Operations Lead at Syngenta

The Role

The primary function of this role is to set up agri-entrepreneurs to serve smallholder farmers and structure their operations around input and output aggregation. This will involve working with multiple partners to jointly identify needs and problems faced in the farming systems and sourcing for potential innovative solutions. This role is based in Nairobi with frequent travel to various parts of the country. It reports to the Project Manager, Agriservice and digital delivery.

Key Accountabilities

• Oversee an agri entrepreneur’s incubation programme that will see agribusinesses mentored and coached to commercially serve farmers.
• Project monitoring and evaluation with monthly reports on agri entrepreneur’s performance, farmers reach, and sales made.
• Maintain a database of agribusinesses and their performance through an internally created digital platform.
• Oversee implementation of field activities that will include set up of technology and crop demonstration sites.
• Proactively work with our strategic partners at a technical level on the ground to jointly identify needs and problems to be resolved in the respective farming systems and work with SFSA colleagues and partners to identify, source and test potential solutions.
• Co-develop, with internal and external partners, economically viable models for farmer aggregation and service delivery to farmers (inputs, extension, markets, finance), building on existing models from SFSA and partners.
• Support the development of new partnerships, markets by connecting local private and/or public partners with SFEA’s farmer network.
• Ensure all aspects of project operations are compliant with internal policies, contractual and government requirements.

Qualifications

Required qualifications and experience:

• A first degree in (BSc) in Agriculture with at least 3 years’ experience working with both small-holder growers and associated SMEs in Kenya.
• Ability to create and deliver a long-term vision for value creation at farmer level e.g. through establishing new crop value chains, holistic service delivery models, etc.
• Excellent understanding and experience in practical utilization of the farm inputs distribution network in Kenya.
• Experience in farmer groups aggregation and coordination.
• Entrepreneurial and can identify and translate business opportunities in agriculture to long-term opportunities for agribusinesses set up by SFEA.
• Experience in using agri-based IT platforms and applications. A good level of IT literacy will be required in the use of the internal digital platforms for data management.
• Experience in large data management.
• Driving experience of at least 1 year and a valid driving license.
• Demonstrated strong verbal, written communications and organization skills.
• Self-driven, takes own initiatives, innovative, and work well under minimal supervision.

Advantageous

• Have existing strong and open connections with agricultural industry players e.g. input suppliers, markets, local authorities etc.