Director of Agribusiness Management Systems, Tanzania

For over 50 years and in 146 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society. ACDI/VOCA currently has approximately 34 projects in 26 countries and revenues of approximately $174 million.

Director of Agribusiness Management Systems, Tanzania

ACDI/VOCA is currently seeking a long-term Director of Agribusiness Management Systems for a multi-year USAID-funded market development program in Tanzania. The project will have a strong focus on sustainable, private-sector driven market development in several agricultural value chains, including rice and maize.

This position would be responsible for spear-heading and implementing – in close collaboration with agribusiness companies –improvements to the management of key business systems that play a pivotal role in the success of the Project’s sustainable and inclusive market development objectives. The scope for these improvements could include: new or adapted business models for customer outreach, geographic coverage, and product delivery; procurement planning; inventory management; sales and promotions; financing; business planning; and personnel management.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the Agribusiness Management Systems component and a small team of business development specialist, providing technical and managerial oversight and leadership, contributing to the design and implementation oversight of annual work plans and strategies, and ensuring that interventions respond to identified market opportunities and create sustainable development outcomes.
• Design– in close collaboration with agribusiness companies –improvements to the management of key business systems that play a pivotal role in the success of the Project’s sustainable and inclusive market development objectives. The scope for these improvements could include: new or adapted business models for customer outreach, geographic coverage, and product delivery; procurement planning; inventory management; sales and promotions; financing; business planning; and personnel management. Companies could include agro-input providers, equipment providers, and processors, amongst others.
• Provide direct technical guidance and advisory services to companies (of varying sizes and capacities) on improved business management practices, drawing on modern-day business management practices and business models applicable to the agricultural environment in Tanzania. This includes developing simple business management tools, templates, trainings. In doing so, it is expected that this position will work particularly closely with the ICT Integration Manager to maximize the value of relevant technologies.
• Develop collaborative relationships with key commercial stakeholders – from small, medium, and large enterprises to business associations or other quasi-commercial entities in the agricultural value chains - to fully understand their perspectives on constraints and opportunities as well as the business enabling environment
• Conduct interventions and design strategies in a manner that builds direct ownership by stakeholders in the business improvements, in order to ensure changes are sustainable.
• Identify opportunities to share business successes with the broader business community, in order to encourage replication and ‘copy-catting’ by other companies, independent of project direct support, and therefore contribute to broader, systems-level impacts.
• Collaborate with senior leadership and the Knowledge Management team to design quantitative and qualitative tools and surveys that allow the Project to analyze the success of failure of pilot activities in this area, leveraging to the extent possible data embedded in the company partners already.
• Review project monitoring and evaluation requirements for the agribusiness management component, ensuring performance against required indicators; as part of this effort, develop a culture of learning and adaptive programming within your team that encourages flow of information and reflection to maximize performance and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to research and analysis of market opportunities in input supply, aggregation, bulking and processing for rice and maize, based on engagements with agribusinesses.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or Agricultural Economics; Masters in Business Administration a bonus.
• At least 7 years of private sector experience in business with demonstrated practical experience in business modeling, procurement planning/inventory management, etc. At least 3 of these years must be with an agribusiness company with linkages to the rice and maize value chains, preferable that strove to reach rural clients/suppliers/customers.
• Demonstrated experience with business management tools – representing a range of complexities (e.g. business management software for large companies; simple paper-based tracking sheets for small rural shops, etc). Book keeping and financial management experience a bonus.
• Demonstrated familiarity with modern-day business models, techniques, and innovations, especially those that advance efforts to reach rural, poor populations; as well as a willingness to proactively stay abreast of developments in the business world (‘continuous learning’).
• Strong interpersonal/ people management skills and excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Able to travel to rural areas (frequently)
• Strong financial analysis skills and excellent problem solving and analytical skills
• Full computer literacy.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili

HOW TO APPLY:

Please apply online at http://acdivoca.bosmaxhire.net/cp/?E5556E361D43515B7E59192F77501E680D627B4D. No phone calls please. Only finalists contacted. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. EOE.