Business Development Director

Job Summary:

We are seeking an relentlessly ambitious, results-obsessed Business Development Director to spearhead hyper-growth initiatives at our digital lending fintech. Built for a high-performing revenue generator who thrives on closing high-value commercial deals, this role demands a hunter mindset with deep experience in digital lending (credit scoring, embedded finance, mobile lending, and strategic partnerships) and a bulletproof track record of shattering revenue targets across emerging markets in Asia-Pacific.

The Business Development Director will own the proactive expansion of our commercial pipeline, driving top-line growth through strategic partnerships and high-impact monetization strategies. If you are driven by watching numbers compound, scaling revenue exponentially, and dominating new market segments in digital financial services, this role offers an unprecedented platform for commercial execution.

Key responsibilities:

Business Development

• Identify, qualify, and pursue new business opportunities across APAC markets
• Conduct discovery sessions with prospects to understand their business requirements and pain points
• Position the current product portfolio to fit the customer and market needs.
• Develop and execute strategic account plans for key prospects and existing clients
• Recommend new products to the product team to ensure product market fit and to remain competitive
• Support the entire sales cycle from Lead to Cash with active involvement across the various sales stages.

Dynamic Growth & Commercial Execution

• Own and exceed ambitious regional revenue targets, expanding market share across high-potential APAC jurisdictions
• Build, manage, and relentlessly convert a high-velocity sales pipeline from lead generation to deal closing
• Negotiate high-margin commercial agreements and structure complex partnership deals with major mobile operators and financial institutions

RFP Management & Proposal Development

• Lead the creation, coordination, and submission of comprehensive RFP responses
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather technical specifications and pricing information
• Develop compelling value propositions tailored to specific client needs and market requirements
• Ensure all proposals align with company branding, messaging, and comply with organization standards

Product Demonstrations & Presentations

• Coordinate product demonstrations and technical presentations to C-level executives and decision-makers
• Customize demo scenarios to showcase relevant use cases for different market segments
• Create and maintain a library of demo scripts, presentation materials, and sales collateral

Account Management & Relationship Building

• Maintain ongoing relationships with key stakeholders at target accounts
• Serve as primary account owner and technical advisor  for complex deals and enterprise opportunities
• Coordinate with post-sales teams to ensure smooth customer onboarding and satisfaction
• Gather market intelligence and competitive insights to inform product and sales strategy
• Develop opportunities to cross sell / upsell within current accounts to address new segments/market requirements.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field (MBA or equivalent preferred)
• At least 10 years of experience in business development, partnerships, or commercial roles within fintech, Telecom, banking, or financial services.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated history of repeatedly smashing sales quotas and driving exponential revenue growth in a digital lending or credit-focused environment.
• Strong network across financial institutions, fintechs, mobile operators, and platforms.

Company overview:

Ezra provides B2B digital lending solutions for emerging markets in partnership with mobile and digital wallet operators and financial service providers. Ezra supports 24 operations in 23 countries, across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Our key office locations are in Nairobi, Kenya and Dubai, UAE. 

Our flagship products are Airtime Credit Services (ACS), Nano and BNPL.

• ACS is an airtime or data advance offered to prepaid mobile subscribers at the point of low credit. 
• Nano is a micro cash advance offered to mobile wallet users on demand. 
• BNPL facilitates payment installments for products and services

As a FinTech company, our business is entirely technology and data driven, from determining subscriber eligibility, generating relevant offers, managing risk, loan issuance, recovery, optimizing performance and reporting, reconciliation and billing. 

Each day we process approximately 21M loan requests and 1.4 TB of data across our markets. This process needs to be robust, reliable and secure. 

But it doesn’t end there. We’re exploring new ways of using our platform and transactional data to improve our products and develop new product opportunities.