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Partnerships & Business Development

Oluwakayode
Onasanya

I build partnerships that outlast the deal. Commercial instinct, technical grounding, and a track record across media, technology and emerging sectors.

£490K+
Revenue Generated
20+
Partnerships Closed
30%
Conversion Rate Uplift
25%
Repeat Business Growth

The person
behind the deals.

Partnerships work when the person driving them genuinely understands both sides of the table. That is where I operate. I came into commercial roles with a BSc in Computer Science at my back, which means technical conversations do not slow me down and complex product realities do not intimidate me. I then built on that with an MSc in Strategic Marketing and Global Business Development because I wanted the commercial fluency to match the technical grounding.

What I have learned across five years of building partnerships in media, financial services and technology is that the deal is the easy part. The hard part is everything that comes after. Keeping the relationship honest, managing expectations across multiple stakeholders, building the internal infrastructure that stops a promising partnership from quietly collapsing six months later. That is where most BD professionals fall short. It is where I focus.

I am Prince2 certified, which means I bring structure to situations that would otherwise run on good intentions and late-night emails. I use AI tools actively in my workflow, not as a novelty but as a genuine commercial edge. And I care about the sectors I work in enough to actually understand them, not just pitch at them.

B2B Sales Strategic Partnerships CRM Systems Project Management Pipeline Development AI Tools Prince2 Cross-functional Teams
01
Full-cycle deal ownership

From cold outreach through discovery, negotiation and close to long-term account management. I own every stage of the relationship and do not hand it off when it gets complicated.

02
Multi-stakeholder fluency

I operate where procurement, marketing and C-suite sponsors all sit at the table together. I find the internal champions, build the consensus and keep every stakeholder moving in the same direction.

03
Technical credibility

A Computer Science background means I sit confidently in technical rooms, ask the right questions and translate complexity into commercial language that actually drives decisions.

04
Built for the long game

Onboarding frameworks, CRM discipline, cross-functional coordination and post-sale delivery. I build the infrastructure that keeps partnerships healthy long after the ink dries.

Career

Where I have
made an impact.

A track record of building commercial relationships that generate real revenue and hold well past the first deal.

Sep 2025 to Present
GetSet UK
London, UK
Business Development Manager

Built a £250K+ annualised pipeline by identifying and converting B2B employer partners across the UK. Managed the full sales cycle from outbound prospecting and solution design through to negotiation and close. Delivered over 20 strategic partnerships and improved lead conversion efficiency by 30% through structured market mapping and AI-powered outreach.

£250K+ Pipeline 20+ Partnerships 30% Conversion Uplift Salesforce AI Outreach
Nov 2024 to Aug 2025
Financial Times
London, UK
Business Development Manager (FTC)

Managed commercial partnerships across major international summits including the FT Mining Summit, FT Hydrogen Summit and FT Global Commodities Summit. Built a pipeline of 180+ qualified opportunities and generated over £140,000 in additional revenue. Grew repeat business by 25% by becoming a trusted point of contact for senior decision-makers across Europe.

£140K+ Revenue 180+ Opportunities 25% Repeat Business C-Suite Engagement International Events
Dec 2023 to Dec 2024
Fortrade
London, UK
Account Manager

Managed a portfolio of 100+ active accounts in a FinTech trading environment and generated over £100,000 in annualised revenue. Guided clients through complex platform features, conducted goal-focused discovery conversations, and drove adoption at scale. Known for making difficult technical concepts feel straightforward for clients at every experience level.

£100K+ Revenue 100+ Accounts FinTech Platform Adoption Retention
Oct 2021 to Jan 2023
Menutech Solutions
London, UK
Client Success & Solutions Coordinator

Worked across the full client lifecycle for a digital solutions business serving SMEs, from onboarding and stakeholder communication through to project delivery. Acted as the connective tissue between client expectations and the technical team, ensuring implementations landed well and relationships stayed strong.

Client Onboarding Project Coordination SME Market Cross-functional
Expertise

What I bring
to the table.

Six competencies that define how I work: commercially sharp, technically informed and operationally grounded.

Sales & Revenue Growth

End-to-end sales cycle ownership across B2B and enterprise markets. Outbound prospecting, solution design, negotiation, deal closing and post-sale expansion.

Partnership Development

Complex multi-stakeholder deal structures, long-cycle relationship management, three-way commercial arrangements, go-to-market strategy and pipeline development.

Stakeholder Management

C-suite engagement, procurement alignment and multi-directional stakeholder management across enterprise clients, channel partners and internal leadership teams.

Technical Fluency

Rooted in a BSc in Computer Science. Comfortable in technical conversations, managing information flows between product and commercial teams and translating complexity into value.

Project Management

Prince2 certified. Experienced in delivering complex, multi-workstream projects on time, from deal inception and technical trials through to long-term delivery and ongoing relationship management.

