Business Development Manager

Role Overview

This is a field-based sales and channel development role covering a defined territory, where you will spend your days on the road opening routes, meeting distributors and shop owners, and building a retail customer base that keeps performing after the paperwork is signed. You are the first point of contact for growth in your region: the distributors you recruit become gateways to dozens of small retailers, and the quality of the book you help build determines whether that growth holds. Success looks like a territory that is mapped, worked methodically, and measured — not just visited.

Key Responsibilities

• Work a disciplined route plan across your assigned territory, systematically identifying and logging untapped distributors and retail outlets rather than cycling through the same familiar accounts.
• Generate your own pipeline through cold outreach — walk-ins, calls, and referrals — and qualify prospects so the field team is working real opportunities, not names on a list.
• Recruit distributors as strategic channel partners rather than one-off accounts, and support them to extend products and services down to the retail businesses they serve.
• Hand qualified leads to the internal telesales team and work jointly with them to move prospects from first contact to active, transacting clients.
• Own portfolio health after onboarding: track repayment and collection rates, follow up on early signs of arrears, and keep your book within acceptable risk parameters.
• Run structured monthly performance reviews with each distribution partner — agree growth targets, diagnose what is blocking them, and track regional results against plan.
• Maintain clean, accurate records of visits, leads, and outcomes, and use those numbers to sharpen the next week's route planning.
• Feed field intelligence back to product and leadership teams — customer objections, competitor activity, shifting demand — so go-to-market decisions reflect what is actually happening on the ground.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Hands-on field sales experience in FMCG, wholesale, or channel-driven distribution networks.
• Resilience in cold prospecting: a demonstrated ability to absorb early rejections and convert them into long-term partnerships.
• Commercial judgement — you can read customer economics and run your territory as if it were your own business.
• Financial literacy across credit, lending, repayments, and portfolio performance, including how collection rates are measured and why they matter.
• Data discipline: meticulous entry of field records and the habit of using metrics, not guesswork, to prioritise your day.
• Strong relationship-building and negotiation skills with small business owners and distributor management.
• A collaborative working style — you coordinate closely with telesales, product, and leadership rather than operating in isolation.
• A diploma or degree in business, sales, or a related discipline is an advantage; proven field results carry more weight.

Why Join

• Purpose-driven work. Your effort directly unlocks growth for Kenyan retailers and distributors, and you see the impact of that work in your territory every week.
• Ownership over bureaucracy. The environment favours street-smart execution and data-driven decisions over corporate red tape, and problems get solved collaboratively.
• Accelerated growth. Operating at the front lines of financial inclusion means continuous learning, fast progression, and clear recognition when you hit your targets.
• You are not alone in the field. Telesales, product, and leadership teams work hand-in-hand with you to turn opportunities into results.