Business Development Intern – Merchant Acquisition

About the Company:

Maya Exchange is building a financial technology ecosystem focused on connecting traditional payment infrastructure with digital assets and making modern payment infrastructure more accessible to businesses. One of our core products is MPG — Maya Payments Gateway. MPG is being built as a hybrid payment gateway that enables merchants to accept payments in fiat and crypto and settle funds in fiat or crypto through unified payment and settlement infrastructure. Our initial focus is on D2C merchants and agencies. MPG is being developed around merchant checkout, payment collection, payment links, hosted checkout, settlement, transaction management and merchant operations. We are now building the commercial side of MPG and are looking for 2 Business Development Interns – Merchant Acquisition to join us at this early stage.

About the Role

This isn't a typical internship where you'll simply make reports or observe a sales team. You'll be part of the early team helping build MPG's first merchant pipeline. You'll work closely with the founding team to find potential merchants, research their businesses, identify decision-makers, start conversations, understand their payment requirements, qualify opportunities and help move genuine interest toward business discussions.

The goal is simple: find the right businesses, start genuine conversations and build a qualified merchant pipeline for MPG.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Merchant Research
• Research D2C brands, e-commerce businesses, agencies and other relevant online businesses.
• Identify companies that could potentially benefit from MPG.
• Understand their business model, customers and online operations.
• Research how they currently accept payments and identify potential payment or settlement requirements.
• Find founders, owners and relevant decision-makers.
• Build and continuously expand a targeted merchant database.

We don't want a spreadsheet filled with random company names. We want you to understand why each business could potentially become an MPG merchant.

2. Lead Generation & Prospecting

You'll find new merchant opportunities through:

• LinkedIn
• Company websites
• Business directories
• Industry communities
• Startup and business databases
• Online research
• Other professional sources

You'll identify the right person to approach within each organisation and prioritise prospects based on their potential fit with MPG.

3. Business Outreach

You'll initiate professional conversations with potential merchants through email, LinkedIn and other appropriate channels.

You'll learn how to:

• Write effective business introductions.
• Personalise outreach.
• Explain MPG clearly.
• Ask useful discovery questions.
• Understand a prospect's response.
• Handle basic objections.
• Follow up professionally.
• Move interested prospects toward a proper business conversation.

This is not a spam-based sales role.

The objective is to reach the right businesses with the right message.

4. Merchant Qualification

When a business responds, you'll help determine whether there is a genuine opportunity. You'll learn to understand:

• What the business sells and who its customers are.
• Where customers are located and how they currently pay.
• Existing payment providers and settlement processes.
• International payment requirements.
• Potential interest in fiat or crypto payments.
• Current payment-related challenges.
• Who makes the purchasing decision.
• What the company would need before evaluating MPG.

Your job isn't to turn every response into a "hot lead." Your job is to identify real opportunities.

Understanding MPG

You'll learn enough about MPG to have meaningful business conversations. This includes hosted checkout, payment links, embedded checkout, QR checkout, invoice checkout, fiat and crypto payments, payment verification, transactions, merchant ledger, settlement, fiat/crypto conversion, merchant dashboard, APIs and webhooks.

You don't need to be a developer, but you should understand the product well enough to explain it clearly and know when to escalate technical questions.

5. Meetings & Follow-ups

When a prospect shows genuine interest, you'll help move the conversation forward by:

• Scheduling meetings.
• Preparing basic prospect information.
• Sharing merchant requirements with the founding team.
• Joining introductory discussions where appropriate.
• Recording questions and feedback.
• Following up after meetings.
• Keeping interested prospects engaged.
• Helping move qualified prospects toward evaluation and potential onboarding.
• Pipeline Management

We'll manage the merchant pipeline through an Excel-based tracking system.

You'll keep prospects updated with company, industry, website, contact person, designation, contact details, lead source, outreach date, response, qualification status, meeting status, requirements, opportunity stage, follow-up date, next action, notes and feedback.

If it isn't recorded and followed up, it's easy to lose. Keeping the pipeline accurate and organised is a core part of the role.

Requirements:

You don't need to know everything on day one. You do need to be willing to learn and take ownership.

You'll be expected to:

• Find prospects independently.
• Research before reaching out.
• Identify the right decision-makers.
• Communicate professionally.
• Follow up consistently.
• Learn from rejection.
• Try different approaches and improve based on results.
• Keep your pipeline organized.
• Ask questions when you need help.
• Share useful feedback with the team.
• Take responsibility for your assigned prospects.

Eligibility:

We're open to students, recent graduates and early-career candidates interested in business development, B2B sales, merchant acquisition, FinTech, payments, e-commerce, D2C businesses, startups, entrepreneurship, digital payments, crypto/digital assets or technology.

Skills Required:

• Good verbal and written communication.
• Professional English.
• Good research skills.
• Confidence communicating with new people.
• Ability to organise information.
• Strong follow-up discipline.
• Self-motivated attitude.
• Ability to work independently.
• Willingness to learn.
• Genuine interest in business development.

Preferred Skills :

Sales, business development, lead generation, cold outreach, LinkedIn prospecting, B2B sales, startup, FinTech, payment gateway, e-commerce, D2C, SaaS, digital payments or cryptocurrency experience.

Previous sales experience is not mandatory.

We're more interested in your communication, curiosity, initiative and ability to learn.

What You'll Learn

You'll gain hands-on experience in B2B business development, merchant acquisition, lead generation, customer discovery, pipeline management, payment infrastructure, FinTech and startup commercial strategy.

You'll also see how an early-stage technology product moves from development toward real customers.

Performance

We won't judge you simply by how many messages you send. We'll look at:

• Quality of prospects identified.
• Research quality.
• Decision-makers identified.
• Outreach quality.
• Responses generated.
• Qualified leads.
• Meetings booked.
• Genuine merchant interest.
• Follow-up discipline.
• Pipeline accuracy.
• Quality of merchant feedback.
• How quickly you learn and improve.

Quality matters more than meaningless activity.

What You'll Get

Although this is an unpaid internship, you'll get hands-on experience working with an early-stage fintech company.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Work directly with the founding team.
• Participate in real merchant acquisition.
• Gain practical B2B sales experience.
• Learn about payment infrastructure.
• Conduct real customer discovery.
• Build an actual business development pipeline.
• Develop professional communication and sales skills.
• Understand how a technology product moves toward commercial adoption.

Internship Completion & Future Opportunities

At successful completion of the internship, you will receive an Internship Completion Certificate from Maya Exchange, subject to meeting the internship requirements.

Strong performers may also be considered for a Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) or full-time joining opportunity, based on individual performance, contribution, conduct, consistency and the company's hiring requirements at that time.

A PPO or full-time position is not guaranteed and depends on business requirements and available positions.

High-performing interns may also receive a Letter of Recommendation, where appropriate.

Duration: 3 to 6 months

Work Mode: Remote / Hybrid / On-site

Start Date: Immediately

Compensation

This is an unpaid internship with no monetary stipend.

This is intended for candidates seeking practical experience in business development, merchant acquisition, FinTech and startup operations.

Selection Process

We're hiring only two candidates.

The process may include:

• Resume/application review
• Initial communication assessment
• Short interview
• Final discussion with the team

The practical task may involve identifying potential merchants and preparing an outreach approach.

We're interested in how you think, not just what's written on your resume.