Adesh Kisten - Managing Director & Founder, Exertia Group

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Work Background

Peach PaymentsHead of Sales

Jul. 2020 - Dec. 2023City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South AfricaTripled enterprise revenue in 18 months, driving $31M Series A funding by expanding into South Africa, Kenya, and Mauritius with high-value SaaS partnerships. Responsibilities: Head of Sales (Jul 2020 – Oct 2022): Spearheaded commercial strategy, driving significant growth in large corporate accounts through sales pipeline optimization (HubSpot). Head: Large Corporate & MNC Growth (Oct 2022 – Dec 2023): Enhanced regional market expertise by managing partnerships with banks, acquirers, and high-value enterprise clients. Oversaw and optimized a robust sales pipeline, collaborating with global stakeholders to align local and international goals. Strengthened Peach Payments' market position and client satisfaction across Africa. Built and managed a 20-person sales team across 3 geographies, achieving >150% increase in account wins.

Exertia GroupFounder & CEO

May. 2020Johannesburg Area, South AfricaAs Founder & CEO of Exertia Group, I lead several divisions to empower businesses and communities: Exertia Growth: Mentoring startups to scale through data-driven strategies and high-impact sales frameworks, building on my success tripling revenue at Ozow and Peach Payments. Exertia Nexus: Connecting corporates to innovative tech (Hydra), talent (Metamorph), and wellness (Welo) solutions for transformative growth. With 29+ years in Management Consulting, FinTech and emerging markets, I’ve helped secure $79M in funding and driven revenue growth across Africa. Let’s collaborate: exertiagroup.com.

Sales Partners Pty LtdFounding Partner

Feb. 2020Johannesburg, Gauteng, South AfricaProviding consulting, resourcing and delivery execution to SMBs and Enterprises in the following areas: - Sales Development - Sales Enablement - Sales Engagement - Sales Management - Sales Operations - IT and Business Transformation delivery - Special Projects and Strategic Initiatives

OzowChief Commercial Officer

Mar. 2019 - Feb. 2020Johannesburg Area, South Africa- Key Outcome: Built strong growth engine incorporating Sales, Customer Success and key Partnerships contributing to achievement of Ozow's 2019 Series A funding round, and laying a strong foundation for its later $48m Series B funding round. - Drove company's integrated commercial success. - Delivered strategic leadership for defining the commercial path to growth and profitability of the company and the establishment of an effective growth process and infrastructure. - Developed collaborative working relationships within the organization in pursuit of the company’s overall business goals. - Renegotiated existing partner contracts with profitable terms and clearly defined operational responsibilities. - Promoted the company and educated industry stakeholders during live television and radio interviews (E-NCA, CNBC, Chai FM, Fin24 amongst others). - Contributed to company strategy, values and culture through participation in 10X-e Workshops. - Pitched to prospective investors during Series A Funding round and participated in intensive due diligence exercises.

OzowHead Of Sales

Oct. 2018 - Feb. 2019Johannesburg Area, South Africa- Lead the sales department, adjusted and executed on the sales strategy to deliver a record year of growth. - Analyzed patterns in consumer and market behaviour, and subsequently defined data-driven action strategies in order to consistently optimize the business’s commercial performance. - Moved the Sales Team along the Sales Maturity Index - from transactional-selling to solution- and challenger-selling in order to deliver breakthrough results.

Trimurti XFounder

Jan. 2017 - Sep. 2018

AccentureSales Effectiveness Senior Manager

Nov. 2006 - Dec. 2016Johannesburg Area, South Africa1. Sales Effectiveness Lead (Apr-2015 to Dec-2016) Reported to the Chief Sales Officer. Provided direction, leadership and management of sales enablement programs, tools, and assets to drive program initiatives and sales activities within Accenture South Africa in support of strategic goals and business plans. • Drove and managed programs that improved sales Identified and drove sales performance improvements by developing and implementing best practices, processes and reporting. • Supported sales activities Oversaw the Sales Enablement Team - responsible for managing sales materials, credentials and co-ordinating RFI/RFP/proposal response completion. 2. 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. • 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 bring the best of our sales support capabilities to client teams 3. Internal Brand Programme Manager (May-2013 to Oct-2013) The My, Your, Our Brand Programme, an internal business transformation programme implemented across Accenture South Africa, successfully engaged ~2500 employees and reinforced a high performance culture. 4. SAP Systems Integration Delivery Lead across various local and international Clients (2007 to Apr-2012) • Delivered large-scale, complex programmes that combined processes with solution development and technology. • Shaped and lead large scale activities of transformational programmes, brought new and innovative approaches and solutions to business problems, influenced client direction based on requirements and established client acceptance of designs.

South African National Blood ServiceProject Manager

Mar. 2003 - Oct. 2006Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth - South Africa1. Project Manager – Enterprise Data Warehouse Project (Dec-2005 to Apr-2006) 2. MIS Manager - Data Repository Stabilisation & Alignment (May-2006 to Oct-2006) 3. SAP Senior Business Analyst (Apr-2003 to Nov-2005)

UnileverBusiness Systems Analyst

Jan. 1996 - Mar. 2003Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town - South AfricaBusiness Systems Analyst – Inbound(Apr-2001 to Mar-2003) 1. I.T. Project Leader for SA Interspec (Global Specifications Management System) Implementation 2. I.T. Project Leader for SA UIP (Unilever Information Programme) Implementation 3. I.T. Project Leader for SA Vendor Evaluation System Design & Implementation 4. Various Graduate Positions (Jan-1996 to Mar-2001) Junior Business Analyst (Ola Ice Cream) SAP ABAP Developer (Unilever IT Centre) Network Support Officer (Unilever IT Centre)

Exertia Group

Johannesburg Area, South Africa