently follow through on tasks and can manage priorities effectively
- You like team work, but you also know how to work well independently
- Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth
- Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done
Our team
- We're a team of 300+ Senegalese, 100+ Ivorian and 60+ remote people who are deeply passionate about our mission of bringing great financial services to the people who need them most.
- We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll learn to 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 Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, and the cofounders of PayPal.
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume plus a cover letter 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.