About Apollo Agriculture:
Apollo Agriculture is a leading agri-fintech platform empowering small-scale farmers across Africa to increase their profits and farm more sustainably. Apollo uses artificial intelligence and automated operations to unlock the massive, untapped small-scale farming market. Apollo enables farmers to access the optimized financing, high-quality farm products, expert digital advice, and risk management solutions they need to invest and scale their businesses. Apollo grew paying customers over 2.5x in 2023 to over 200K small-scale farmers in Kenya and Zambia, increasing revenue to nearly $30M with robust unit economics. Apollo partners with key global agriculture companies like Bayer, OCP and Yara, and is backed by Anthemis, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Flourish Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, and Softbank Vision Fund. Apollo’s team brings together technology, credit and operations experience from The Climate Corporation, Google, Capital One, Revolut, and One Acre Fund.
About the Role:
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic credit & collections expert to lead the execution of our repayment strategy in Zambia. In this pivotal role, you'll lead tele-collections, field collections, insurance, and quality assurance teams, driving innovative strategies to achieve repayment targets and improve operational efficiency. You'll be at the forefront of building a high-performing culture, inspiring teams to achieve excellence, and continuously pushing boundaries to optimize our repayment operations. If you’re a visionary leader with a passion for strategy, data-driven insights, and making an impact, this is the role for you!
Location: Lusaka, Zambia
Contract Terms: Permanent
Responsibilities:
-
Develop and Execute Repayment Strategies: Work closely with the Credit Leadership team to define, develop, and implement effective repayment strategies that align with the company’s objectives, ensuring a seamless and efficient repayment process.
-
Build a High Performing Repayments Team: Lead the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing training of team members, fostering a high-performance culture that motivates staff to achieve repayment and cost targets consistently.
-
Manage Tele-Collections, Field Collections, Insurance, and QA Teams: Oversee the day-to-day operations of the tele-collections, field collections, insurance, and quality assurance teams, ensuring they are equipped with the tools and resources needed to meet objectives and deliver optimal results.
-
Track Team Performance & Provide Feedback: Monitor individual and team performance regularly, offering constructive feedback, coaching, and mentorship to help staff grow and improve in their roles, while recognizing achievements and areas of success.
-
Use Data-Driven Insights to Optimize Processes: Analyze data and performance metrics to identify trends, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. Implement data-driven strategies and adjustments to enhance the repayment process and drive better outcomes.
-
Ensure Compliance with Policies and Regulations: Ensure that all repayment activities adhere to company policies, industry regulations, and best practices, maintaining the highest standards of compliance and quality across all teams
-
Identify and Mitigate Repayment Risks: Proactively identify potential risks within the repayment process and implement strategies to minimize exposure. Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to address issues, ensuring the repayment journey remains smooth and effective.
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution, preferably in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field
- 5-8 years of experience in repayment operations, collections, or a related field
- Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop high-performing teams
- Ability to define and execute repayment strategies in alignment with business goals
- Strong analytical skills to interpret data, generate insights, and drive decision-making
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Knowledge of budgeting, cost management, and financial targets
- Familiarity with compliance regulations and experience in identifying and mitigating risks
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and adjust strategies as needed
- Customer-centric mindset
- SQL knowledge is an added advantage
We:
- Are a collaborative team of smart and ambitious people who are dedicated to serving our customers.
- Make magic happen to solve hard problems and always come with solutions when challenges arise.
- Are comfortable taking risks that can result in radical scale, and understand that failures are opportunities to learn and improve.
- Are considerate listeners and take the time to deeply understand and seek out ideas from the people around us, even when we disagree.
- Offer a dynamic environment that fosters talent, collaboration and growth.
- Take pride in our work and share the responsibility to see it through from conception to deployment.
- Back up our talk with a competitive compensation and benefits package and challenging projects.
- Value autonomy, honesty, transparency, and respect.
- Are excited to hear from you!
