We are looking for an individual passionate about rural development, who enjoys meeting new people and experiencing diverse situations with the aim of driving collaborative efforts to promote staff engagement and increase job satisfaction, retention and performance.
Full-time · Central and Eastern Kenya
We are looking for someone to build and support a team of Area Coordinators in a new region. Kenya’s Central and Eastern region is set to have 6 branches, with the first branch kicking off operations in Q4 2021. Each of the Area Coordinators is responsible for 7-8 field staff who work as sales agents and loan collection officers.
The successful jobholder
will therefore also be involved in kicking off operations in the upcoming
branches where this entails recruiting the Area Coordinators and their
respective teams.
This is a mid-level
position based in Central and Eastern Kenya, reporting to the Nairobi-based
Director directly. You will work across the branches to assess and increase
employee engagement and performance. Additionally, you will gauge customer
satisfaction and suggest relevant initiatives to the team.
Job Summary:
Over the next 2 years
you will be building up a team of 6 branches with about 50 staff reporting to
you. Developing their people management skills as their teams are growing is
key to the success of the business.
You will be expected to
work with the Area Coordinators on a daily basis to strengthen the capacity of
the teams at the branches.
Developing their people
management skills is key to growing the business to strengthen the capacity of
the teams.
Through this we expect
the following outcomes from you: increased
staff satisfaction, retention and performance, with the ultimate goal of sales
growth, improved debt collections, customer satisfaction and referral sales.
Key activities and deliverables:
1.Support to the
regional branches:
- Recruitment
of Area Coordinators and their respective teams, in collaboration with the
HR team, in the upcoming branches;
- Engage
Area Coordinators to drive results in their branches through their teams.
This includes coaching and supporting them in key processes such as
performance management.
- Build
their skills to becoming stronger trainers, coaches and leaders themselves.
- Provide
specific, situational and practical advice around team-related issues and
decisions, and help Area Coordinators in finding solutions that work in
their locality and for their team.
- Further
drive the spirit and community of learning between Area Coordinators
through facilitating peer forums and conversations.
- Pull
in and liaise with relevant HQ staff on key issues.
2. Drive engagement and
motivation of our field teams:
- Live
Bidhaa Sasa’s vision and values, further enhancing buy-in into our unique
approach to sales and rural development.
- Visit
the branches and go for field visits, to actively track engagement and
motivation of our field staff. (This role has 80% travel).
- Work
collaboratively with Business Support, Research & Data team and HR to
foster a continuous learning culture and standardization of processes.
3. Help drive overall
company performance and improve our procedures:
- Capture
learning from the field, observe trends and raise challenges and
opportunities to the larger team.
- Bring
ideas and liaise with others in the team to improve our sales and
collection procedures.
- Actively
participate in weekly calls to discuss and monitor branch performance with
the head office team.
- Interact
with clients frequently to understand their needs, problems, gauge their
satisfaction with our products and services, outcomes and impact of
the work they’ll and not too much on specific tasks. Let the candidates
know in what way they’ll have an impact on your company and customers. Get
them excited for the role!
Who we are looking for:
- You
are passionate about rural
development and making a difference for the less well-off.
- You
have at least 5 years of relevant
progressive experiences in leading remote/ field teams in a business (Direct
sales experience or work with sales agents/teams is not a must).
- A
relevant bachelor degree is required.
- You
have interacted with a wide range of people and teams. Your leadership
style focuses on people management and talent development.
- You
are analytical and know how to troubleshoot an issue and draw insights.
- Good track record of coaching
and developing people to reach difficult goals.
- Deep
knowledge about rural communities, their culture and their decision making.
- You
know how to identify capacity gaps in teams and think through
interventions (training and otherwise) to fill them.
- Experience
and skill in running engaging and practical training workshops preferred.
- You
are energized by interacting with people, and enjoy spending a lot of time
in the field and outdoors.
- You
are a team player who leads by example and excellent at listening and
building trust and long-lasting relationships with clients and within
teams.
- You
are self-driven, highly organised and able to operate independently
towards set targets.
- You
are willing to roll up your sleeves and help out wherever needed to solve
arising problems and harness business opportunities.
- When
we talk about supporting the branches, we don’t mean on the phone! There
will be a lot of travelling! Each of the branches needs to be visited on a
regular basis and once you’re done with one the next visit is waiting! For
easy access to our branches, you could be based
in or around Thika, Murang’a or Embu.
- Excellent
spoken and written communication skills in English required. Working
knowledge in local languages (Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, Kamba) is an added
advantage.
Our culture – We are the right organization for you if:
- You
believe in the potential of rural communities to improve their family’s
lives and are eager to ensure everyone has an equal part in Kenya’s
development. We put the client at the centre of all our decisions and
actions.
- You
enjoy the thrill of start-up life, where we fail and learn from it, where
things change fast, and every day brings new challenges. We are a small
team working tirelessly to achieve something that has not been done before!
- You
are excited about working in a multi-cultural environment, where we have
open communication channels, are transparent about challenges and
mistakes, learn from each other and respect and leverage our diversity to
make the business work.
- You
want your ideas to be heard and participate in business strategy: Our team
is collaborative and supportive. We listen to insights from the field,
because we know that otherwise we can’t succeed.
Additional Information:
- You
will be required to travel around Central & Eastern region, mainly
using public means. We encourage candidates to consider this before
applying. Simple, safe and clean accommodation will be provided by the
company. Given our clients’ savings groups tend to meet on Saturday and
Sundays, work will sometimes extend to the weekend.
- This
role will include a strong bonus related element of around one third of
the salary based on key performance areas such as employee engagement on
branch level, sales growth and loan portfolio quality.
- Expected
start date for the role is 1st August 2021 with
a one-week on-boarding training scheduled in mid July.
How To Apply
Applications will be
reviewed on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Ensure you upload your CV and Cover Letter in
PDF format.
NB: Bidhaa Sasa does not
charge any fees for recruitment.
