Adesh Kisten

• Developed and implemented new strategies and policies to establish long-term business objectives and provide strong and sustainable organizational leadership
• Developed overall company strategy and offerings portfolio - Consulting Services, Resourcing, Business Solutions.
• Directed technological improvements, reducing waste and business bottlenecks
• Developed innovative sales and marketing strategies to facilitate business expansion
• Established and maintained strong relationships with customers, vendors and strategic partners
• Managed financial, operational and human resources to optimize business performance
• Spearheaded development and implementation of distributed organizational structure to increase efficiency
  

Client Engagements include:

• Peach Payments (Pty) Ltd - Head of Sales - Jul-2020 to Oct-2022. Head: Large Corporate and MNC Growth - Oct-2022 to present. Spearheaded successful business development initiatives aligned with company's strategy and core competencies - forming the foundation upon which their $31m Series-A funding round was concluded.
• AIONS Creative Technologies (Pty) Ltd - Sales Enablement, Business Development, Mentorship and Coaching services - Jun-2022 to present. Helped shape the growth trajectories of Level Finance, Tubby's Kitchen and Coco & Co. Helped develop the AIONS Venture Builder Programme.
• Worldwide Rail and Mining Solutions - Proposal Management consulting services - Dec-2021 to present
• SeeMeSave - Proposal Management consulting services - Feb-2023 to Mar-2023
• AlphaSights, ProSapient - Various Online Payment Systems and Payments Industry consulting services.

Chief Commercial Officer (Mar-2019 to Feb-2020)

• Key Outcome: Built strong growth engine incorporating Sales, Customer Success and key Partnerships upon which Ozow's huge Series-A Fund-raise was achieved.
• Drove company's integrated commercial success.
• Delivered strategic leadership for defining company's commercial path to growth and profitability; and establishment of effective growth processes and infrastructure.
• Developed and implemented company’s sales strategy across key market segments to ensure that it identified and optimised a clear path to aggressive growth.
• Developed collaborative working relationships within organization in pursuit of company’s overall business goals.
• Developed long-term plans and budgets, monitored progress, assured adherence and evaluated performance of sales and client success teams.
• Implemented systems and procedures to ensure smooth operation of sales and client success teams towards achieving commercial objectives.
• Renegotiated existing partner contracts with profitable terms and clearly defined operational responsibilities.
• Promoted company brand and educated industry stakeholders during live television and radio interviews (E-NCA, CNBC, SABC, Chai FM, Fin24 amongst others).
• Pitched to prospective investors during Series-A Funding round and participated in intensive due diligence exercises.

Head of Sales (Oct-2018 to Feb-2019)

• Lead sales department, adjusted and executed on sales strategy to deliver record year of growth.
• Advanced Sales Team capabilities along Sales Maturity Index - from transactional-selling to solution- and challenger-selling in order to deliver breakthrough results.

• Start-up Executive, Business Development Partner, Engagement Lead

- Developed overall company strategy and offerings portfolio - IT resourcing, cloud solutions and consulting services.

- Provided professional services and support in a dynamic work environment
- Developed and executed sales strategy and digital marketing strategy.
- Closed a Sales Partnership deal with a prominent local IT training and staffing company.
- Closed an ESD agreement with Price-Waterhouse-Cooper (PWC) as a service provider.
- Acquired international technology partners within the IT Resourcing & Delivery; and Cloud Solutions spaces.

Executed Consulting engagements as follows:

• Client: i-Pay Secure Payments (Pty) Ltd [2018]

- Executed a 3-month contract providing Head of Sales services.

- Successfully executed several large, complex tender proposals for major South African clients.

• Client: Kalon Venture Partners (Pty) Ltd [2018]

- Successfully executed a large, complex tender proposal for a major South African SOE.

• Client: Price-Waterhouse-Coopers (PWC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) [2018]

- Conceptualised and managed the development of a Thought Leadership White Paper for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

- This White Paper was jointly launched by the South African and Indian Ministers of Trade & Industry at the inaugural IND-SA Business Summit.

- Engaged and managed sub-contractors in the production of the White Paper and documentation of subsequent Summit Panel Discussions.

• Client: Engco Engineering Services (Pty) Ltd [2017]

- Successfully executed a large, complex tender proposal to a major client in Mozambique.

• Client: Izidingo Zabantu (Pty) Ltd [2017]

- Provided business advisory services on Strategy, Marketing and Business Model.

- Executed various proposals in the FMCG, Agribusiness, Renewable Energy and SMME Enterprise Development sectors.

- Executed Social Entrepreneurship request-for-funding proposals.

- Conducted SMME Entrepreneurship Training Workshops in conjunction with National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).

• WPI Power Solutions (Pty) Ltd

- Facilitated Competitor Analysis, Win Theme Development, and Solution Differentiation workshops.

• Sales Effectiveness Lead (Apr-2015 to Dec-2016)
  

- Provided direction, leadership and management of sales enablement programs, tools, and assets.

- Drove program initiatives and sales activities in support of strategic goals and business plans.

- Drove and managed programs that improved sales.

- Drove sales performance improvements by developing and implementing best practices, processes and reporting.

- Supported sales activities for opportunities exceeding US$10m.

• Business Development Support Lead (Sep-2013 to Mar-2015)
  

- Established, lead and grew this capability with 7 high-performing resources within Accenture SA.

- Worked with Leadership across Operating Groups and Growth Platforms.

- Performed external client-facing sales and relationship development activities as required.

- Managed sales materials, credentials and co-ordinated RFI/RFP/proposal response completion.

- Drove Operating Group alignment with respective sales capability leads, to support implementation of their initiatives.

- Worked actively with Opportunity-Centric Marketing, Legal, Finance, Creative Services to integrate sales support capabilities.

• Business Transformation Programme Manager (May-2013 to Oct-2013)
  

- Successfully engaged ~2500 employees and reinforced a high-performance culture.

- Led Infrastructure, Technical & Analytics, Content, Communications Streams and off-shore Website Development Teams.

- Oversaw the production of several videos and a telestration by professional media companies.

• SAP Systems Integration Delivery Lead (Nov-2006 to Apr-2013)
  

- Delivered large-scale, complex programmes that combined processes with solution development and technology.

- Managed vendor and alliance relationships

- Assessed and managed risk across all aspects of programme.

- Built strong team and client relationships.

- Key Clients included: African Bank, AngloGold-Ashanti, BHP-Billiton, Anglo-American and Rio Tinto.

• Project Manager - Enterprise Data Warehouse Project

• Operational Manager - Management Information Systems (MIS) and Regional Data Repositories

• SAP Senior MM Business Analyst

• SAP Business Analyst – Inbound & Conversion (Unilever Business Systems)

• Junior Business Analyst (Ola Ice Cream)

• SAP ABAP Developer (Unilever IT Centre)

• Network Support Officer (Unilever IT Centre)