Olam International - National Category Manager

About Olam

Olam Caraway PFB manufactures and markets a range of branded packaged food products to consumers across multiple African markets. Over the last decade the PFB business has established regional brand and market leadership positions in multiple consumer categories across targeted markets in West Africa. The Olam PFB portfolio currently counts eight key brands that are marketed to more than ten South and West African markets. The consumer categories we are present in West Africa includes: Tomato Paste, Beverages, Instant Noodles, Biscuits, Confectionery and Food Ingredients.

Job location: Lagos, Nigeria

Overview of Position:

The incumbent heads Sales and Trade Marketing for Beverages category for Nigeria covering all Channels. The incumbent would be responsible for developing the category sales strategies, undertake channel development and coach & lead the Beverages sales team to achieve the sales AOP plans & KPIs. The incumbent will be based in Lagos and will lead a dedicated Beverages team of Regional Managers, Assistant RSMs, ASMs & SOs. This role reports into the Vice President - Sales, Nigeria.

Key responsibilities include:

- Develop sales strategies for Nigeria Beverages category by identifying trade insights and growth opportunities to drive incremental volume growth. Contribute to Annual Operating Plan (AOP) exercise development by identifying medium to long term growth pillars to position Olam to gain share in a competitive and ambiguous environment

- Undertake complete ownership of Beverages monthly sales plan achievement (Volume, Distribution and Secondary KPIs) for all channels of Nigeria. Oversee Van operations with the help of National Fleet Manager and identify ways to drive effectiveness of Van capacity utilization

- Develop a robust trade promotion plan via a nuanced approach of brand, pack, channel and geography strategy and cascade to regional teams with granular plans & milestones. Monitor and drive the plan execution through robust weekly reviews with regional teams

- Collaborate with Marketing to roll-out Shopper interventions and Trade Activation plans to dial-up Visibility, Shelf share and Tertiary sales

- Continually evaluate and optimize the Beverages GTM by developing deep channel, customer & category understanding via trade visits

- Effectively utilize Trade Spends budget to achieve category goals. Oversee monthly reconciliation and timely trade payout settlements by liaising with Finance

- Continually monitor and strengthen commercial hygiene of sales reporting, trade claims, asset tracking

- Establish and embed a daily Sales Ops rhythm with the help of Sales Enablers and Performance score cards. Leverage Sales Analyst to drive reporting Systems including DSRs, Retail cards, Activation trackers, Monthly reporting, Trade claims, Damage & Shortage claims

- Monitor the Category redistribution aspects on a regular basis (Outlet Mapping, Coverage, Attendance, PJP Compliance, Bill Productivity) and identify plans to strengthen our distribution

- Oversee Distributor Management policies and identify ways to improve efficiency on Order Management, Stock Management, Credit Management and Profitability. Build rapport with top distributors across Nigeria and continually engage with them to identify & translate emerging trends into sales plans

- Lead & coach the field sales team members through in-market presence and role-model Olam values. Work with the National Capability Lead to identify ongoing capability development needs of the Beverages category team and embed regular training & up-skilling to improve effectiveness. Lead the annual Sales DC (Development Center) exercise to build talent pipeline

- In-charge of Field-force Sales Incentive plans and R&R programs

Requirements:

- Candidate with extensive experience of Sales, Trade Marketing, and/or Route to Market & Sales Capability Development across multiple geographies/ cities

- Must have experience of designing & implementing Trade Activation programs and demonstrated experience of rolling out initiatives to win share in competitive markets

- Minimum 12+ years of work experience in leading Foods & Beverages company. Preference would be given to those who have demonstrated experience - in part or full - of Beverages industry

- Tier 1 Premier Institute MBA preferred