Business Development Manager at Cigna

As a member of our Business Development team, you will develop, implement and manage the strategy to grow our international portfolio profitably and achieve significant market share. This is both a challenging and exciting opportunity which requires you to develop a detailed understanding of every aspect of the local and international business and work with all our departments.The successful candidate will report directly to the Director of Business Development – Cigna Africa and will be responsible for establishing and managing a distribution network of brokers/consultants and strategic partners to ensure profitable growth.

Main duties/Responsibilities                                                                           

• Generate and follow up new business leads to meet Business Development and profitability targets in line with overall strategy;
• Develop proactive strategy, with regular reviews, maximising specific business opportunities as they arise;
• Assess prospective clients’ existing insurance arrangements to identify and develop new business opportunities;
• Build up and maintain distribution network of brokers/consultants and strategic partners;
• Keep abreast of all developments in the market both client and competitor-related, contributing to new product development/business initiatives accordingly;
• Liaise with other Cigna offices to develop cross sell opportunities;
• Liaise with internal departments in line with established procedures to generate growth opportunities whilst maintaining a high level of service;
• Participate in key projects as may be required
• Accurate data base management of prospective clients and opportunities by means of CRM software (SFDC).

Business Development Management Skills

• Minimum 5 years of experience of Business Development in the insurance or healthcare sector
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal – 2nd European language a benefit
• Ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear and concise fashion.
• Ability to research, prepare and deliver client presentations in a range of formats and settings.
• Effective relationship builder
• Integrity, honesty, and a demonstrated capacity to take, stand and defend own position.
• Excellent time management and project management skills
• Excellent presentation skills
• Experience in MS Office Suite
• Fast thinker/problem solver with the ability to work in fast-paced environments
• Team player, able to partner and collaborate with a large number of organizations and functions at all levels
• Attention to detail
• Business Development experience in the health insurance market, preferably with international exposure.
• Experience in corporate Employee Benefits (group healthcare insurances) is essential.
• Ability to work independently to achieve ambitious new business targets.
• Numeracy and ability to analyse statistical information
• High level consultative Business Development/Negotiation/Influencing
• Highly Self-motivated, effective goal setting
• Regulatory awareness

All Business Development Managers (in addition to above):

• Knowledge of processes, procedures and systems
• Excellent business/product knowledge
• Coaching skills
• Organisational skills
• Influencing skills
• Supervisory skills
• Leadership and management skills