About Akwa
Akwa is a fashion technology company connecting fashion design with production intelligence.
Our platform helps designers and fashion businesses turn ideas, sketches and references into detailed designs and structured production outputs, including tech packs and tailoring information, while preserving design intent, human creativity and garment expertise.
Akwa is building capabilities across AI-assisted fashion design, garment and material intelligence, production workflows, commercial intelligence and developer integrations for fashion businesses and technology platforms.
Our fashion label, Egoyibo, also uses Akwa in real-world design, sampling, manufacturing and commerce, giving us a direct feedback loop between the technology we build and the physical clothes it helps create.
We are an early-stage company with a live product, early customers and an ambitious roadmap across designers, brands, manufacturers and the wider fashion ecosystem.
The role
We are looking for a Commercial Associate with 2–5 years of commercial experience in fashion to help turn Akwa’s products and technology into customers, partnerships and revenue.
This is a broad, hands-on commercial role spanning business development, inside sales, partnerships, customer development, market intelligence and commercial operations.
You will work directly with the Founder and closely with Akwa’s Creative Director & Growth Manager.
This is not primarily a social media, marketing or customer-service role. You will be expected to identify opportunities, initiate conversations, develop relationships and help move prospects from first contact through conversion and ongoing commercial relationships.
What you’ll do
Business development & sales
* Identify prospective customers across fashion brands, designers, manufacturers, fashion schools and other relevant organisations.
* Research target companies, markets and decision-makers.
* Generate and qualify new commercial leads.
* Manage inbound and outbound commercial enquiries.
* Conduct structured outreach through email, LinkedIn and other appropriate channels.
* Lead or support product demonstrations and customer conversations
* Own and nurture prospective customer relationships from initial contact through conversion.
* Support renewal, expansion and ongoing commercial relationships with existing customers.
* Maintain a clear and accurate sales pipeline and CRM.
* Work towards agreed commercial and revenue objectives.
Partnerships & market development
* Identify potential partnerships across fashion, manufacturing, technology, education and the creative industries.
* Initiate and develop relationships with relevant organisations and industry partners.
* Develop and support partnership proposals and commercial discussions.
* Identify opportunities involving fashion technology ecosystems such as PLM, 3D fashion, manufacturing systems and developer integrations.
* Research new customer segments, geographic markets and commercial use cases.
Commercial intelligence
* Track competitors and developments across fashion and fashion technology.
* Gather structured feedback from customers and prospects.
* Understand why prospects convert, why they do not, and what could change their decision.
* Use customer, sales and market data to help inform commercial priorities.
* Feed relevant insights into Akwa’s product, pricing and go-to-market decisions.
* Support commercial proposals, pitch materials and business cases.
Commercial operations
* Keep customer interactions, opportunities and commercial documentation organised and current.
* Track agreed commercial performance indicators and provide concise weekly reporting.
* Coordinate proposals, meetings and follow-ups.
* Work collaboratively with the team to provide a smooth customer experience.
* Take ownership of commercial opportunities and follow through without needing constant direction.
What we’re looking for
You should have:
* 2–5 years of commercial experience in the fashion industry.
* Demonstrated experience in one or more of business development, sales, inside sales, partnerships, wholesale, brand development or fashion technology.
* A practical understanding of how fashion brands, designers, manufacturers or other fashion businesses operate.
* Strong relationship-building and sales skills, including lead generation, nurturing and conversion.
* Excellent written and spoken English.
* Confidence communicating with prospective customers, partners and senior decision-makers.
* Strong research, organisation and follow-through.
* Experience using CRM, sales outreach or commercial analytics tools, or the ability to learn them quickly.
* Comfort working with digital products and SaaS platforms.
* The ability to work independently and take ownership in a remote environment.
* Good commercial judgement and genuine interest in fashion technology.
Experience with apparel manufacturing, garment production, fashion SaaS, PLM, 3D fashion, fashion education, wholesale, enterprise sales or African fashion ecosystems would be particularly useful.
How we work
This is a remote independent contractor role.
We are looking for someone able to make a substantial and consistent commitment to Akwa while retaining the flexibility associated with an independent contractor engagement.
Location: Remote, Nigeria preferred
Engagement: Independent contractor
Compensation: Monthly contractor fee plus performance-based commission
Commercial accountability: Agreed deliverables and KPIs
Reports to: Founder & CEO
Works closely with: Creative Director & Growth Manager
In addition to the monthly contractor fee, the Commercial Associate will be eligible for a 10% commission on qualifying net revenue generated from new business attributable to their commercial work, subject to Akwa’s commission rules.
There is scope for the role to develop into Commercial Lead as Akwa grows.
Who will thrive at Akwa
You are commercially curious and proactive.
You don’t wait for someone to hand you a list of leads. You research the market, notice opportunities, make connections and follow through.
You are comfortable switching between researching a fashion business, speaking with a prospective customer, developing a partnership opportunity, updating the pipeline and bringing market intelligence back to the team.
You are comfortable working in an early-stage company where the commercial function is still being built. You will have room to experiment, learn what works and help shape how Akwa goes to market.