Regional Coordinator-South Rift and Nyanza at Bidhaa Sasa

About the company

We are looking for an individual passionate about rural development, who enjoys meeting new people and experiencing diverse situations with the aim of driving collaborative efforts to promote staff engagement and increase job satisfaction, retention and performance.

The Regional Coordinator will be primarily responsible for supporting our Area Coordinators in driving their business objectives in South Rift and Nyanza. The region has 6 branches.  Each area coordinator is responsible for 7-8 field staff who work as sales agents and loan collection officers. The job holder will therefore also be involved in the operations in the branches where this entails managing the Area Coordinators and their respective teams.

This is a mid-level position based in South Rift and Nyanza, reporting to the Nairobi-based Director directly. You will work across the branches to assess and increase employee engagement and performance. You will gauge customer satisfaction and suggest relevant initiatives to the team.

Key responsibilities and activities will include:

• Area Coordinators based in Nyanza and South Rift will report to you. Developing their people management skills further is key to growing the business. 
• By working with the Area Coordinators on a daily basis you will be strengthening the capacity of the teams at the branches. 
• Through this, we expect the following outcomes from you: increased staff satisfaction, retention and performance, with the ultimate goal of sales growth, improved debt collections, customer satisfaction and referral sales.
• Provide deep and specific support to Nyanza and South Rift  Kenya Area Coordinators:
• Recruitment of Area Coordinators and their respective teams, in collaboration with the HR team, in the upcoming or existing branches;
• Engage Area Coordinators one on one, supporting them in driving results in their branches through their teams. This includes coaching and supporting them in key processes such as performance management.
• Build their skills to become stronger trainers, coaches and leaders themselves.
• Provide specific, situational and practical advice around team-related issues and decisions, and help Area Coordinators in finding solutions that work in their locality and for their team.
• Further, drive the spirit and community of learning among Area Coordinators through facilitating peer forums and conversations.
• Pull in and liaise with relevant HQ staff on key issues.

Drive engagement and motivation of our field teams:

• Constantly communicate Bidhaa Sasa's vision and values, further enhancing buy-in into our unique approach to sales and rural development.
• Visit the branches and go for field visits, to actively track engagement and motivation of our field staff (in collaboration with the HR team).
• Identify learning and training needs per branch and liaise with HQ team to come up with relevant curricula and training.
• Organize and conduct training sessions.
• Work collaboratively with Business Support, Research & Data team and HR to foster a continuous learning culture and standardization of processes.
• Participate in the onboarding weeks for new staff through running training sessions.

Help drive overall company performance and improve our procedures:

• Capture learning from the field, observe trends and raise challenges and opportunities to the larger team. This is a joint responsibility with our Business Support Manager, who drives overall process improvement in the company.
• Bring ideas and liaise with others in the team to improve our sales and collection procedures.
• Actively participate in weekly calls to discuss and monitor branch performance with the head office team.
• Conduct quarterly performance reviews for the Area Coordinators.
• Interact with clients frequently to understand their needs, and problems, and gauge their satisfaction with our products and services.

Who we are looking for:

• You are passionate about rural development and making a difference for the less well-off.
• At least 5 years of relevant progressive experiences in leading teams in a business. That is from managing a team of field officers to managing managers who supervise field officers. (Direct sales experience or work with sales agents/teams is not a must.)
• A relevant bachelor degree is required.

• You have interacted with a wide range of people and teams. Your leadership style focuses on people management and talent development.
• You are analytical and know how to troubleshoot an issue and draw insights.
• You have a good track record of coaching and developing people to reach difficult goals.
• You have deep knowledge about rural communities, their culture and their decision making.
• You know how to identify capacity gaps in teams and think through interventions (training and otherwise) to fill them.
• You have experience and skill in running engaging and practical training workshops (an added advantage).
• You are energized by interacting with people, and enjoy spending a lot of time in the field and outdoors.
• You are a team player who leads by example and excellent at listening and building trust and long-lasting relationships with clients and within teams.
• You are self-driven, highly organised and able to operate independently towards set targets.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English required. Working knowledge in local languages (Kalenjin, Luo, Kisii) is an added advantage.
• You are willing to roll up your sleeves and help out wherever needed to solve arising problems and harness business opportunities.
• Willingness to live, work and travel in Nyanza & South Rift region to easily access our branches and clients.
• When we talk about supporting the branches, we don’t mean on the phone! There will be a lot of travelling! Each of the branches needs to be visited on a regular basis and once you’re done with one the next visit is waiting! For easy access to our branches, you could be based in or around Kisii for easier access to all parts of the region.

Our culture - We are the right organization for you if:

• You believe in the potential of rural communities to improve their family's lives and are eager to ensure everyone has an equal part in Kenya's development. We put the client at the centre of all our decisions and actions.
• You enjoy the thrill of start-up life, where we fail and learn from it, where things change fast, and every day brings new challenges. We are a small team working tirelessly to achieve something that has not been done before!
• You are excited about working in a multi-cultural environment, where we have open communication channels, are transparent about challenges and mistakes, learn from each other and respect and leverage our diversity to make the business work.
• You want your ideas to be heard and participate in business strategy: Our team is collaborative and supportive. We listen to insights from the field, because we know that otherwise we can't succeed. 

Additional Information:

• You will be required to travel around Nyanza and South Rift  region, mainly using public means. We encourage candidates to consider this before applying. Simple, safe and clean accommodation will be provided by the company. Given our clients' savings groups tend to meet on Saturday and Sundays, work will extend to the weekend.
• This role will include a strong bonus related element of around one third of the salary based on key performance areas such as employee engagement on branch level, sales growth and loan portfolio quality.
• Expected start date for the role is 1st August 2021 with a one-week on-boarding training scheduled in mid July.
• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Bidhaa Sasa does not charge any fees for recruitment.