Sales Manager
Resume:
JACK MASAWA
P.O. Box 247**-***** GPO, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-***-***-***
Email: ********@*****.***
Personal Details:
oDate of Birth: 26th August 1975
oMarital Status: Married
Education and Professional Qualifications:
oMaster of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics, Specializing in Agribusiness Management, University of Nairobi, Kenya, 2008- 2012
oBachelor of Science in Agriculture (Crop and Livestock Production), 2nd Class, Egerton University, 1996-2001
oKenya Certificate of Secondary Education, Alliance High School, 1991-1994
Career Profile:
Experienced agribusiness professional with over 13 years’ experience in Eastern African agricultural input markets, international working experience in Agricultural product development and customer relationship management. Reputable technical skills in Commodity trade, crop protection and nutrition, value chain management, and yield, management of field and non-field crops, and general Agribusiness Management.
Key Professional Skills:
oExcellent knowledge, experience and skills in international agricultural commodity trade, crop protection, nutrition sales and technical development in, Southern, Eastern and Central Africa.
oAbility to undertake agricultural study, research, experiment and interpret results for commercialization among a range of clients directly or in collaboration with other partners.
oProven ability to respond quickly, independently and appropriately to competing priorities under tight deadlines
oExcellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate to a variety of audiences
oStrong organizational skills and able to coordinate and manage a diverse array of responsibilities
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Regional Key Accounts Manager, Lachlan Kenya Limited- a regional a subsidiary of Unifert Global which is a major Global Fertilizer trading organization, Jan 2014 to date. (www.lachlanafrica.com)
Achievements to date
Successfully created and managing successful team of marketing Agronomists and delivering results by growing market share with nutrition and crop protection products among both high value and low-end clients in Eastern Africa from Kenya.
Successfully created and sustained a clear Sales process that has led to reduced business risks.
Successfully launched new agricultural innovations such as Micronized and advance liming product from Europe into this market and surpassed the sales targets by 400%
Successfully created additional demand through a database of clients through value addition and re-launch of products in the market to boost sales volumes
Created and delivered on working business partnerships, distributors that have helped to push the sales in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and South Sudan either directly or through distributors
Authored and put contractual documentation for the various commodity parities for buyers for international transactions.
Successfully authored several articles in the specialist Floraculture Magazine to a peer reviewing audience in Eastern Africa.
Advised on various trade finance options for our clients and helping to negotiate appropriate instruments for payment to reduce defaults.
Has established working relationships with major International Agricultural powerhouses such as Omya Corporation, Cargill, Corteva Agrisciences, Nulandis, United Phosphorous Limited, Yara, over my experiences in various institutions that I have worked with in the East African Market .
Responsibilities
Collection of market, competition and customer intelligence; conduction of external market research:
Analyzing regional market environment to identify market conditions, trends and key business opportunities for area development.
In collaboration with Business & product management team, defining relevant market surveys to be conducted and to broaden knowledge of customers, products, pricing and the seed chain & food supply chain trends. As part of the commercial team
Collection of reliable market size information at country, product, regional level and for analysing data to facilitate decisions related to marketing mix and new product introductions – works in that area with the Business team to deliver accurate and on-time market & competition data.
Responsible for coordinating, organizing of in-house market surveys & joined surveys, collating the data collected and refining it in line with the performance of the local and regional key distributors.
Optimization of key new product introductions
Developing a plan (new molecule profiling and iintroductions) and implements activities to capture the full potential of product launches including distribution strategy, pricing and promotion.
Leading in the analyzing of current product range life cycle with replacement and new introductions in mind.
Pricing, Debt Collection responsibilities and commercial policies
Together with Business analysts & Business & Market Intelligence Lead, analyses gross to net sales and determines action plans to capture value for the organization
In charge of developing pricing and market expansion strategies in collaboration with commercial lead and jointly responsible for approving price adjustments requests related to market conditions on matured product ranges together with product managers.
Compiling of annual Pricing files that is used as price reference document.
Making sure the receivables are up to date with minimal default rates .
Branding and communication
In collaboration with Area Communication Manager, leads the implementation of branding strategies for the designated areas.
Ensures diligent use of corporate guidelines in branding and institutional image and stationary material across the area. In distributor markets, he/she works with distributors to ensure correct delivery brand guidelines to market.
Distribution network management
Accountable for analysing current and developing alternative distribution strategies or enhancing existing ones for the area through the continuous analysis of the position of Unifert /Lachlan distributors in market, cooperatively work with distributors to improve.
Responsible for establishing relationships with various actors in Crop protection and nutrition chain to analyse opportunities and developing plans to capture growth.
Authoring the various distribution agreements with various commercial partners in the region
Offering products for the purposes of commercialization to various partners that have been identified in each of the countries where it may be logistically challenging to run physical office from.
Evaluating the performance of each of the partners to assess the value that is attached to them to help in making commercial decisions
Customer Relationships Management
Directly in contact with direct / in-direct customers and paying specific attention to developing a close business relationship with key-distributors enabling them to act as representatives of Unifert Lachlan Portfolio in East Africa.
