Head of Tea Procurement - Africa at Unilever

Unilever is proud of its Tea business, the biggest in the world, with world class purpose driven brands such as Lipton, PG tips and Pukka. Recently, Unilever decided to separate the Tea business to ensure it can best achieve its potential. Unilever is currently reviewing several options for separation, including a demerger, an initial public offering, a disposal or through partnership models. The Tea businesses in India and Indonesia, and the partnership interests in the ready-to-drink Tea joint ventures will be retained.

The balance of the Tea brands and geographies and all Tea estates, with generated revenues of €2 billion in 2019, is growing and profitable with proven potential both pre- and post-COVID-19. As a standalone entity, the Tea company remains number one in the world and is even better positioned to lead the industry and take full advantage of the opportunities in the category, with more focus and entrepreneurship driving greater growth and value.

The current vision for the Tea company is to champion a tastier, healthier, more sustainable world of plant-based drinking. Purposeful thinking will be the core anchor of the business, its brands as well as its culture, and enables simple and agile decision making, supports an entrepreneurial mindset and is driven by passion for our consumers.

As we move through this journey towards separation, we are seeking employees with a passion for exciting entrepreneurial experiences, who want to pursue unique career opportunities and have a desire to be an integral part in building the bright future of this plant-based company.

Role Expectations

• To drive efficiency in Mombasa Tea buying Cost
• Lead the team for correct tasting and classification of Teas and categorization as per Tea Lingo for auction and non auction channel
• Forecast Kenya Market prices and trends.
• Support on strategic stocking decisions.
• Delivery as per OP including forecasting of blend prices
• Procurement KPI’s of Material Cost % TO, Savings, NMI
• Supply Chain KPI’s of OTIF, blend quality as per standard, Days on Hand
• Build Tea skills and capabilities in Mombasa TBO
• Additionally, to link with the Global Tea network in providing all demand requirements for raw tea in the region working with the APS and SAP Supply systems.
   

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the team in weekly correct tasting and classification of Teas in auction and non auction channels.
• Forecast Tea prices on weekly basis.
• Drive buying efficiency
• Executing the buying plan on a weekly basis in auctions and non auctions
• Entering into Long and Short term contracts
• Spot buying of Tea
• Meeting OTIF targets for shipping from Kenya
• Delivering on procurement KPIs in cost, quality and service
• Providing competition insights
• Providing crop estimates accurately

Procurement

Stakeholder Management and Interfaces:

• Tea buying teams of other regions
• Tea Blending teams
• Tea Planning Team
• Procurement Leadership Team

Supply Chain

• Manufacturing
• Quality
• Inbound Logistics

Finance

• Procurement Finance Teams
• SC Finance Teams

External

• Suppliers
• 3rd Party Manufacturers
• 3rd Party Service Providers
• Auction Brokers
• Trade Bodies

Essential Requirements

• University degree ( preferably in business or agriculture)
• Fully Operational Tea Taster at least 8-10 years with below requirements
• Can assess and evaluate in detail tea samples at differing brew strengths eg consumer strength, technical strength
• Acts as a lead taster in their space/team.
• Is engaged in the ongoing development of GTP/Tealingo
• Classifies tea samples into Tealingo items as a matter of course
• Scores above the minimum pass mark in an unguided taste test on average over a 1-year period
   

Blending Skills With Below Requirements

• Evaluates the new blends as per Tasting Room SOP to pass/fail vs a blend specification or standard
• Evaluates blends on both physical, visual and sensory parameters
• Understands and exploits the interaction between different tea types to achieve a blend end result
• Understands and exploits the interaction between base blend and additives such as aroma/flavour (choice, dosage etc)
• Can construct a blend in a live system in accordance with a prescribed recipe and/or specification
• Can make the necessary changes to a blend if it has not passed the evaluation to ensure it meets the specification
• Procurement skills including financial acumen
   

Skills And Experience

• 5 to 10 years of relevant experience including:
• Min of 3 to 5 years Relevant procurement experience in international environment in Strategic Sourcing and Tea Business
• Relevant supply market knowledge of Tea Market
• Experience in supply and portfolio strategy development
• Experience in working in a virtual team and regional/global scope
• Experience in leading a team and people management
• Experience in change management projects
   

Travel required : 20% or limited travel. Now limited due to CV19 restrictions

Women and People living with Disability encouraged to apply.

Unilever is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. At Unilever we are interested in every individual bringing their ‘Whole Self’ to work and this includes you! Thus if you require any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of your application so that we can support you through your recruitment journey.