Business Development & Partnerships Manager

Responsibilities:

• Own and drive the organisation's top-of-funnel acquisition and partnership strategy across VC portfolios, accelerator cohorts, strategic partnerships, and direct founder outreach.
  
• Build and manage strategic relationships with Venture Capital firms, fund managers, investors, accelerators, founders, and other senior decision-makers.
  
• Develop VC and accelerator partnerships that create recurring referral opportunities and provide access to entire investment portfolios or cohorts.
  
• Generate and qualify high-volume outbound opportunities and maintain a structured, repeatable outreach methodology.
  
• Identify new business opportunities and proactively anticipate client, startup, and market needs.
  
• Act as a strategic business development adviser to management, providing insights on market trends, partnership opportunities, and commercial challenges.
  
• Maintain disciplined lead qualification processes, ensuring every opportunity has a defined stage, documented next steps, and complete CRM visibility.
  
• Deliver qualified and well-contextualised opportunities to the Chief Commercial Officer for closure
  
• Build and maintain strong professional relationships across the African startup and Venture Capital ecosystem.
  
• Support the development of scalable acquisition systems rather than relying solely on one-off networking or individual opportunities.

Requirements:

• 3–5 years of progressive experience within the technology/startup ecosystem.
  
• Several years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or professional services sales, preferably within fintech, compliance, legal, advisory, consulting, or related sectors.
  
• Proven track record of building high-volume outbound pipelines from scratch, with measurable commercial results.
  
• Strong understanding of startup ecosystems across Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and other key African markets.
  
• Deep familiarity with the African Venture Capital, accelerator, and startup ecosystem, supported by genuine professional relationships.
  
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships with fund managers, investors, accelerator leaders, and other senior decision-makers, not solely founders
  
• Strong understanding of partnership-led acquisition, referral channels, and ecosystem-based business development.
  
• Self-starter with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for the business development and partnership engine
  
• Ability to anticipate client and startup needs, identify market challenges, and proactively develop solutions.
  
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to provide strategic insights and recommendations to management.
  
• Experience using CRM and lead-generation tools, including platforms such as Apollo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
  
• Comfortable working with measurable, outcome-based performance expectations.

Preferred Background:

• Candidates from the these backgrounds are particularly preferred: Startups / Technology companies, Fintech, Big 4 firms, Management or professional services consulting, Legal, compliance, or advisory firms, companies with strong exposure to the African startup and Venture Capital ecosystem
• The candidate must be based in Lagos.
  
• Existing professional relationships within the Lagos technology and startup ecosystem are highly desirable.
  
• Must be willing and able to travel at short notice within Nigeria and internationally, where required.

Success in the Role:

• Demonstrate genuine relationships with founders, investors, fund managers, or accelerator leaders and explain how these relationships were developed.
  
• Build scalable acquisition channels rather than relying primarily on inbound enquiries or warm referrals.
  
• Demonstrate a structured and repeatable approach to outbound business development.
  
• Clearly distinguish between lead generation, qualification, nurturing, sales closing, and account management.
  
• Take ownership of partnership opportunities and proactively identify new routes to market.
  
• Consistently generate qualified commercial conversations and strategic partnership opportunities.

Key Performance Measures:

• Number of qualified commercial conversations generated monthly.
  
• Number of venture capital firms in active partnership discussions.
  
• Number and quality of strategic partnerships developed.
  
• Qualified opportunities generated through VC portfolios and accelerator cohorts.
  
• Effectiveness and consistency of outbound acquisition activities.
  
• CRM discipline, pipeline visibility, and lead qualification quality.

Reports To: Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

Location: Lagos, Nigeria  (Hybrid)

Remuneration: NGN 800,000 – 1Million Monthly Net with some flexibility for the right candidate.

Benefits:

• Commission
  
• HMO
  
• Performance Bonus
  
• 13th Month, at the company's discretion
  
• Other benefits (to be determined) 

Important Role Boundary: The role is primarily responsible for lead generation, qualification, partnerships, and top-of-funnel acquisition. The chief commercial officer remains responsible for closing qualified opportunities.