Head of Sales Corporate Solutions – Eastern Cape

Merchant Division

Lesaka Merchant Division is a fast-growing, technology-enabled business within Lesaka Technologies, focused on delivering innovative financial and operational solutions to merchants across South Africa. As the division undergoes strategic integration and reorganisation, we are building a future-ready platform that delivers customer-centric solutions that help merchants grow and fulfil their potential.

Role Purpose

The Provincial Head of Merchants (Corporate Solutions) plays a critical role in Lesaka’s ability to scale profitably, deepen merchant relationships, and deliver on its mission to enable merchant growth across South Africa. This role bridges strategy and execution, ensuring national ambition translates into meaningful local impact.

The incumbent is accountable for the end-to-end performance of the merchant business within a defined province, including revenue growth, profitability, merchant acquisition and retention, customer experience, and the execution of national strategy at a provincial level.

Key Accountabilities

Provincial Commercial and P&L Ownership

• Own and deliver provincial revenue, cost, margin, and growth targets.
• Develop and manage provincial budgets, forecasts, and commercial plans.
• Drive productivity and improve unit economics across acquisition, activation, and retention.
• Monitor business performance and take corrective action where required to achieve financial targets.
• Ensure disciplined management of sales performance, operating costs, and commercial returns within the province.

Merchant Growth, Portfolio Expansion and Market Development

• Lead merchant acquisition and portfolio growth across SME, informal, and enterprise segments.
• Identify provincial growth opportunities by geography, industry, merchant profile, and local market dynamics.
• Execute go-to-market plans for card acquiring, POS, digital payments, and value-added services.
• Drive increased merchant penetration, activation, and share of wallet across priority segments.
• Ensure the province contributes meaningfully to national growth ambitions through focused market execution.

Customer Experience and Retention

• Work cross-functionally to ensure a consistent, high-quality merchant experience across onboarding, servicing, support, and issue resolution.
• Reduce churn through proactive merchant engagement, early identification of risks, and delivery of value to merchants.
• Drive retention strategies that strengthen long-term merchant relationships and recurring revenue.
• Embed a customer-centric culture across provincial teams.
• Ensure service issues impacting merchant satisfaction are escalated and resolved timeously.

Leadership and Team Management

• Lead, coach, and develop provincial sales teams to deliver against commercial objectives.
• Build a high-performance culture anchored in clear targets, accountability, discipline, and coaching.
• Drive strong sales management routines, including pipeline reviews, performance check-ins, and field support.
• Identify capability gaps and implement development plans to improve team effectiveness.
• Support succession planning, talent development, and team readiness for future growth.

Strategy Execution and Localisation

• Translate national merchant sales strategy into province-specific execution plans.
• Adapt commercial priorities to reflect local market opportunities, challenges, and customer needs.
• Provide market feedback and insights into product, pricing, customer propositions, and sales strategy.
• Ensure alignment between national priorities and local market realities.
• Drive consistent execution of campaigns, priorities, and business initiatives at provincial level.

Operational Excellence and Risk Management

• Partner with Operations to ensure strong execution across onboarding, compliance, device deployment, service delivery, and merchant support.
• Drive operational discipline and adherence to required processes, controls, and service standards.
• Manage regulatory, fraud, credit, and operational risks within the province.
• Work closely with Risk, Compliance, Finance, and other support functions to maintain governance standards.
• Ensure business activity within the province is conducted in line with internal policy, legal requirements, and Lesaka standards.

Stakeholder and Partner Management

• Build strong relationships with key merchants, strategic partners, regulators, and relevant ecosystem participants within the province.
• Represent Lesaka in provincial forums, industry engagements, and strategic customer discussions.
• Collaborate effectively with Product, Technology, Finance, Risk, Marketing, and Operations teams.
• Act as the key provincial voice for market intelligence, merchant insights, and local opportunities.
• Strengthen internal and external partnerships that enable sustainable commercial growth.

Key Performance Indicators

The Provincial Head of Merchants (Corporate Solutions) will be accountable for delivering a balanced scorecard across the following high-level measures:

Financial and Commercial Performance

• Revenue growth and gross profit achievement versus budget
• Provincial portfolio profitability and cost-to-serve management
• Average revenue per merchant (ARPM)
• Sales productivity per Account Executive
• Product mix and strategic product contribution

Merchant Growth and Portfolio Expansion

• New merchant acquisition
• Merchant activation rates
• Growth in active merchant base
• Cross-sell and multi-product penetration across the merchant base
• Share of wallet growth within existing merchants

Retention and Customer Outcomes

• Merchant retention rate
• Churn / attrition rate
• Save-rate on at-risk merchants
• Customer satisfaction and service performance
• Resolution of key merchant issues within agreed timelines

Sales Execution and Discipline

• Pipeline coverage versus target
• Pipeline conversion rate
• Forecast accuracy
• Sales activity and call discipline
• CRM / Salesforce hygiene and data quality

Leadership and Team Performance

• Team target attainment
• Individual Account Executive productivity
• Performance management completion and quality
• Coaching cadence and field accompaniment
• Capability development and succession readiness

Risk, Governance and Operational Discipline

• Compliance to onboarding, FICA, pricing, and approval controls
• Audit / control findings within the province
• Fraud, credit, and operational risk incidents
• Adherence to governance, policy, and reporting standards
• Operational execution across onboarding, device deployment, and merchant servicing

Required Experience and Qualifications

Experience

• 8–12 years’ experience in payments, fintech, financial services, FMCG route-to-market, or B2B sales-led environments.
• Proven experience with P&L ownership, regional business leadership, or equivalent commercial accountability.
• Demonstrated success in scaling distributed, field-based teams.
• Strong understanding of merchant acquiring, POS, digital payments, and SME financial services.
• Experience in managing complex stakeholder environments and translating strategy into execution.
• Proven track record in delivering commercial growth, improving retention, and driving team performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Commerce, Finance, or a related field.
• MBA or postgraduate qualification will be advantageous.

Core Competencies

• Commercial and financial acumen
• Strategic execution and operational discipline
• Customer-centric leadership
• Data-driven decision making
• People leadership and talent development
• Stakeholder influence and partnership building
• Planning, forecasting, and performance management
• Problem solving and decision-making
• Risk awareness and governance discipline

Leadership Attributes

• Entrepreneurial and ownership-driven
• Comfortable operating in complex, high-growth environments
• Resilient, adaptable, and execution-focused
• Strong ethical compass and governance mindset
• Highly accountable and results-oriented
• Collaborative and able to influence across functions
• Able to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution

Success in the Role Will Look Like

• Deliver profitable provincial growth
• Build a high-performing and accountable sales culture
• Expand the merchant base while protecting and growing existing relationships
• Improve customer experience and retention
• Execute national strategy effectively within local market conditions
• Strengthen commercial discipline, governance, and operational excellence across the province