Jobs at Welcome2Africa

Role Overview

• The Senior Internal Control Lead is a critical hire at the HoldCo level, responsible for designing, implementing, and embedding the group's internal control, compliance, and risk management frameworks across all five entities. This role sits at the intersection of governance, finance, and operational accountability. The postholder will be the first dedicated internal control function within the organisation and is expected to build the control environment largely from the ground up, establishing standards and systems that can scale with the group's ambitions.
• This is a senior, high-ownership role suited to someone who combines technical control expertise with the confidence to operate at group leadership level, influence cross-entity stakeholders, and drive institutional-grade compliance in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment.

Key Responsibilities

Internal Controls & Risk Management

• Design and implement the W2A Group internal control framework, covering financial controls, operational controls, and process governance across all entities.
• Conduct regular risk assessments at both group and entity level, identifying exposures in finance, trade, investment facilitation, and project delivery.
• Develop, maintain, and enforce the group's risk register, ensuring risk owners are identified and mitigation plans are active.
• Establish a control testing programme to assess the effectiveness of controls on a quarterly basis.

Audit & Compliance

• Lead preparation for W2A's inaugural internal audit cycle and serve as the primary liaison for any external or third-party audit engagements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements across W2A's Nigerian and UK operational bases, including FIRS, CAC, HMRC, and sector-specific regulatory bodies.
• Develop and enforce compliance policies for anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Client (KYC), data privacy, and trade documentation standards.
• Monitor adherence to approved SOPs across finance, contracting, procurement, and approvals, escalating material breaches to the CEO.

Financial Governance

• Work closely with the Group Finance Lead to ensure financial reporting integrity, including accurate revenue recognition, cost allocation, and entity-level P&L accountability.
• Review and strengthen financial approval workflows, authority matrices, and expenditure controls.
• Oversee the implementation of financial governance standards for W2A's trade finance operations, investment disbursements, and event revenue cycles.
• Support preparation for Big-4 audit readiness as the group moves toward institutional-grade financial reporting.

SOP Development & Process Governance

• Finalise and maintain group-wide SOPs governing approvals, contracting, payments, vendor management, and reporting.
• Ensure SOPs are operationalised across entities, not merely documented — driving accountability at department level.
• Establish a version-controlled SOP library and an ongoing review cycle to keep processes current with business growth.

Reporting & Governance Support

• Produce periodic internal control reports for the CEO, highlighting findings, risk exposures, audit outcomes, and remediation progress.
• Support the Group CFO and COO in building the governance architecture required for institutional investors, development finance institutions (DFIs), and bilateral partners.
• Contribute to the Group Performance Dashboard by providing control and compliance metrics on a monthly and quarterly basis.
• Assist with preparation of the group's Annual Report, specifically the governance and risk sections.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in internal audit, internal control, compliance, or risk management.
• Professional qualification in one or more of the following: ACA, ACCA, CIA, CISA, or equivalent.
• Strong working knowledge of Nigerian regulatory and financial compliance requirements (FIRS, CAC, CBN guidelines).
• Demonstrable experience designing or significantly improving an internal control framework within a multi-entity or group structure.
• Proven ability to develop SOPs, audit plans, and risk registers to a professional standard.
• High proficiency in financial documentation, control testing, and audit trail management.

Desirable

• Exposure to trade finance, investment facilitation, or development sector operations.
• Familiarity with UK regulatory requirements (Companies House, HMRC) for cross-border group structures.
• Experience supporting Big-4 or similar external audit engagements.
• Understanding of blended finance, donor fund compliance, or DFI reporting standards.
• Experience using ERP systems or financial governance tools (e.g. SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks Enterprise, or equivalent).

Personal Attributes

• High personal integrity and a non-negotiable commitment to ethical governance.
• Ability to work with autonomy and lead without a pre-existing team structure.
• Confident communicator who can engage senior leadership and external stakeholders equally well.
• Detail-oriented, organised, and disciplined — able to maintain rigour in a dynamic environment.
• Constructively assertive: willing to raise concerns and enforce standards even when inconvenient.

