Business Development Director, Africa (Remote)

Location: Flexible within Africa

About Odyssey Odyssey is a venture-backed climate tech company transforming the global distributed energy landscape. We offer the market’s only end-to-end finance platform for distributed energy financing and are rapidly scaling our supply chain credit offerings for solar installers and EPCs. We have enormous traction ($2.5B capital on the platform), a collaborative, motivated and mission-driven team, and top VC investors backing us. We’re growing fast and looking to hire a Regional Business Development Director for Africa. As capital flows into the distributed renewable energy sector accelerate, Odyssey is uniquely positioned as the go-to platform for deploying this capital effectively. We’re now expanding our proprietary financing operations across Africa and looking for a strategic leader to drive growth and strengthen our market position. Joining Odyssey now means stepping into a high-growth environment with the momentum, credibility and resources to scale, while contributing directly to the systems and solutions that will power the next decade of energy deployment in Africa.

About the Role This is a senior, high-impact commercial leadership role responsible for scaling Odyssey’s procurement operations across Africa. The Director will own market strategy, revenue delivery, and the full commercial cycle with developers, EPCs, OEMs, banks, DFIs and other ecosystem partners. You will be responsible for building and converting a high-quality pipeline, driving market penetration in priority countries, and ensuring transactions meet Odyssey’s credit, operational and documentation standards. The role requires a strong operator with a proven record of scaling fast-growing DRE, fintech or climate-tech businesses in Africa, and a demonstrable industry network that can be activated from day one.

Key Responsibilities

Market Scoping and Targeting

• Research individual country markets to identify key players
• Build market-specific outreach and engagement plans to understand addressable market and introduce Odyssey’s proposition to key players
• Expand Odyssey’s presence across mini-grid, C&I, residential solar, e-mobility, storage and hybrid system developers.
• Track market dynamics, regulatory changes, local banking appetite, and grant/RBF opportunities.
• Pipeline and Sales Funnel Management
• Own the full commercial cycle: prospecting, qualification, solution structuring, negotiation, contracting and account management.
• Maintain disciplined pipeline visibility and forecasting accuracy aligned with Company OKRs, GMV and margin targets
• Ensure opportunities meet Odyssey’s pre-qualification, credit and security standards prior to IC submission.
• Deal Structuring & Cross-Functional Coordination
• Work with Credit, Supply Chain Ops, Finance and ESG teams to structure bankable, compliant and commercially sound transactions.
• Prepare high-quality IC-ready cases with clear risk mitigants, security arrangements, grant/RBF analysis and repayment visibility.
• Support clients through contracting, security documentation, grant assignment, logistics coordination and payment flows.

360-degree Account Management

• Deepen relationships with solar developers, EPCs, OEMs, banks, DFIs, and sector associations.
• Collaborate with OEMs, financiers, aggregators and regional platforms to drive volume
• Convert existing network into business
• Identify emerging segments, financing gaps and partnerships to expand Odyssey’s footprint.

Who You Are

• A strategic and commercially driven operator with proven experience of sales growth in Africa.
• Strong commercial instincts, who thrives in getting transactions to closure
• Ability to structure complex commercial deals involving financing, procurement, logistics and credit.
• Rigorous focus on data hygiene, CRM discipline and reporting cadence.A persuasive communicator who builds and grows trust with C-suite leaders
• A disciplined executor who thrives in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment
• Emotionally intelligent, grounded, and capable of handling sensitive conversations with maturity.
• Comfortable working independently while collaborating deeply with cross-functional teams.
• Required Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Finance or related field; MBA preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of scaling a fast-growing business (DRE, fintech, climate-tech) in Africa, with ownership of revenue delivery and consistent year-on-year growth.
• A deep, demonstrable and active network of DRE developers, C&I players, mini-grid operators, OEMs, local banks, DFIs, and other market stakeholders across Africa.
• Minimum 7–10 years of experience in business development, revenue leadership, or commercial structuring in relevant sectors.Strong understanding of African solar markets, supply-chain dynamics, and credit mechanisms, including security structuring, grant/RBF flows, guarantees, and receivables-based financing.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills.
• Strong organizational discipline and the ability to self-manage multiple priorities.

Why Join Odyssey

• Play a central role in scaling the largest and most innovative procurement-credit platform in the distributed energy sector.
• Work with a mission-driven global team and top-tier OEMs, financiers and developers.
• Drive real impact by enabling clean energy deployment across Africa at scale.