After an unsuccessful engagement with a top-five global search firm...we turned to Joe Dowd and Wenham Carter. The contrast was immediate...Joe simply understands what it takes to build world-class commercial organizations in this space.
After an unsuccessful engagement with a top-five global search firm...we turned to Joe Dowd and Wenham Carter. The contrast was immediate...Joe simply understands what it takes to build world-class commercial organizations in this space.
After an unsuccessful engagement with a top-five global search firm that lacked both velocity and market penetration, we turned to Joe Dowd and Wenham Carter to identify our Global Head of Merchants and Platforms – a business-critical hire for Flutterwave’s next growth phase across Africa and beyond.
The contrast was immediate. Where our previous partner struggled to access the caliber of talent required and operated at a pace incompatible with our hypergrowth trajectory, Wenham Carter delivered exceptional candidates we had never encountered despite months of prior searching. Joe’s network depth in fintech platform leadership, particularly among executives who’ve scaled cross-border payments infrastructure, proved unmatched.
What distinguished this engagement was Joe’s sophisticated understanding of what Flutterwave actually needed. We weren’t simply filling a role; we were architecting the commercial function that would drive our multi-continent merchant and platform strategy. Joe grasped the technical complexity of our API-first infrastructure, the nuances of operating across fragmented African payment ecosystems, and the leadership profile required to build global partnerships at scale.
Securing Volker Steinle exemplified this understanding perfectly. Coming from Nium as GM Americas and previously leading Adyen’s North American commercial organization through explosive growth ($50M to $429M), Volker brought precisely the combination of platform payments expertise, international market-building experience, and hypergrowth operational capabilities we required.
Joe operated as an extension of our talent team, responsive, transparent, and relentlessly focused on outcomes. His ability to engage senior executives, maintain momentum through complex negotiations, and understand the specific challenges facing African fintech infrastructure made this a genuine partnership rather than a transactional search.
For scaling organizations navigating competitive talent markets, Wenham Carter’s combination of fintech specialization, network access, and operational urgency delivers what generalist firms cannot. Joe simply understands what it takes to build world-class commercial organizations in this space
Reni Odebiyi, Global Head of Talent Acquisition | Flutterwave
