Meet Hiroki, Business Development Manager, Japan

About Hiroki

I’m Hiroki Morita, Business Development Manager covering the Japanese market. I moved to Amsterdam recently with my partner to seek new challenges and a different way of life. My entire career I have been working in banking technology with an ambition of developing enterprise software business in Japan.

At some point, last year I got an opportunity to meet Jouk and pitch him the idea of Backbase entering Japan fintech market. I joined Backbase shortly, so I figured he liked it 🙂

Apart from your passion for fintech, do you have any other hobbies?

Cooking is my other real big passion. I wouldn’t mind opening my own restaurant. I think I could provide serious competition to some of the Japanese restaurants here in Amsterdam. On top of that, I also like traveling and fishing.

Tell us about your job. What do you do at Backbase?

My main goal is to develop and manage the sales pipeline generated from Japan market. At the same time, I am committed to any extended missions for Backbase succeeding in Japan market. I like that at Backbase we take an outside-in approach to sales and we tailor our message and our product to each of our customers’ needs. Also, Backbase invests a lot in demos which helps a lot in sales. You go to a client and actually show them something they can get excited about.

What brought you to Backbase?

Backbase still has some challenges in Eastern Asia contrastively to its successes in other parts of the world. Having its amazing software platform with great vision that guides financial institutions to digital transformation journeys, I was confident that I could contribute to Backbase’s success. I guess this was the main deal-maker for me.

How would you describe Backbase Sales culture?

Sales guys at Backbase really focus on closing the deal. I am fascinated by how the whole team from BDM to Account Executive to our Solutions Engineering team - how everyone is getting involved. It is all about the passion that comes from our mission to “create a bank that people love”. At Backbase we try to help each other where we can and then celebrate our success together.

Name the most jaw-dropping destination you traveled to?

My travel destination is mainly to Tokyo, where I was born and raised. It is dynamic, large, and culturally intense. I guarantee it is different from any other places. So if you haven’t been - you should definitely go and if you have already been you probably want to go back anyways 😉

What advice would you give to someone who's interested in joining Backbase's sales team?

Do it! Especially if you have a self-starter type of personality. It is a great place to work if you have an ambitious and entrepreneurial mindset. Backbase will not give you precise steps to success, that is why being a doer who is result driven is so important for your success here. You also need to be good at getting people involved, because you cannot do it on your own - you need a team.

What do your parents think you do?

They still think I am doing something with computer for banking industry. My mission for next time I see them is to teach them key words at lease like "FinTech" , "Software" or "Platform".

If you could do another job for a day, what would that be and why?

A chef. I simply like cooking!