Head - Merchant Lending at FairMoney

Why this is a great job:

We are seeking more than just an employee. We need an ambitious and strategic business partner who can help take our company from a Series B stage to a global banking giant, with a sole focus on emerging markets. You will join a team of driven A-Players who view FairMoney as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a unicorn.

Requirements

Define strategic direction:

Financial Acumen and Numbers Obsession:

• Strong understanding of financial principles, including risk assessment, credit analysis, and financial modeling
• Ability to make data-driven decisions and manage the financial health of the lending business.

Risk Management:

• Proficiency in assessing and managing credit risk
• Developing and implementing effective risk mitigation strategies.

Strategic Vision:

• Ability to develop a long-term strategic plan for the merchant lending business
• Identifying new growth opportunities and markets for expansion

Leadership Skills:

• Strong leadership and management skills to inspire and motivate the team
• Effective communication and decision-making abilities.

Builder Mindset:

• Build structures; Project-manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects from A-Z
• Obsessed with the speed of execution vs. theory

Customer Focus:

• Prioritizing customer satisfaction and understanding the needs of merchant clients
• Developing strategies to attract and retain clients

Technology Savvy:

• Understanding the role of technology in modern lending and staying current with fintech innovations.
• Leveraging technology for efficiency and customer engagement.

Problem-Solving Skills:

• Quick and effective decision-making in high-pressure situations.
• Creative problem-solving to address complex issues.

Sales and Marketing Skills:

• Developing and implementing marketing strategies to attract merchants.
• Identifying and seizing sales opportunities.

Global / Africa Perspective:

• Understanding the African merchant lending landscape if the company operates internationally.

Industry Knowledge:

• A deep understanding of the merchant lending industry, including market trends, competitors, and regulatory environment
• Knowledge of various lending products and their suitability for different merchant segments.
• Provide strategic direction to the merchant lending business in terms of which markets to focus on with respect to products, geographies, sectors, policies, etc.
• Build a merchant loan portfolio and ensure the overall soundness of the loan portfolio from a profitability and risk point of view. Identify and develop long-term strategies that will include identifying, setting up, and executing the right product mix, portfolio mix, growth strategies, and market penetration objectives.
• Work with various departments such as risk, underwriting, fraud, collections, sales, product, tech, etc. to help define objectives and performance indicators for each department.

Set up and manage SME business operations:

• Identify gaps in the current organizational structure and help recruit & set up those structures.
• Implement systems, risk controls, and policies & procedures (across various departments such as Sales, KYC/Fraud, Underwriting, Collections, etc.) for merchant lending in line with regulatory and business requirements.

Manage P&L:

• Take charge of Merchant lending P&L. Maximizing profitability and portfolio growth through effective planning, development, and implementation of lending strategies.
• Monitor and manage SME portfolio and communicate performance and concerns to top management.

Define and execute strategic initiatives:

• Define and execute strategic initiatives that enable FairMoney to become the leading merchant lender in Nigeria.
• Work with product and tech to scale small fully automated loan products, and help digitize large loans to improve efficiency while ensuring low credit risk.

New products:

• Set up new merchant lending products, test various product and sector ideas, and scale these to a big enough size to hire a dedicated team.

Performance management:

• Own tracking of Merchant lending KPIs and budget against targets. Challenge business stakeholders on their execution.