Country Director at Crown Agents Ltd

Function of Department

• An incubator for senior-level client relationships; placing business development at the heart of Country and regional strategy.
• To deliver high quality impactful programmes that support development progress in Kenya and East Africa and meet the needs of Crown Agents’ clients.
• To operate as a well-run functional operational platform for Crown Agents in Kenya, employing and investing in talented people who will contribute to CA’s global business.

Main Job Purpose

• To provide overall leadership to the CA Kenya office, achieving ambitious growth targets through business development.
• To engage proactively and effectively with clients and other key external stakeholders in the Government of Kenya, international donor organisations and in the private sector to promote CA’s business and generate high quality market intelligence for growth. 
• To be a key senior member of the Supply Chain Cluster and propose, negotiate and sell Procurement, Inspections and logistics project solutions to address donors and governments’ development agendas in Kenya and East Africa
• To provide strategic direction and effective oversight to the CA Kenya team
• To work in partnership with colleagues across the global business to identify and secure profitable new business opportunities in the country, contributing to the company’s overall growth targets.

Main Job Responsibilities

Business Winning

• Identify and secure new growth opportunities to build a stronger and more sustainable portfolio of contracts and programmes for CA in Kenya and across East Africa, particularly in the areas of Procurement, Inspections and Freight/logistics.
• Expand and fully utilise existing contracts to maximise the financial contribution of programmes to CA’s overall business performance.
• Seek new and develop appropriate partners and consortia to further strengthen CA Kenya’s market offering.
• Understand and develop access and trust with important and influential customer contacts.
• Exceed ambitious growth targets by embedding a sales-oriented growth culture across your team.
• Adopt and implement a Key Account Management approach to nurture and grow existing clients.
• Maintain and grow a senior-level network (C-suite executives, cabinet and principal secretaries and leaders within donor organisations), and broker new opportunities within this network.

About you

Requirements  

Qualification

• Relevant university degree required; Master's degree in related field preferred

Experience

• Typically, we require a minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in a senior manager role. Previous experience as a Country Director is desirable.  A demonstrable career focus on results through business development is a must.
• Track record of winning large contracts, particularly in the development arena
•  A strong track record of securing business growth and establishing new and effective partnerships with clients
• Strong interpersonal and soft skills such as delegation, communication, trustworthiness, empathy, team-working, leadership, listening and coaching.  
• Being able to demonstrate emotional intelligence in leadership and management. 
• Experience in winning large supply chain-oriented projects is desirable
• Previous experience in managing a diverse team in a resource-limited setting.
• Attention to detail and ability to effectively perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities often within a defined timelines
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with senior-level stakeholders, particularly interacting productively, proactively, and comfortably with government directly and govt agencies, NGOs, private sector groups, FCDO and donor organizations.
• Demonstrated strategic agility, diplomacy, conflict management, team building, written and oral communication, and negotiation skills.
• Considerable experience in working with host country governments, NGOs and private sector to move the programmes forward
• Familiarity with public procurement, tendering for public contracts and contract management, preferably in the supply chain context.
• Demonstrated strategic planning skills.
• Ability to travel as required to support the progress of programme activities.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of working for international organisations.