Head of Commercial – Food Manufacturing

Job Title: Head of Commercial – Food Manufacturing

Department: Sales

Industry: FMCG

Location: Nairobi with travel across the region

Brief on Client

Our client is a food manufacturing company that uses advanced supply chain management and operational expertise to ensure high quality food is locally sourced, manufactured and delivers to customers in an expedient and safe way.

Role Summary

The role will identify and deliver new revenue streams across the organization’s multiple platforms in the food industry, including delivering an effective customer relationship program that retains and expands the existing base of customers and business partners. The Commercial Manager’s responsibilities include exploiting the capability of the organization’s manufacturing platforms through networking, leadership of the sales and marketing effort.

Responsibilities

The Commercial Manager is a core member of the senior leadership team. S/he has accountability for:

• Developing and executing the strategy for growth of the brand, products and services

• Developing and driving a rolling 3-year revenue growth strategy, including product development, revenue streams, sales forecasts and budgets to achieve agreed targets;

• Identifying and optimizing synergies across the food production and logistics platforms cognizant of mutual strengths and benefits from such collaboration, including gathering and leveraging data generated during the course of business operations (e.g., data regarding delivery routes and fuel consumption of the fleet) to inform decision-making and drive efficiencies)

• Developing and implementing business development strategies for hotel, retail and cafes (HORECA) as well as export markets consistent with the organization’s manufacturing and distribution capabilities to enable sustainable revenue growth;

• Reviewing and assessing financial and economic data to monitor the health of the organization’s platform; preparing reports to benchmark the performance the business; assessing the underlying drivers of changes in financial metrics; and identifying risks and opportunities to the business plan

• Assessing and interpreting commercial and financial performance to partner and guide the team in protecting, projecting and growing organic and innovative revenue streams.

• Building and maintaining a current and useful competitor database, to support business impact analyses and business continuity plans, including mitigation and contingency planning.

• Overseeing the development and execution of sales, marketing and customer satisfaction efforts across product offerings (e.g., meat, bakery, produce).

• Leading and motivating a sales and marketing team to deliver strategic growth of revenue and margin targets.

• Setting weekly and monthly goals for every member of the sales and marketing teams, including revenues for each of the businesses by sector, product returns, consumer insight, competitor pricing analysis, product profitability and distribution cost impact

• Developing and instituting a weekly performance scoreboard providing a detailed analysis of revenues against budget, product pricing review, profitability assessment and marketing.

• Securing and managing customer contracts, including managing and reporting on contract retention, by ensuring service delivery performance is tracked and in line with or exceeds customer expectations and requirements defined through contract negotiations to support a successful outcome

• Maintaining satisfactory or exemplary relationships with customers, including by establishing customer care policies and procedures that provide systemic professional and relevant engagement and ensures customers have full confidence in the organization

• Identifying and resolving revenue collection matters as and when they arise to protect cashflow and eliminate write-offs.

• Management of sales, marketing and distribution costs

• Partnership with Business Managers to drive sustainable financial performance.

• Development and execution of a viable Route to Market strategy for the products.

• Demand planning to inform and drive the production planning;

• Developing the strategy for the regional expansion of the brand, products and services

• Researching market segments and potential customers for the organization in East Africa, informing a compelling value proposition; and providing presentations and supporting

• Researching and providing reports on local and regional market developments and trends that may impact products and services, including but not limited to the local business climate, the macroeconomic environment, taxation, trade policy and relevant public and/or private investments.

• Developing a business plan, including the revenue growth strategy, target expansion countries, products, revenue streams, sales forecasts and budgets, to achieve expansion objectives and, as approved, supporting its implementation.

Qualifications

• At least five (5) years’ experience leading the commercial efforts of a food manufacturing business with annual revenues equal to or in excess of $20m.

• Proven success in launching new product lines into the East African market with annual revenues achieving no less than $1m.

• Demonstrated capacity to lead and control critical aspects of the business, including revenue generation, product and packaging innovation, sales, marketing, business development, optimizing department operating costs, quality monitoring, training and culture.

• Proven success in optimizing logistics capabilities that support the revenue opportunities of the manufacturing platforms.

• Three (3) years of experience in product development across a range of food categories

• Relentless commitment to good governance and ethical business practices;

• Follow the organization’s policies, procedures and contractual obligations;

• Comply with QHSE policies and rules to ensure a safe and healthy work environment.

• An entrepreneur’s acumen

• Candidate should be able to travel as required by the business