Senior Business Advisor-Agronomy at TechnoServe Kenya

Key roles and responsibilities

• Supervise a team of Business Advisors and Farmer Trainers through work planning, coaching, technical support, feedback, and personal development activities related to work performance improvement.
• Provide support with key program start up activities such as:
• Identification, selection and sign up of project beneficiary clients (cooperatives).
• Sensitization of the leadership and membership of the cooperatives on project objectives and requirements.
• Registration of farmers into the AAA academy, formation of focal farmer groups and identification of focal farmers and demonstration plots.
• Recruitment, training, selection and deployment of Farmer Trainers.
• Conducting base line surveys as necessary.
• Ensure that the AAA academy trainings are delivered according to the annual training program agreed with the Regional Senior Agronomy Manager.
• Oversee that Farmer Trainers deliver trainings according to calendars agreed with focal farmer groups.
• Arrange and lead the monthly training of Farmer Trainers.
• Ensure that demonstration plots built during trainings are established and maintained correctly.
• Liaise with cooperatives leadership to keep them abreast of the progress of the training program.
• Support the development and review of various technical materials such as lesson plans, data collection tools, fact sheets, program progress reports and farmers’ stories.
• Provide support as may be required directly or through the agronomy staff to monitoring and evaluation activities:
• Ensure that accurate Attendance Sheets are submitted for all monthly trainings within the framework agreed with the M & E Analyst.
• Participate in the design and conduct, as may be necessary, of surveys and other data collection activities.
• Support the Program’s continuous interaction with relevant stakeholders such as local (county) government officers and coffee service providers (marketing agents, millers, inputs suppliers).
• Support administrative activities such as staff performance appraisals, approval of field expenses of direct reports, leave planning for staff.
• Any other duties assigned by Program Manager.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field such as agriculture, environmental or natural sciences, business, or economics.
• At least five years’ professional work experience, ideally in the private sector, in one or more of the following areas: coffee processing or agronomy, SMEs development, project or business management.
• Well-developed computer skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Strong planning skills and experience working to deliver quality work outputs within strict time lines.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
• Well-developed leadership ability combined with excellent communication skills.
• Strong oral & written presentation skills in English and Kiswahili. Knowledge of local languages is an advantage in some locations.
• Willingness to spend time working and travelling in project sites located rural areas.
• Possess a valid Kenyan driving license.

Success Factors:

Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:

• Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent himself or herself for personal gain.
• Team Work/ Relationships: Works co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member and/or leader, to achieve a common goal. Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.
• Learning attitude: Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skill appropriately.
• Diversity/Inclusiveness: Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively with and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.
• Communication: Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, ideas and arguments; adjusts terminology, language and communication modes to the needs of the audience; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates open exchange of ideas and information; uses appropriate non-verbal communication.
• Decision making/Problem Solving: Is able to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution. Is able to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, taking ownership of decisions, demonstrating sound judgement in escalating issues where necessary.
• Results Oriented/ High Quality Deliverables: Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks.
• Planning & Time Management: Establishes a course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes and controls activities; identifies, integrates and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and/or time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just own job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.
• Business Acumen: The ability to use information, ask the right questions and take decisions that make an impact on the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

• Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building and planning efficient project workflows, and at improving overall organizational performance.
• Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.
• Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.
• Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

Managerial Competencies:

• Emotional Intelligence: The act of knowing, understanding, and responding to emotions, overcoming stress in the moment, and being aware of how your words and actions affect others. Emotional intelligence consists of 4 attributes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
• Strategic Thinking: Managers should recognize key actions, underlying problems, make connection and patterns, see consequences and implications. Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans ways to deal with them.
• Staff Development: managers are required to work with employees to plan on the development of skills and abilities so that they can fulfil current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.
• Trust to Delegate: managers should have trust and willingness to assign responsibilities to direct reports and give them discretion and authority to carry them out.
• Feedback/Coaching (mentoring): managers should give instructions, suggestions, explanations, and feedback to subordinates. (SPI+R)