Lidya Careers

Recovery Manager at Lidya

At Lidya, our vision is a future where every great business owner has fair and fast funding to build and grow high impact businesses. To achieve this, we use data-driven finance and technology to help great business owners build high-impact businesses in the fastest growing economies in the world. Lidya currently operates in Nigeria, Poland, and Czech Republic where close to 200,000 businesses have signed up for our service. Lidya is backed by Flourish Ventures, Accion, Bamboo Capital, Alitheia Capital and Newid Capital. Lidya has raised close to $15m USD in venture capital and has teams across Lagos (Nigeria), Prague (Czech Republic), Warsaw (Poland), Porto (Portugal) and New York (USA).

Lidya is run by Tunde Kehinde, the Co-Founder, and former Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria, the largest eCommerce platform in Africa. Jumia is publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Tunde also co-founded Africa Courier Express, the largest direct-to-consumer delivery provider in Nigeria. Tunde attended Harvard Business School for his MBA and graduated with honors with a bachelor’s in business administration from Howard University.

Lidya is expanding its activities. To support our development, we are looking an OWNER. A strategic and experienced Recovery Manager that believes in our vision and shares our values. We believe that brilliant people operating in a great culture will produce the best outcome. We operate, hire, develop, and promote people based on our OWNER culture below.

• Ownership: Ownership is taking the initiative to bring about positive results. It means not waiting for others to act andcaring about the outcome as much as an owner of the company would. It is being accountable for the results of your actions -that are of the highest quality and delivered in a timely manner. Taking ownership shows others that they can trust you to do the right thing.
• Win: We understand we will be measured against our results and work every day to show we deliver the metrics and KPIs that demonstrate we offer the best solutions to our customers. This means we have an obligation to the organization in terms of results, and that we have an obligation to act on the items that impact those results. You may have to assemble a team to help bring about results, but ultimately, you must be accountable and own the results of your actions.
• Navigate: We digest data, navigate challenges,and solve problems. We exist to help our customers succeed. Keeping our customers top of mind is the foundation of everything we do. That is why we communicate proactively and frequently with all stakeholders (customers, internal team, and external partners) and we deliver high impact with ethics and integrity, consistently.
• Excellent: We operate with high standards and with rigor. We dive deep into the details to understand the problems of the customer and analyze how we can improve. At Lidya, we do our homework, test rigorously, and the best ideas win.
• Rapid Results: We have a start-up mindset. We must deliver results to our customers faster and more sustainably than any other option they have.

Job Description

The Recovery Manager is responsible for the overall formulation, review, and implementation of loan recovery and repayment policies and procedures, as well as actively building client relationships for the Debt Recovery team to foster timely repayment of all loans and improve Portfolio at Risk (PAR). The position liaises directly with clients, external debt collection partners and local courts to recover outstanding payments.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

1. Maintains a database of all matters related to late payments by clients including any matters in mediation, litigation, or pre-settlement negotiations.
2. Negotiate and maintain contractual relationships with vendors related to business recovery and resumption.
3. Reviewing documentation (all aspects of contract) to assess liability, identify contract issues and judge recoverability.
4. Using knowledge and initiative to reach amicable solutions to settling debts on behalf of clients, considering circumstances of the case while ensure significant monthly progress on funds recovery.
5. Establish repayment schedules, monitoring repayment of debts, and adherence by debtors to installment schedules.
6. Researching debtor companies, assisting in researching laws and procedures to provide written advice to clients and prepare appropriate reports clearly identifying issues and options for dealing with them.
7. Build and manage internal team of 3+ debt recovery professionals to achieve late payment goals and key performance indicators of the Company.

Desired Qualifications and Skillset:

1. 7 years+ of experience working with a Commercial Bank, Law Firm or Management Consulting Firm, with a particular emphasis on experience in the financial sector and a network of debt collection partners a plus.
2. Demonstrated history of recovery success. Ability to show you have been able to deliver above average loan recovery KPIs (PAR 0, PAR 30, PAR 90) in the credit industry, with experience at credit providers with a loan portfolio over NGN 1 billion at any point time, a plus.
3. In depth knowledge of motions, discovery, evidence, litigation documentation, court rules and procedures, practices in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
4. Excellent Communication skills – You must be able to succinctly summarize an argument and be capable of presenting the impact of maintaining good credit scoring and complex legal concepts to clients.
5. Detailed Organization skills – Missing a deadline can negatively impact a client’s credit profile, result in serious court penalties, and/or damage the reputation of Lidya so time management and organization skills are hugely important.
6. An eye for detail – being able to identify small details in a late payment can mean the difference between losing and recovering a debt. You also need this skill to determine what is relevant and what is not to ensure the right actions are prioritized to achieve target KPIs.
7. Determination and Negotiation skills – Loan recovery is difficult; you need to have the determination to recover late payments. You need to have strong persuasion skulls and the strength to maintain composure and calm when cases become chaotic and complicated.
8. Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Information Technology or preferably Law (will be an added advantage). (MBA, LLB, CFA is a plus).