Overview

• This position will own the Retail and Commerce P&L + Lead Retail & Commerce area to implement the Merchant & Platforms Strategy, managing current clients/partners and bringing new ones.
• The role is identifying new opportunities in current clients and bringing new partners to scale the Mastercard Digital Solutions; will also support the Merchant strategy implementation for East Africa, taking into consideration the approved market strategic direction imperative to strengthen relationships with merchants/partners by creating preference in key merchants/partners for Mastercard Solutions.

Other related functions are:

• Support execution of business plans which promote the value and profitability of MasterCard issuing and acceptance in Retail and Commerce area.
• Perform analysis, competitive intelligence and identify broad business initiatives that provide an appreciable return on financial investments.
• Build strong business cases including financial analysis to generate positive impacts related to ROI and incremental revenue.
• Jointly, the activities above will strengthen Mastercard Worldwide relationships with key stakeholders, promote the brand, generate POI preference and ultimately, spending, activation and revenues; The position owner, will help implement the selected approach to identify merchant’s needs and work, directly and indirectly to bring value to those customers using Mastercard assets, integrating them into business building activities across all functional areas as appropriate.

Skills Required:

• Bi-lingual English & Swahili
• Excellent analytical skills (e.g., cards P&L analysis, financial forecasting, competitive analysis)
• Superior presentation skills, written and oral (including in English);
• Proven ability to develop business relationships at all levels
• Results-oriented and customer-focused
• Strong Sales / Business Development / Relationship Management background, preferably gained in Merchant and Platform Industry.
• Experience in issuing or acquiring can be a “plus”.
• Strong / deep knowledge of the platform environment (technical basic knowledge)
• Ability to understand and execute on key operational aspects, and attentive to details;
• Excellent problem solving, analytic capabilities and business acumen;
• Selling Skills with ability to initiate, pursue and close a sale, as well as strong influencing and negotiation skills;
• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree, MBA is a “plus”;
• Proven track record of project management capabilities;
• Team-player with hands-on attitude, strong collaborations skills;
• Strong Market knowledge is required (due to market peculiarities) ; should be a professional “ready to get on board”;

Experience Required:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in business development at market leaders in business that provides services or goods to Merchants/Platforms/Digital Players;
• Or similar / equivalent relevant experience with market leaders in the payments industry serving digital retailers.
• Sales and account management experience is preferred, as is local market experience