Hiring SDRs in Africa to prospect in France and beyond: a guide to the first 90 days

How can you scale prospecting with skilled people dedicated to your business while keeping costs under control? Hiring SDRs in Africa is a strong option for companies looking to expand their business development in France and internationally, provided they select the right people and give them the resources to succeed.

In many companies, prospecting lacks consistency. Leaders reach out when they have time. Salespeople naturally prioritise active opportunities. Follow-ups become less frequent and prospect databases remain partly unused.

An SDR, or Sales Development Representative, addresses this problem. Their role is to identify the right decision-makers, start conversations, qualify needs and create opportunities for the sales team.

This role can be performed from Africa, within a team fully integrated into your organisation.

Kernel is seeing a sharp increase in demand for sales professionals targeting European markets. Our teams source numerous SDRs every month to support this demand. Companies want people who can understand their offering, represent their brand and contribute to sustainable growth.

The potential is real. To turn it into results, here is how to prepare your recruitment and organise the first 90 days.

Why hire SDRs in Africa?

Professionals already familiar with remote selling

The continent has talent trained in sales, customer relations and digital tools. Some have already prospected for overseas companies, worked towards sales targets and used a CRM every day.

Experience in contact centres, telesales and international services provides a useful foundation. It can bring confident telephone communication, familiarity with objections and regular customer follow-up.

To hire a successful SDR, you then need to assess the skills specific to your role: prospect research, understanding a B2B offering, qualification, personalised messaging and opportunity handover.

A candidate may have excellent customer service experience while still needing training in prospecting decision-makers. Identifying that gap helps you provide the right support.

Collaboration that fits into everyday operations

Remote prospecting relies on tools accessible from different countries: business telephony, CRM, messaging and video calls.

When working hours align with the target market, an Africa-based SDR can attend sales meetings, contact prospects when they are available and speak with the salespeople who will take over.

To prospect beyond France, define the languages and markets precisely. French-speaking Belgium, French-speaking Switzerland and the United Kingdom, for example, require different approaches. Translating the script is not always enough: customer references, terminology, objections and buying habits also need adapting.

Competitive costs that support long-term investment

Depending on the country and the candidate’s experience, hiring in Africa can help strengthen sales capacity with a competitive budget.

This advantage is particularly valuable when it funds a complete setup: a good employee, quality data, suitable tools and training time.

The value of the hire is measured by the sales opportunities created and their progress. An SDR who understands your market and qualifies prospects properly can save valuable time for the salespeople responsible for closing deals.

Madagascar and Mauritius: two talent pools worth considering

Excellent SDRs can be found in several African countries. To choose a recruitment destination, look at the experience available and the requirements of the role.

Madagascar: practical experience in French-speaking prospecting

Madagascar has an ecosystem of contact centres and outsourced services. Companies already recruit professionals there to carry out B2B prospecting, follow-ups and appointment setting for the French market. This is an activity already practised locally.

For a French-speaking company, this talent pool deserves particular attention. You can look for candidates with telephone experience who have worked on sales campaigns and spoken with French contacts.

Selection should focus on their actual experience: what products or services have they represented? Did they contact consumers or business professionals? Were they simply expected to book a meeting or to identify a specific need?

The profile to look for: a salesperson comfortable in French, able to listen, rephrase and adapt the conversation to the prospect, with a disciplined approach to follow-up.

Also check individual working conditions: a quiet environment, audio quality, connectivity and a continuity plan in case of disruption. These criteria matter for any remote hire, regardless of the country.

Mauritius: a relevant pool for French-speaking and bilingual projects

Mauritius has an established international services and BPO sector. The Economic Development Board highlights a pool of skilled French-English bilingual professionals, as well as inbound and outbound calling activities.

This environment makes Mauritius a relevant destination to explore for French-speaking prospecting or a project covering several markets.

For a bilingual role, assess the candidate in each language: everyday conversation does not require the same skills as a commercial discussion with a business leader.

The profile to look for: an SDR who can understand your offering, conduct discovery and handle objections in the languages actually needed for the role.

Broaden the search according to your needs

Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo may also be part of your search. The goal is to compare candidates suited to your project.

A simple framework can guide your choice:

The country gives you access to a talent pool. Practical exercises then help identify the right employee.

Before hiring, prepare a one-page sales brief

Success starts with a clear role.

An SDR needs to know whom to contact, which problem to address, what they can promise and when to hand over the prospect.

Your brief should specify:

• The target: industries, company size, job functions and countries.
• The problem addressed: what your offering improves in practical terms.
• Available evidence: references, customer stories, demonstrations or documented results.
• The channels: telephone, email, LinkedIn and how they work together.
• The expected outcome: a discovery meeting, demonstration or identification of a project.
• The resources: contact lists, tools and a designated manager.

Also define a qualified meeting. For example: a company within your target audience, a relevant contact, an expressed challenge and agreement to explore it further.

This definition avoids confusing an accepted invitation with a genuine opportunity.

If your offering or target still needs refinement, plan a test phase with the sales manager. An SDR can help improve your messaging, but needs a sufficiently clear direction to start.

How do you recognise a good SDR during recruitment?