Supporting of Crop Teams
Organize crop team meetings and liaise with Product Managers acting as representative of the marketing function in a market crop team, with special focus on the Value Proposition and Pricing for new Crop protection molecules and product portfolio optimization various designated areas.
Organizing training of local Agronomic teams and field visits ton local distributors to enhance penetration
Developing and sustaining the general business and increasing profitability of the company in Eastern Africa region by doing effective sales & marketing and implementing new strategies formats and regulations
Cross Border Trade facilitation
Facilitating cross border trade between the countries involved in the transfer of Agricultural products for export to distant regional markets through the recruitment of the new distributors and the expansion of the portfolio of the old and established clients in the region
Administrative work
Managing costs and other expenses of the Company to streamline it with strict business objectivity and ethics
Regularly monitor the sales team and ensure calls to distributors & other customers and institutions as per their defined territories to achieve budgeted sales volumes and other established goals
Regional Commodity Analyst for Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Africa, Cargill Corporation, September 2013 to May 2014 (www.cargill.com).
Responsibilities
Originated Analyzed agricultural commodity fundamentals (supply/demand) and technical data to forecast commodity prices generated from various Country Offices in the region
Maintained and lead commodity research portal and databases for the region;
Leading the preparation of weekly Cargill commodity meeting materials
Maintained a retinue of commodity cost reporting and forecasting models for commodities and ingredients based on latest coverage and market outlook
Supported commodity trade by leading forecasting and variance analysis for commodities and ingredients for all Business Units in the regions
Developed and maintained historical costs, usage and information by category to assist in negotiations and analysis from the diverse sources of tradable agricultural commodities
Regional Commodity Trader for Fertilizers Crop Protection and Industrial Chemicals, Louis Dreyfus Commodities AS, based in Johannesburg Jan 2010 to December 2013
Launched, introduced and developed the market from scratch of the current brands such as Kongoni wa dhahabu, Cypermethrin, Urea and many other tradeable fertilizers plus a range of many crop protection products
Successfully traded and analyzed consumer trends and hedging of soft commodity buying from the open markets and closed business deals with several clients in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa
Supplied regional customers with an in-depth analysis of the trends in global commodity business in terms of price risk and spatial large-scale purchases.
Authored and put contractual documentation for the various commodity parities for buyers for international transactions
Advised on various trade finance options for our clients and helping to negotiate appropriate instruments for payment to reduce defaults
Successfully managed the costs of operations to realize 80% profitability on running average on the crop value chains under Louis Dreyfus Commodities Company
Responsibilities
Communicating with various commodity buyers and offering daily global in-depth economic analysis of prices and closing commodity business deals for various commodities (Soy bean meal, wheat and Crop and industrial chemicals
In-charge of sales and Marketing, technical development activities for various Agricultural products East Africa for the fertilizer and crop protection raw actives, finished products and bio stimulants for the various sectors in East Africa
Facilitating cross border trade between the countries involved in the coffee value chains through competitive bidding and procurement of coffee Arabica and Robusta for export to distant markets
Advising on trade financing and all the related contractual obligations for various commodity parities in East Africa and the suppliers in Europe, Asia, USA and Australia
Key Account Manager for some of the large Input buyers in East Africa.
Setting and managing diverse teams in the mandated countries to achieve their own positive PnL Account through aggressive marketing and technical development.
Senior Agronomist, Amiran Kenya Limited, Nairobi, January 2003-December 2008;
Duties and Responsibilities:
Liaised with Kenya Pest Control Products Board to undertake new chemicals scientific trials, experimentation and compilation of research finding for phytotoxicity and efficacy in major farms specialized in vegetable, Coffee and flower production for recommendations and commercial usage
Managed the key account customers in the region concerning all the agricultural products usage and post harvest control
Offered training workshops and training materials for product launch and usage for major horticultural farms and distributors in channel marketing
and sold 16 products
Significant Working Experience:
Tobacco Leaf Technician, Standard Commercial Tobacco (K) Limited, Thika –Kenya, May 2001-Dec 2002
Banking Officer- Clearing Department, Barclays Bank Of Kenya Limited, Nairobi, May 1997-May 1998
REFEREES
Please feel free to contact the under mentioned concerning my competence, work ethic and performance.
Peter Mungai Mbugua
Regional Chief Finance Officer
Lachlan Kenya Limited (Unifert Group)
P.O.BOX 494**-*****
Nairobi
Tel +254-***-***-***
Email: *****.******@*************.***
Titus Muturi Ngatia
Regional Research and Regulatory Manager for East Africa
Arysta Life Sciences
P.O.BOX 342**-*****,
Nairobi Kenya
Tel +254-***-***-***
Email: *****.******@***-***.***
Omry Karplus
Chief Manager, Chemicals and Fertilizers
Amiran Kenya Limited
P.O. Box 303**-*****, Nairobi
Tel +254-***-***-***
****@***********.***
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