Sales - Exports Manager at Tropical Heat

Key Responsibilities

Market Development and Sales Growth

• Drive sales expansion across target African countries through structured planning and execution.
• Identify new distributors, evaluate potential partners, and support onboarding and performance management.
• Develop joint business plans, pricing strategies, route-to-market models, and annual targets for each market.
• Conduct regular market visits to assess brand presence, visibility, and compliance with agreed standards.

Distributor and Customer Management

• Build strong relationships with distributors, wholesalers, and key accounts across African markets.
• Monitor sell-in and sell-out performance, stock levels, and order cycles.
• Ensure timely communication of promotions, pricing, forecasts, and order requirements.
• Support distributors with sales training, merchandising standards, and market activation plans.

Commercial Execution

• Prepare sales budgets, forecasts, distributor scorecards, and market performance reports.
• Track competitor activity, pricing movements, and category trends in each market.
• Work with Marketing on localised campaigns, product launches, and visibility materials.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain and Logistics to ensure accurate documentation, timely shipments, and export compliance.

Market Knowledge and Compliance

• Maintain up-to-date understanding of regulatory requirements, standards, and import procedures in each country.
• Ensure product registration, labels, and documentation meet market rules.
• Monitor currency, duty structures, and trade barriers and adjust plans accordingly.

People Leadership

• Provide leadership to export sales teams and distributor sales representatives.
• Responsible for recruitment and training of the team.
• Conduct performance reviews, coaching, and capability building to strengthen in-market execution.
• Promote a disciplined, target-driven, and customer-focused culture.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, International Trade, or related field.
• Minimum five to eight years’ export sales experience, with proven success in African markets.
• Strong understanding of distributor management, route-to-market planning, and commercial execution.
• Experience in FMCG preferred, especially food or consumer goods.
• Strong negotiation, communication, and relationship management skills.
• Ability to travel extensively across African markets.

Personal Attributes

• Professional, dependable, and committed to strong commercial discipline.
• Energetic, proactive, and driven to deliver results.
• High attention to detail, accuracy, and structured planning.
• Organised, disciplined, and consistent in follow-through.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work across cultures.
• Calm under pressure, solutions-oriented, and adaptable to different markets.
• Continuous improvement mindset with strong commercial awareness.