Tools & AI Systems

Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana and Monday.com. I actively use AI tools including ChatGPT, Copilot and Notion AI to sharpen prospecting, content and CRM workflows.

Case Studies

Projects I have
delivered.

Five commercial projects across global media, financial services and business development. Each one taught me something the next one benefited from.

Financial Times Live
2025

FT Mining Summit

Built and converted a commercial pipeline of senior decision-makers across the global mining industry, generating significant event sponsorship and partnership revenue under tight timelines.

Sponsorship Sales Mining Sector C-Suite Engagement
Read case study →
Financial Times Live
2025

FT Hydrogen Summit

Managed commercial partnerships for one of the FT's flagship energy transition events, engaging senior stakeholders from across the hydrogen and clean energy investment space.

Energy Transition Clean Energy Strategic Partnerships
Read case study →
Financial Times Live
2025

FT Energy Transition Strategies Summit

Drove commercial engagement for the FT's dedicated energy transition event, targeting senior executives navigating the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy infrastructure at scale.

Net Zero Strategy ESG Executive Engagement
Read case study →
Financial Times Live
2024

FT Commodities Global Summit

Delivered commercial partnerships across the FT's premier global commodities event in Lausanne, working with traders, investors and producers across energy, metals and agriculture.

Global Commodities International Events Revenue Generation
Read case study →
GetSet UK
2025 to Present

B2B Employer Partnership Programme

Built a B2B employer partnership programme from scratch, developing the outreach strategy, qualification framework and onboarding process that delivered 20+ closed partnerships and a £250K+ pipeline.

B2B Partnerships Pipeline Building AI-powered Outreach
Read case study →
Beyond the Brief

What I think
about every day.

The best partnerships professionals I know are genuinely curious people. Here is what I am reading, exploring and paying close attention to right now.

🤖
AI and the Future of Work

I am genuinely fascinated by how large language models and agentic AI are reshaping commercial workflows. I use tools like GPT-4o, Gemini and Copilot in my day-to-day work and think seriously about where this technology is taking the partnerships profession.

Active User
📋
Project and Systems Thinking

Being Prince2 certified changed how I think. I now see most commercial problems as systems challenges and I am drawn to understanding how programme management principles apply in high-growth, fast-moving environments.

Prince2 Certified
🌍
Sustainability and Impact Business

I pay close attention to the intersection of commercial strategy and sustainability. From green tech to ESG investment trends, I believe the most commercially significant partnerships of the next decade will also be the most purpose-driven ones.

ESG Focus
📈
Emerging Markets and Global Trade

My time at the FT across mining, hydrogen and commodities summits gave me a real appetite for global trade dynamics. I follow energy transition, emerging market shifts and commodity cycles closely and find it sharpens my commercial thinking considerably.

FT Summit Background
🧠
Behavioural Psychology in Sales

I study how people actually make buying decisions. Cialdini on influence, Kahneman on thinking patterns. Understanding the psychology behind trust and commitment has made me a much better negotiator and a more effective partner to the people I work with.

Applied Learning
🎙
Podcasts and Continuous Learning

I listen widely. Lex Fridman on the edges of technology, How I Built This on the reality of building companies, and a rotating cast of business and strategy voices I find genuinely useful. I treat staying current as part of the job, not a bonus activity.

Self-Development
Sport and Team Dynamics

Sport teaches things about leadership and resilience that business books rarely capture. I am drawn to what makes high-performing teams actually tick and I find those lessons transfer directly into how I think about building commercial teams and partner relationships.

Leadership Thinking
🌐
Tech and Product Innovation

I follow the SaaS and B2B tech landscape closely, from CRM innovation to AI-native products emerging right now. Understanding what is being built gives me a sharper commercial perspective and better conversations with the technical stakeholders I work alongside.

Product-Led Growth
Credentials

Education and
Qualifications.

An academic foundation that brings together business strategy, global commercial thinking and technical rigour.

Masters Degree

MSc Strategic Marketing with Global Business Development

University of Hertfordshire, UK

Bachelor's Degree

BSc (Hons) Computer Science, 2:1

Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria

Certification

Prince2 Project Management, Certified Practitioner

Axelos / Prince2. Structured project delivery methodology applied to commercial and partnership environments.

Live Events

FT Live International Summits

FT Mining Summit, FT Hydrogen Summit and FT Global Commodities Summit. Represented the Financial Times at major industry events across Europe between 2024 and 2025.

I would love to
hear from you.

Open to strategic partnerships, senior business development roles and commercial leadership opportunities. If you think there is a fit, let us find out.

Location
London, UK
Phone
+44 7751 973030
Email
Onasanyakayode131@gmail.com
Availability
Open to Opportunities