Sales Manager / Team lead, East & West Africa at Ingredion Incorporated

The East Africa Sales Manager is responsible for manage sales activities and accelerate sales to exceed our annual and regional strategic plans for the region, and lead, develop and motivate the sales team to deliver on the growth ambitions.

Core Responsibilities:

• Leadership - Lead, develop and motivate a team of cross-function professionals within the region to deliver growth targets for the region.  Strong focus on high performance and employee engagement to develop an aligned, cohesive and agile team.  Embed the company’s values and to create a stimulating working environment. Develop the team and team members through relevant development plans including full adoption of company standards in selling techniques amd developing relationships with Customers. Coach and support the team to comply with best practices and company standards for data management and reporting
• Business Growth - Deliver growth for a portfolio of active and assigned prospect customers within the region. Working closely with the Category Team to deliver business growth. 
• Major Account, Strategic Account, and Distributor Management - Manage major cross-regional customer accounts to deliver profitable growth e.g., identifying opportunities, business development and price negotiation. Continuously develop and broaden the stakeholder network to drive business growth and a positive customer experience along the Buying Cycle. Develop and execute on specialty sales plans for the region in line with the platform strategy and Ingredion product portfolio. In close collaboration with the channel team, manage a distributor to grow the business with small and medium size customers across all categories.
• Sales Activities – Overseeing the contract process to ensure it delivers value to customers whilst ensuring competitive pricing to maximize value for Ingredion. Develop new ideas, concepts, and products in conjunction with other functions such as Technical Service and Marketing. Continuously develop and broaden the stakeholder network at customers and a positive customer experience across relevant functions and seniority levels.
• Stakeholder Management – Develop an effective working relationship across relevant functions Coordinate internal support such as technical service, customer service and marketing to deliver a high level of support and fast-track project deliver for customers.
• Office Management - General site management and overseeing key Sales and Supply chain activities such as forecasting. Inventory management, accounts receivable, project management, as well as Power of Attorney responsibilities for the site.

Qualified candidates will have:

Mandatory requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Solid commercial/sales experience in the B2B food ingredient industry. Commercial Acumen
• Work experience in successfully leading, developing, and motivating a team of technical service and/or sales professionals
• Fluent in English (written and spoken)
• Understanding of food processes and formulations.
• Strong analytical, problem solving & numeracy skills
• The role will require regular travel throughout the region to visit customers and other Ingredion sites.

Desirable requirements:

• Degree (or equivalent) in Chemistry, Food Science or other related discipline

Required behaviors and skills:

• Growth – Executes growth strategies through business expansion and cross functional teams
• Performance – Manages performance expectations and pipeline to deliver to plan
• Developer – Conducts regular feedback and personalized coaching with team members
• Relator – Builds and sustains relationships
• Analytical – Executes data trends for smart decision making
• Problem Solver – Implements resourceful solutions to problems
• Responsibility – Delivers on commitments and builds trust
• Operational – Executes efficient sales processes and methodology
• Cultural Awareness – Demonstrates cultural awareness whilst working across different countries within the region.