Wanted: Exceptional professional with 5+ years of work experience with strong analytical skills, managing relationships, developing strategy, and a demonstrated interest in agricultural supply chains and commodity markets.
Job Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: Minimum 2 years commitment, full-time job
Job Description
One Acre Fund will purchase over $40M worth of agricultural and non-agricultural inputs for direct sale to over 500,000 smallholder farmers in 2017. Through the distribution of these goods and innovative trainings, we produce $129 of impact per farmer, of which, $27 can be attributed to the distribution of non-agricultural inputs such as solar lights, efficient wood-burning cookstoves, and storage materials. Access to these life-improving inputs electrifies households, allows farmers to store their grain, and gives farmers and their families the tools they need to grow themselves out of poverty.
We are looking for someone to lead our non-agricultural goods supply chain team to reduce importation costs, build up local supply of plastics products, and stay in front of the regulatory environment in East Africa to deliver high quality goods on time at the feet of over 500,000 smallholder farmers. In this role, you will lead a team to improve our current non-agricultural goods delivery services for farmers across East Africa while preparing our systems to scale in the coming years.
Responsibilities of the Supply Chain Associate will include:
- Coordinate the sourcing, importation, and delivery of over 400,000 solar lights, 10,000 stoves, 60,000 harvest drying sheets, and 400,000 storage bags each year.
- Provide sourcing support and guidance to new country teams such as Ethiopia, Malawi, and Myanmar by building up regional supply chain knowledge and negotiating contracts.
- Stay at the forefront of regulations and policies surrounding the purchase and delivery of solar lights, cookstoves, and other plastics products throughout East and Southern Africa.
- Build relationships with leaders in the plastics, solar, and cookstoves industry to stay at the forefront of shifts in the global industry.
- Manage supplier relationships and coordinate between suppliers and in-country teams to deliver the best service possible to the farmers we serve.
- Develop rock-solid service level agreements with our regional logistics suppliers.
- Identify opportunities to advocate for policy and regulation changes to improve cost and process efficiency in non-agricultural product supply chain.
- Set up supply chain mechanisms and systems by incorporating best practices from other organizations and building strong, long-term supplier relationships.
- Map out current procurement practices to identify and implement cost- and time-saving improvements from small process tweaks to major strategic changes.
- Implement standardized practices to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and customer service.
- Mentor supply chain staff to build leadership and project management skills.
- Coach the team to identify high quality, high level suppliers and how to negotiate for best pricing and terms.
- Work with multi-national staff and suppliers.
- Identifying strong local talent pools for recruiting high quality supply chain staff.
- Ensure consistent, predictable quality by building strong Quality Assurance processes.
- Prevent fraud and corruption challenges along the procurement value chain.
- Create quality assurance and process checklists to guarantee adherence to standard operating procedures
- Become familiar with One Acre Fund teams and structures to ensure your team is effectively supporting their internal clients.
- Work closely with logistics and other internal teams to minimize delivered costs and reduce overall spend.
- Deliver overall process transparency to your internal clients
Career Growth and Development
One Acre Fund invests in building management and leadership skills. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development. We provide constant, actionable feedback delivered through mentorship and through regular management consulting-style career reviews. We also have regular one-on-one meetings, where we listen to and discuss career goals, and work collaboratively to craft roles that each person can be passionate about. Because of our rapid growth, we constantly have new high-level roles opening up and opportunities in many functions. This results in fast career growth for our staff.
Qualifications
We are seeking an exceptional professional with experience in and a passion for procurement and supply chain. Experience in an entrepreneurial environment is a plus.
Candidates that meet the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
- Work experience in a demanding professional environment, preferably in positions where frequent cross-department communication was required
- Some experience in procurement/supply chains strongly preferred
- Creativity and strong problem solving skills. You don’t take no for an answer and constantly look for alternative solutions to problems.
- A passion for world class customer service
- Outstanding communication skills with suppliers, reports, peers and management
- Experience working internationally preferred
- Leadership experience at work or outside of work
- Ability to work and make decisions independently
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Top-performing academic background
- Language: English required, French and Swahili preferred
Preferred Start Date: ASAP
Compensation: Starts modest. However, this is a career-track role with fast raises for performance, paying a meaningful salary for long-term placement in the Global South.
Benefits: Health insurance, immunizations, flight, room and board.
Sponsor International Candidates: Yes
East Africans are strongly encouraged to apply.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
