Job description

BURN is seeking a Sales Project Manager for Francophone West Africa, who will be responsible for managing a range of exciting start-up sales and market research initiatives in a selected number of markets across Francophone West Africa.

The position has four specific core responsibilities, as well as several additional responsibilities that will evolve throughout the duration of the position in line with the company’s regional strategy.

Primary Responsibilities:

(In order of priority/importance)

• New Business Development 
• Identify and develop new distribution partnerships, targeting importers, wholesalers, retailers, financial institutions, corporations/government institutions and NGOs
• Trial Sales
• Spearhead BURN’s trial sales activities with distributors and other partners alike
• Market Research
• Lead BURN’s on-the-ground market research projects, specifically, willingness to pay and usability studies for its existing and new product line
• Activation & Merchandising Team
• Hire (or outsource), train and manage a team of sales activators and researchers/enumerators.

Secondary Responsibilities:

(In order of priority/importance)

• BURN’s Key Regional Lead
• Assist with the management of operations in the selected markets, including business setup (business registration, licenses, banking etc), third-party logistics, staff and country-specific commercial operations
• Market Scoping/Assessment
• Assist with the design of the company’s official go-to-market strategies for the selected markets, including leading all on-the-ground market research activities
• Account Management
• Assist with the management of key distribution partnerships/customer accounts and provide support when necessary
• Strategy
• Assist with the design of the sales, distribution and marketing strategies for the selected markets.

Skills and Experience:

Essential:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both French and English
• 1+ years’ experience in new business development activities, with a proven record in successfully identifying and developing B2B distribution partnerships
• 1+ years’ experience running on-the-ground sales and marketing events, specifically, marketplace product activations/demonstrations
• 1+ years’ experience managing a team of sales activators/agents
• Experience managing market research projects (preferably in relation to product sales), and working with data collection, either directly or in collaboration with researchers/enumerators
• Enthusiastic, creative, a desire to ‘sell for good’ and willingness to get your ‘hands dirty’
• Bachelor’s degree from a university

Desired:

• Experience with travel across Francophone West Africa, most notably, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali
• Experience conducting market scoping/assessments exercises and designing route-to-market plans
• Experience managing key account partnerships across a range of sales channels
• Strong analytic/number-crunching background, specifically sales and marketing data