We’re making Africa the first cashless continent.
In 2017, over half the population 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 are looking for a Business Development and Partnerships Manager who is excited about a challenge and is passionate about Wave’s mission; a dynamic and out of the box thinker who is ready to do whatever it takes to achieve our mission of making Uganda cashless!
The Business Development and Partnerships Manager will lead the Business Development team which is the bridge between external companies and the internal Wave teams. The business development team cultivates the relationships, establishes partnerships and executes contracts based on the needs of the product and operation teams.

You’ll focus on three types of partners:
• Banks partners for e-money partnerships and products integration.
• Telecom partners for all engineering/product needs.

• Business partners as users of Wave’s bulk-payments and merchant services.

And your tasks will include;
• Building relationships to enable Wave to grow and operate effectively in Uganda.
• Sourcing business partnerships for Wave’s payment products.
• Forming, negotiating services and managing partnerships with telecom operators that are key for Wave’s business to operate.
• Identifying and liaising with the right person at partners to achieve Wave’s needs.
• Supervising communication between partners and Wave teams (Engineers, Finance, Distribution).

Key details
• You’ll work from our office in Kampala, and may travel to field locations.
• Work authorization in Uganda is required.
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses to strong performers who have been with the company for more than 6 months.
• We pay 100% of your health care insurance premium cost for yourself and your dependents.
• We support working parents – we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized child care when you return to work.
• We help you live your fullest life now! We subsidize gym memberships, fitness classes, and workout equipment.
• Airtime reimbursement.
• Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements
• 5+ years experience in a similar position, ideally at an international company with a focus on partnership.
• 3 years experience in a supervisory position.
• A bachelor’s degree in Communications, Telecommunications, Finance, International Relations, Business Management, or a comparable field.
• Fluent in English.
• Experience with using CRM software to track deal progress and indicate next steps.
• Data-savvy, understand basic metrics of marketing and operations.
• Strong network and content knowledge in the local Fintech or Banking space.
• Fluency in any local language is an added advantage.

You might be a good fit if you
• Have a strong network of friends and former colleagues from your work in B2B sales or work at a telecom operator that you are excited for an excuse to call up, meet and work with.
• 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.
• Are equally at ease in a boardroom giving a presentation or preparing partner on-boarding documents in English.
• Are enthusiastic about Wave’s mission and excited to do what needs to be done to achieve it.
• Like team work, but you also know how to work well independently.
• Have demonstrated tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Are excessively detail oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions.

Our team
• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte D’Ivoire, Mali, Benin 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.