• Visa’s East Africa Merchant Sales and Acquiring team is seeking a Business Development Leader to join the team  The person will have responsibility of leading the in-market acceptance efforts of all Visa payments solutions within their market
• The Merchant Sales and Acquiring Business Development Leader has the responsibility of driving growth and development of meaningful and profitable client relations & merchant relations in assigned  markets. In addition, this role is responsible for working with the East Africa MSA lead  and the Country Managers on industry & regulatory initiatives and interchange management for their market .
• The Merchant Sales and Acquiring Business Development Leader executes on the implementation of agreed acceptance strategies that grow the penetration of digital payments in their Market. He/She also  drive’s the increase of Merchant Sales Volume (MSV) via implementing the new payment solutions and building strong working relationships with client banks, payment facilitators, key merchants and third-party partners. The role is also responsible for understanding and communicating local market needs in order that the SSA Hub, the CEMEA Hub, Digital Team and Global Merchant Sales and Solutions organizations are able to effectively and efficiently define market specific strategies required to manage strategic and complex Acceptance issues.

JOB SCOPE

Key Results Areas

• Develop and execute market strategies that ensures growth in acceptance solutions and revenues through all clients across Geography.
• In cooperation with the internal functions, i.e. Products and Solutions, the Client Services  functions, Marketing, Pricing etc., identify solutions and develop a go-to-market approach covering pricing, marketing, sales and operations
• Drive acceptance of Visa payment solutions , with a focus across various business segments, key among them SMB merchants
• Develop strong market relationships with key merchants & key clients to protect and grow Visa business and brand standing with these merchants
• Conduct quarterly business reviews with key clients with the aim of ensuring Visa relationship adds value to clients
• Develop and execute acceptance, payment facilitators, merchant relations and partner strategy, increase Visa MSV, market share, data processing revenues and create acquirer, merchant and consumer preference for Visa.
• Play a hands-on role in the deployment and go to market of a new digital solutions.
• Development of new initiatives/solutions, implement marketing/usage initiatives targeting traditional and new merchant segments, both in physical world and virtual world, with a focus on mobile based acceptance solutions.
• Successfully translate broad strategies into specific objectives and action plans, aligning efforts of the Acceptance and Interchange organizations with other key Visa stakeholders in particular the Country and Digital Teams.
• Establish and foster relationships with Clients and internal stakeholders at all levels of staff and senior management.
• Understand client needs, solution deployment requirements in different environments and develop models of engagement that are easily replicable across organizations with similar characteristics for faster onboarding.
• Support local Client Sales and Digital Teams with their sales and enablement efforts. Maintain current knowledge of technologies, products, services, methods and applications and implement new approaches and practices as required.
• Maintain and build rapport with Digital and Cross- functional teams across Visa Inc. to exchange, learn and leverage best practices.
• This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• 10 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 8 years of work experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters/ MBA/JD/MD) or at least 3 years of work experience with a PhD

Preferred Qualifications

• 12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD

Professional

• Local market and functional experience in acceptance, merchant acquiring, interchange management, consulting, financial transaction processing knowledge and client sales, preferably Visa, supporting highly complex clients and/or services within a highly matrixed environment
• Established networks at decision-making levels with a strong business-to-business sales track record.
• Years of Experience: A minimum of 10 years of success in progressive leadership positions in the Payments industry
• Education (required): Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Masters degree in a business field is an added advantage

Technical

• Working knowledge of payments network, Landscape and processing services
• Working knowledge of mobile Money & Mobile technology
• Demonstrated, detailed knowledge of the full breadth of acceptance and other products and services offered by Visa(preferred)
• Working knowledge of project management tools and application
• Microsoft office tools e.g. PowerPoint, Excel, Word etc

Business

• Strong Sales and relationship management skills.
• Broad and multiple industry exposure.
• General finance and accounting knowledge and understanding.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills
• Project management experience.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Experience shaping and delivering defined strategies