Head, China Outbound, Strategic Clients Group at GardaWorld

Organization/Reporting Line

Reporting to the Managing Director, Strategic Client Group, with a dotted reporting line to Managing Director, East Africa

Place Of Work/Travel

Nairobi, Kenya / with regular and extensive travel (approx. 80%) across Africa and other geos where the company has existing and prospective clients, operations, business interests in respect of China Outbound activities.

Contact And Cooperation

Internally : Senior Leadership Team, Sales Team, Commercial Support Team (CST), Regional Directors, Finance, Legal

Externally: Government authorities, clients, prospects, competitors

Job Outline

The purpose of this role is to identify, shape and close new China Outbound business for GardaWorld across the Africa and Middle East region and in so doing expand the number of strategic relationships in client organisations and enable subsequent organic growth from within Chinese accounts. It is a key role to support the business growth across where we operate in Africa.

The incumbent will be an experienced, self-motivated and high-energy SME with experience of solving security issues for clients, designing and implementing pragmatic solutions and engaging with senior management and other SMEs to gain their support for such programmes. The incumbent must have the credibility as a SME to add value to the engagement with clients SMEs and management and shape the client requirement for our delivery across Africa. In this regard the incumbent works closely with Regional Directors, Project Managers, CRMs and Commercial Support Teams and Sales colleagues throughout GardaWorld.

Specific Responsibilities

Include

The incumbent will develop a professional network across the Africa region and leverage this network to develop new business with new Chinese clients and expanded business with existing clients - both new territories and new services. In addition it is expected that the incumbent will establish a network throughout client organisations across multiple countries, initiate sector and geographic based research and take this research into the sales cycle. The incumbent is responsible for the delivery of strategic sales in Africa in collaboration with P & L holders, other sales personnel and CRMs.

• Develop and grow new and existing commercial relationships within major Chinese client organisations in sectors such as Oil & Gas, Mining, Agriculture, Medical Services & Products, Defense and Construction & Engineering, Transportation, Services.
• Support the business development cycle through active research to identify and create new commercial opportunities and take these opportunities through the sales cycle to closure.
• In consultation with clients and internal stakeholders, prepare comprehensive summaries of opportunities and RFP requirements and participate in bid/no bid decisions;
• Define and implement major opportunity capture plans to maximise the probability of winning
• Assist in Client Relations Management post-award and where required act as a member of the key account management team;
• Identify new service needs and opportunities with Chinese clients and opportunities to improve our service delivery.
• Maintain a close eye on competitors, identify and interpret market trends in order to lead the development and implementation of new business initiatives.

Competencies

• Gravitas and a natural ability to create relationships at a senior level with diverse international customers across multi-national companies, governments and international organisations.
• Deep subject matter knowledge of security delivery in complex markets, ideally delivered from both within a client organisation and as a service provider.
• A natural sales instinct; the appointee is highly motivated by sales and key performance metrics and willing to accept the challenge of achieving growth.
• Highly developed communication skills – ability to convey complex information across a wide ranging audience.
• Someone who naturally collaborates with colleagues and has an entrepreneurial spirit to inspire behaviours across the whole organisation, building passion and commitment toward a common goal;
• Proactively builds and aligns stakeholders, capabilities, and resources;
• A strong understanding of the strategic aims both of the business and its clients will be critical along with the ability to translate this into a long-term course of action to align with the Company’s vision;
• Quickly able to identify and exploit opportunities for new products, services, and markets;
• Consultative and adaptable approach to both tasks and people;
• Upholds ethics and values and leads by example, absolute integrity;
• Demonstrates effective commercial networks, both internally and externally;
• Attention to detail;
• Has a strong command of Chinese, and is fluent in business English. An ability to communicate in French language is preferred
• A deep knowledge of the Chinese speaking security industry and wider business landscape in Africa

Authority

As delegated by the Managing Director, Strategic Clients Group

Accountability

Accountable to the Managing Director, Strategic Client Group for the responsibilities stated in this job description, monitored and managed through the mid-year and annual performance review and supported through the monitoring of their KPIs.

Experience

• A minimum of 5 years in the security sector delivering solutions inside and/or outside client organisations
• A minimum of 5 years operational experience in Africa and/or other complex operating environments
• Prior experience of working within Chinese EPC, Oil and Gas, Mining and Government sectors a distinct advantage
• Experience identifying and exploiting new business opportunities an advantage
• Experience developing and presenting commercial proposals to clients an advantage
• Prior budget management experience essential