About the Role
- BURN is hiring for a Key Account & Business
Development Director. The individual will act as the face of BURN and the
key point of contact to a wide range of strategic partners, including
development agencies, carbon project developers, and BURN’s distribution
partners.
- You will work in close cooperation with
BURN’s Commercial team in Nairobi, Kenya to maximize BURN’s success in
winning long-lead-time deals with strategic global partners, resulting in
hundreds of thousands of stove sales.
Primary Responsibilities:
- P&L Responsibility: Maintain a yearly business plan that includes budgeting,
P&L, and sales operations programs for improving the profitability of
the company.
- New Business Development: Identify and develop new partnerships that align with
BURN’s company strategy. Present and pitch to external parties. When
required, represent BURN at conferences and events in Kenya and abroad.
- Strategic Projects/Initiatives: Assist the Commercial team in the planning,
implementation, and tracking of strategic projects and initiatives across
several geographical markets.
- Collaboration: Act
as a go-between with BURN’s senior management, commercial, carbon, and
special project/grants teams.
Key Account Management:
- Information Gathering: Gather
critical market information on the clean cooking sector, carbon offsetting
market, BURN’s distribution partners, competitor activity, aid and
development industries, and other key areas of the sector.
- Pitch Material Design & Development: Work with BURN’s marketing team, design and develop
effective project and partnership proposals, such as company and product
overviews, product comparisons, and distribution proposals. Own these
materials, track them and update accordingly. These materials will
effectively help the company secure multi-million-dollar partnerships and
projects.
- Reporting/Forecasting: Produce
regular analytical reports and ad-hoc research papers on key partnerships,
business development updates, and market landscape, as well as
monthly forecasting and reporting for distribution activities
Skills and Experience
- 5 years of Senior-level sales experience
- University Degree in Business Management,
Development Studies, or related fields. An MBA is a plus.
- Proven B2B sales, route-to-market, supply
chain, and new business development experience
- Ability to produce and present
professional strategy, reports, accurate forecasts, and channel sales
plans.
- Excellent verbal and written
communication skills in English; French would be an added advantage
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with an
ability to engage partners at all levels including senior government
officials; high level of comfort making cold calls to prospective partners
- Strong cross-cultural skills and
versatility in dealing with different types of partnerships.
- At least 3 years of professional
experience in relationship management/partnership development, preferably
across the energy, aid, development, and carbon industries; proven record
in growing such partnerships
- Demonstrated success and
achievements in new business development; proven record in
identifying and onboarding new partnerships that helped a company achieve
its strategic goals
- Experience working across a range of
geographical markets.
- Ability to carry out excellent strategic
research on a diverse range of subjects.
- Ability to design professional,
comprehensive, and winning partnership/project proposals
- Enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, a desire
to ‘sell for good’.
- Sales, marketing, and new business
development experience with consumer durable goods in last-mile,
bottom-of-the-pyramid communities
- Knowledge and experience of the realities
of clean cooking and other development issues, donor institutions, and
carbon offsetting market
- Strong analytic/number-crunching
background, specifically in sales and marketing data
- Network of business contacts in the aid,
development, and carbon industries
- Be able to adapt to a highly variable
environment, and easily change the scope and focus.
How To Apply