Key Account & Business Development Director at BURN

About the Role:

BURN is hiring a Key Account & Business Development Director who will act as the face of BURN and the key point of contact to a wide range of strategic partners, including development agencies, carbon project developers, and BURN’s distribution partners. The Key Account & Business Development Director will work in close cooperation with BURN’s Commercial team in Nairobi, Kenya to maximize BURN’s success in winning long-term deals with strategic global partners, resulting in hundreds of thousands of stove sales.

Key Project (First 6-9 months):

• Win a range of distribution deals and other strategic partnerships with 10-15 clients that are currently in the pipeline

Primary Responsibilities:

• • P&L Responsibility: Develop and maintain a yearly business plan that includes budgeting, P&L, and sales operations programs to improve the profitability of the company.
  • New Business Development: Identify and develop new strategic partnerships that align with BURN’s company strategy. Present and pitch to external parties. When required, represent BURN at conferences and events in Kenya and abroad.
  • Strategic Projects/Initiatives: Assist the commercial team in planning, implementing, and tracking strategic projects and initiatives across several geographical markets.
  • Collaboration: Act as an organizer and go-between with BURN’s senior management, commercial, carbon, and special project/grants teams.

Key Account Management:

• Information Gathering: Gather critical market information on the clean cooking sector, carbon offsetting market, BURN’s distribution partners, competitor activity, aid and development industries and other key areas of the sector.

Secondary Responsibilities:

• • Pitch Material Design & Development: With BURN’s marketing team, design and develop effective project and partnership proposals, such as company and product overviews, product comparisons, and distribution proposals. Own these materials, track them, and update them accordingly. These materials will effectively help the company secure multi-million-dollar partnerships and projects.
  • Reporting/Forecasting: Produce regular analytical reports and ad-hoc research papers on key partnerships, business development updates, and market landscape, as well as monthly forecasting and reporting for distribution activities

Skills and Experience:

• 10+ years of Senior-level sales experience
• University Degree in Business Management, Development Studies, or related fields. MBA is a plus
• Proven B2B sales, route-to-market, supply chain, and new business development experience
• Ability to produce and present professional strategy, reports, accurate forecasts, and channel sales plans
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English; French would be an added advantage
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with an ability to engage partners at all levels including senior government officials; high level of comfort making cold calls to prospective partners
• Strong cross-cultural skills and versatility in dealing with different types of partnerships
• At least 5 years of professional experience in relationship management/partnership development, preferably across the energy, aid, development, and carbon industries; proven record in growing such partnerships
• Demonstrated success and achievements in new business development; proven record in identifying and onboarding new partnerships that helped a company achieve its strategic goals
• Experience working across a range of geographical markets
• Ability to carry out excellent strategic research on a diverse range of subjects
• Ability to design professional, comprehensive, and winning partnership/project proposals
• Enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, a desire to ‘sell for good’
• Sales, marketing, and new business development experience with consumer durable goods in last-mile, bottom-of-the-pyramid communities
• Knowledge and experience of the realities of clean cooking and other development issues, donor institutions, and carbon offsetting market
• Strong analytic/number-crunching background, specifically sales and marketing data
• Network of business contacts in the aid, development, and carbon industries
• Be able to adapt to a highly variable environment, change the scope and focus with ease