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Role Overview

• The Growth Lead is a commercially focused, senior individual contributor responsible for driving qualified lead generation, strategic partnership development, and revenue-contributing relationship management across all W2A entities. This role is accountable for building and converting the pipeline of foreign investors, buyers, sponsors, diaspora investors, and research clients that feeds W2A Capital, W2A Trade, W2A Connect, and the wider group.
• This is not a marketing coordination role. The Growth Lead is expected to own targets, generate measurable pipeline, and work with entity leads to convert leads into mandates, sponsorships, trade deals, and investment commitments. The postholder will be a key voice representing W2A in international business development conversations and will help shape how the group is positioned to institutional and commercial audiences globally.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Generation & Pipeline Development

• Generate qualified foreign investor, buyer, sponsor, and partner leads across all W2A business lines, including agriculture (cocoa, cashew, soya, sesame, feed and fodder), solid minerals, ports and trade infrastructure, and investment facilitation.
• Build and maintain a segmented, CRM-managed leads database covering institutional investors, DFIs, diaspora angel investors, foreign commodity buyers, event sponsors, and research clients.
• Produce monthly lead generation reports, segmented by entity, geography, and conversion stage.
• Own and deliver the group's quarterly lead-to-conversion targets, including a minimum 25% conversion rate across key lead categories.

Strategic Partnerships & Business Development

• Identify, approach, and secure institutional partnerships with embassies, trade promotion agencies, development finance institutions, and foreign government bodies to support W2A Connect's event and mandate pipeline.
• Lead outreach and relationship management for foreign-facing value propositions, including paid event participation, deal room access, investment mandates, and export facilitation services.
• Drive diaspora investor outreach — particularly targeting the US, UK, EU, and GCC markets — with the goal of building and activating a structured Diaspora Angel Investor Club.
• Identify and progress foreign research clients (DFIs, institutional funds, corporate entities, governments) toward paid advisory engagements.
• Collaborate with the W2A Connect team to convert foreign sponsors and paying partners for major W2A events, with a target of USD 500K+ in annual sponsorship revenue.

Revenue Attribution & Conversion

• Work with entity leads (W2A Capital, W2A Trade, W2A Connect) to ensure leads are actively progressed and conversion is tracked with clarity.
• Maintain full visibility of influenced revenue pipeline by entity, and deliver quarterly attribution reports demonstrating the Growth function's direct contribution to group revenue.
• Achieve quarterly influenced pipeline targets (USD 300K–400K per quarter in Q1 2026, scaling with the business).
• Support W2A Capital in converting foreign investor leads into active investment pipelines, including EOIs, LoIs, and structured follow-up processes.

Communications, Positioning & Marketing Toolkits

• Develop and maintain W2A's suite of lead-generation and business development materials — including investment promotion decks, sector briefs, delegate brochures, and digital campaign assets — tailored to specific foreign audiences.
• Lead or coordinate W2A's global media and communications campaigns, positioning the group as Africa's leading trade and investment facilitation platform.
• Manage W2A's digital presence (website, LinkedIn, email marketing) as a channel for demand generation and institutional positioning.
• Ensure all group communications materials are current, institutionally credible, and aligned with W2A's brand identity.
• Reporting & Group Integration
• Submit monthly and quarterly Growth Lead Reports, covering leads generated, qualified leads by segment, conversion rates, pipeline value by entity, and partnership status.
• Participate in weekly cross-entity execution check-ins, sharing business development intelligence and coordinating with operations, finance, and entity leads.
• Feed intelligence on foreign buyer, investor, and partner interests into W2A's broader strategy and event design process.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 5 years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, investment promotion, or growth roles within trade, investment, development finance, or related sectors.
• A demonstrated track record of generating qualified leads and converting them into paid relationships, mandates, or commercial agreements.
• Experience managing relationships with institutional partners — including DFIs, development agencies, embassies, or comparable entities.
• Strong commercial acumen and understanding of investment facilitation, commodity trade, or event-based revenue models.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce compelling institutional materials independently.
• Experience with CRM tools and structured pipeline management.

Desirable

• Direct experience in African trade or investment promotion, either from the public or private sector.
• Existing relationships within diaspora investor networks, commodity trading houses, DFI communities, or foreign trade promotion agencies.
• Exposure to event sponsorship sales or delegate acquisition for investment summits or trade forums.
• Familiarity with digital lead-generation tools, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or equivalent outreach platforms.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Economics, International Development, or a related discipline.

Personal Attributes

• Entrepreneurial, proactive, and deeply comfortable taking ownership of revenue targets.
• Skilled relationship-builder who can engage credibly at C-suite and institutional level across diverse geographies.
• Highly organised, with the discipline to manage a large and diverse pipeline without losing momentum on individual leads.
• Resilient and persistent — this role requires sustained outreach in markets where deals take time to close.
• Clear communicator who can translate complex trade and investment propositions into compelling, accessible language for different audiences.