A CV provides clues. A practical exercise shows how a candidate thinks and interacts.

Offer a short exercise that is identical for all candidates: a brief about your company, a few minutes to prepare, then a simulated call.

Assess five dimensions:

Then add a particularly useful step: provide specific feedback and repeat a few minutes of the simulation.

Their ability to apply advice is a good indicator of their potential to improve.

Also ask detailed questions about past results. How many meetings actually took place? How were they qualified? Was the candidate working with inbound contacts, already interested prospects or cold outreach? These contexts are not comparable.

Prepare the working environment before day one

An employee should be able to work from the moment they arrive.

Prepare their equipment, telephony, email, CRM access and required documents. Check call quality under actual working conditions.

On the sales side, compile a straightforward pack: an overview of the offering, ideal customer profiles, use cases, frequent objections, message templates and qualification rules.

Also clarify the prospecting rules applicable to target markets, data access and how requests not to be contacted again should be handled.

Finally, reserve time in the manager’s calendar. Training becomes much harder when it depends entirely on whatever time happens to be free.

The first 90 days: a programme for building performance

This timetable is a framework to adapt to the SDR’s experience and the complexity of your offering. Sales targets should increase as their proficiency develops.

Days 1 to 15: understand, observe and practise

The employee learns about your company, customers and sales approach.

Introduce them to the people they will work with. Present customer stories, demonstrate your product or service and explain why customers choose you.

Alternate training with exercises: explaining the offering in their own words, simulated calls, writing messages and entering information in the CRM. Initial supervised outreach can begin once the fundamentals are in place.

The expected outcome: the SDR can explain your value proposition, recognise a relevant target and conduct a coherent initial conversation.

Days 16 to 30: test a precisely defined target

Launch a first campaign focused on a consistent segment.

For example, start with one job function and company size, addressing a clearly identified customer problem. This precision makes feedback easier to analyse.

Plan a short daily check-in at the beginning and several coaching sessions each week. The manager helps refine opening lines, deepen questions and understand objections.

The expected outcome: documented initial conversations, improved messaging and an established prospecting routine.

Days 31 to 60: strengthen qualification and consistency

Gradually increase activity while improving meeting quality.

Every salesperson receiving an opportunity should give the SDR feedback: target relevance, quality of information handed over, confirmed need and next steps taken.

This feedback allows gaps to be corrected quickly. It also gives the SDR a better understanding of the sales cycle.

The expected outcome: consistent activity, better-qualified meetings and reliable handover between prospecting and sales.

Days 61 to 90: become more independent and decide what comes next

Analyse results by target, channel and message. Document the approaches that work and identify areas still requiring support.

The SDR should gradually organise their follow-ups, prioritise contacts and keep the CRM up to date.

The review helps decide whether to develop a segment further, adjust the messaging or hire an additional employee.

The expected outcome: a repeatable method and enough information to guide the next stage. In a long sales cycle, opportunity quality and progression matter more than deals closed during the first three months alone.

Measure performance and understand gaps

A useful dashboard connects activity with opportunity creation.

Track contacts worked, conversations held, meetings booked, meetings attended and opportunities accepted by salespeople.

These indicators help diagnose difficulties:

This approach avoids attributing every difficulty to recruitment too quickly. It also helps pinpoint what to improve.

Build a complete budget

To evaluate your project, add fixed and variable pay, contributions and employment management fees, tools, data, equipment and management time.

Separate launch expenses from recurring monthly costs. Initial training will require more time, then support needs will evolve.

Next, calculate your cost per qualified opportunity:

Total cost of the setup over the period ÷ number of qualified opportunities created during that same period.

As a purely illustrative example, a setup costing €3,000 per month and creating 12 qualified opportunities represents €250 per opportunity. This is neither a price quote nor a promise of results: it demonstrates the calculation.

Viability then depends on your conversion rate, margin and time to close. Analyse results over a period consistent with your sales cycle.

Build a dedicated team integrated into your culture

A sales team becomes more effective when it understands your company and feels involved in its results.

Invite SDRs to relevant meetings. Share customer feedback, changes to the offering and the sales they have helped generate. Give them access to people who can answer technical questions.

Arrange individual conversations about challenges and progress. The best learning often comes from a real objection or a conversation reviewed together.

Time invested in training produces cumulative value: better market knowledge, more precise messages, sharper qualification and easier knowledge transfer to future hires.

With dedicated employees, you build commercial expertise within your organisation.

With Kernel, hire your team without setting up a subsidiary

Kernel helps companies recruit SDRs in Africa, from defining the role to selecting candidates. As your HR partner in Africa, Kernel covers all 54 countries on the continent.

Employment can then be arranged through an Employer of Record, or EOR, without setting up a subsidiary. Kernel handles the local contractual framework, personnel administration, payroll and associated social obligations, with centralised administrative and financial management.

Your employees are dedicated to your business. They use your tools, represent your brand and become part of your company culture. You direct their objectives, sales training and day-to-day management.

This approach supports a quick setup and lets you focus on the foundations of lasting success: the right people, a clear offering and meaningful support.

Would you like to hire your first SDR or build a team to prospect in France and internationally? Speak with Kernel to define the profiles, countries and organisation best suited to your project.