Business Development, Africa

Skills

About the Role

You will own SDF's Africa business development effort, defining priorities and allocating effort across five hub markets. You will lead in-market execution across all hub markets, including annual visits with conference presence, ecosystem meetups, builder roundtables, incubator partnerships, and policy introductions. You will build and close high-value partnerships with fintechs, payment platforms, wallets, ramps, and developer teams, driving companies through to live Stellar integration. You will manage institutional relationships with major telcos, tier-1 banks, and development finance institutions, and cultivate relationships with leading incubators and accelerators to generate builder pipelines. You will act as the internal voice of the African market, maintain rigorous pipeline discipline in HubSpot and Airtable, drive post-visit content production with the marketing team, and represent SDF at regional conferences and owned events.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required, Master's Degree or MBA preferred
• 8+ years of business development, partnerships, or ecosystem experience, with substantial time in or closely with African markets
• Deep, senior-level relationships across African fintech, payments, blockchain, and institutional landscape
• Experience in blockchain, digital assets, stablecoins or tokenization
• Understanding of crossborder payments, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and financial inclusion
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder partnership negotiations
• Experience navigating regulatory environments in African markets
• Exceptional communication skills across diverse audiences
• Fluency in English; proficiency in French or Swahili is a strong advantage
• Based in Africa, with ability and willingness to travel extensively across the continent and occasionally internationally

Responsibilities

• Own SDF's Africa business development effort, defining priorities and allocating effort across five hub markets (Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia)
• Lead in-market execution across all five hub markets, including structured annual visits, conference presence, and owned ecosystem meetups
• Build and close high-value partnerships with fintech companies, payment platforms, wallets, ramps, and developer teams building on Stellar
• Develop and manage institutional relationships with major telcos, tier-1 banks, and development finance institutions
• Cultivate relationships with Africa's leading incubators and accelerators to generate sustained builder pipelines
• Serve as the internal champion and voice of the African market within SDF
• Serve as SDF's primary relationship owner for Africa-based ecosystem partners from engagement through integration and growth
• Maintain rigorous pipeline discipline across HubSpot and Airtable
• Drive post-visit content production including trip reports, video, blog posts, and social content
• Represent SDF at flagship regional conferences and own the design and execution of SDF's events on the continent

Benefits

• Competitive health, dental & vision coverage
• Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday break
• Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents
• Gym reimbursement
• Life & AD&D coverage
• Short & long term disability
• 401K with 4% match
• Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts
• Commuter benefits with employer contribution
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution
• Family building benefits through Kindbody
• Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)
• L&D budget of $1,500/year
• Daily lunch and snacks in office
• Company retreats
• Lumen-denominated grants