Business Development & Growth Manager – Proxy Business - Zambia

About Cellulant:

Cellulant is Africa’s leading payments company, providing seamless, secure and innovative solutions that empower businesses, banks, and global brands to thrive in a fast-changing global economy. 

With a presence in over 24 countries and 200+ payment methods, including cards, bank transfers, and mobile money, our single API payment platform, Tingg, simplifies collections, disbursements, and reconciliations. It processes over 4.5 million transactions daily for market leaders across
sectors such as
Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail, and Remittances. 

By simplifying how people pay and get paid, we drive trust, commerce and scale – and connect companies to their ambitions.
 

Our Story:

Across Africa, payments are more than transactions. They are gateways to prosperity, connecting people, businesses and communities to opportunities and growth.

From enabling a logistics company in Lusaka to pay suppliers across borders, to enabling a hospitality brand in Lagos to scale effortlessly, to supporting an airline in Nairobi to reconcile payments from multiple platforms, Cellulant is the bridge that makes it all possible. 

Through trusted technology and customer-centric innovation, we build connections that inspire progress, strengthen economies and transform payments into a tool for progress.

Since our founding in 2003, we've continuously adapted and grown, leveraging our experiences to simplify payments for businesses. We are driven by an unshakable belief that seamless people-centred payments are the key to unlocking prosperity. 

Today, Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.

Our Mission: 

To deliver seamless, secure and innovative payment solutions for businesses. 

Our Vision: 

To create a connected world where businesses move money as easily as they share ideas.

Role Overview: 

As the Business Development & Growth Manager for the Proxy Business, you will be the pioneering commercial and operational engine behind our expansion in Zambia. Reporting directly to the Regional Manager for Zambia, Mozambique, and Botswana, this role demands an entrepreneurial, "build-from-scratch" mindset. You will take total ownership of market penetration strategy identifying new sectors, building high-value corporate partnerships, and negotiating lucrative service agreements. This is a hybrid commercial-operational position; you will simultaneously hunt for new revenue pipelines while coordinating with regional headquarters to ensure local regulatory compliance, smooth service delivery, and flawless operational execution.

What You'll do:

• Market Expansion: Develop and execute the comprehensive market entry and growth strategy for the proxy business across Zambia.
• Pipeline Development: Proactively identify new business opportunities, high-growth commercial sectors, and untapped customer segments for our existing service lines.
• Target Accountability: Drive the commercial pipeline to consistently meet and exceed revenue targets, client acquisition quotas, and local market share milestones.
• Market Intelligence: Monitor local market trends, competitor movements, and shifting regulatory developments to adapt our commercial positioning.

• Relationship Management: Build, nurture, and maintain high-yield relationships with key enterprise clients, strategic partners, and local stakeholders.
• Commercial Negotiation: Lead commercial discussions to negotiate contracts, pricing frameworks, and service level agreements (SLAs) that protect profitability.
• Account Ownership: Serve as the primary, high-touch local point of contact and escalation path for major corporate accounts within the country.

• Ecosystem Building: Establish formal partnerships with local businesses, third-party service providers, agents, and relevant regulatory bodies to build local brand credibility.
• Operational Coordination: Oversee daily local operations to ensure seamless delivery of proxy services, identifying and resolving operational bottlenecks rapidly.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Collaborate closely with regional leadership and global headquarters to ensure absolute alignment on backend systems, compliance frameworks, and financial reporting.
• Performance Reporting: Prepare and present regular strategic reports tracking sales pipelines, KPIs, regional growth, market insights, and localized risks to the senior executive team.

What we are looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, Information Technology, or a related field.
•  5+ years of hands-on experience in business development, B2B sales, corporate account management, or market expansion.
•  A clear, demonstrable history of driving revenue growth and taking a product or service from entry-level visibility to a scaled market presence.

• A deep, native understanding of the Zambian corporate ecosystem, local business etiquette, and regulatory landscapes (Lusaka-based network preferred).
•  A distinct "build-from-scratch" attitude with the resilience required to establish operations in a lean, fast-growing environment.
• Strong commercial acumen with a proven ability to interface with executive-level decision-makers and close complex agreements.
•  Highly self-motivated and comfortable working independently with minimal day-to-day oversight, while maintaining reporting discipline.
• Excellent data analysis, presentation, and communication skills to effectively report market realities back to regional stakeholders.

Why this role matters?

Expanding a business across diverse African markets requires navigating localized corporate cultures, unique financial networks, and rapidly evolving regulatory frameworks.

This role matters because you are the definitive face and architect of our brand in Zambia. You aren't just managing an existing portfolio; you are establishing a sustainable market footprint from the ground up. In a fast-growing, dynamic business environment, your ability to unlock local enterprise partnerships, secure market share, and circumvent operational bottlenecks is what transforms strategic intent into real, scalable revenue. Your successes will not only define our trajectory in Zambia but will also set the blueprint for our wider growth strategy across the Southern African region.

Why Work for Us?

At Cellulant, we are more than a payments company: we are bridge-builders. We believe that by simplifying the way people pay and get paid, we are connecting companies to their ambitions, people to opportunities, and Africa to the global economy. Our work goes beyond payments—it’s about what people, businesses, and communities can do when the movement of money becomes more dependable, seamless, and secure. 

Some exciting things about us...

• We have an extensive footprint: We have an office presence in 10 countries, and our products serve 24 countries across Africa, with a global workforce of about 300 employees. 
• We believe innovation is at the heart of Fintech: Thousands of market leaders and top enterprises trust our technology to power their payments. Our customers are in various sectors, including financial services, travel and hospitality, telecom, e-commerce, remittance companies, SaaS, and the gig economy. 
• We support a diverse and inclusive workforce: We focus on the growth and development of our employees through well-developed, individualised career paths, ensuring you reach your full potential in a supportive and delivery-oriented environment. 
• We put our employees first: At Cellulant, your contribution is rewarded competitively. We use clear career levels and role titles, and benchmark our base pay against data and a well-established internal process. Your actual salary will reflect your experience, skills, impact and the scope of the role, as well as our business needs and prevailing market conditions. We also offer generous personal time off, and medical and life insurance benefits (markets permitting).
• We seek collaborative builders: At Cellulant, we believe that great ideas happen when we come together. Therefore, we nurture a collaborative work environment that challenges, engages, and empowers each person to contribute to the growth and success of the business. 
• We solve Africa's digital economy: We’re solving payment challenges on the continent to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.