Job Opportunities at Pula

Who you are
The Field Manager will report to the Director of Field Operations, while also working closely with other departments to coordinate execution throughout the client journey. 

• You understand that we are helping to protect the food security of nations.
• You have an intuitive understanding of rural life drawn from personal or professional experience
• You want to make a difference.
• You are resilient, proactive and have a problem-solvers mindset
• You are not afraid to roll up your sleeves to get things done. 
• You are an effective communicator and a good planner
• You are a great team leader

What you will be doing

• We go to the remotest of areas to measure yields as farmers harvest. From North Nigeria, southern Zambia, Northern Kenya; name it. We are there. We do not believe in hiding behind a desk to come up with fuzzy claim reports from black boxes that do not reflect the outcome on the ground. We want our payouts to reflect the farmers’ outcomes. We deeply care about that. 
• The Field Manager at Pula has an essential role of leading the teams that interact with farmers and partners on the ground. You will be responsible for collecting the most complete and accurate data possible on farmers and their harvests which will stand up to the most intense scrutiny. This entails recruiting and training effective teams and contractors as well as engaging clients, government officials, and other stakeholders with clear, timely communication to ensure smooth operations. All of this must be executed with the utmost efficiency to minimize the cost of insuring smallholder farmers, thus ensuring the greatest number of farmers can be covered.

Client-Specific Deliverables

• Collaborate with the commercial manager in client engagement, onboarding & contracting and providing recommendations
• Take lead in organizing for internal kick-off meetings in collaboration with Commercial Manager
• Collaborate with the commercial manager in organizing for external kick-off meetings 
• Establish and maintain interpersonal relationships with key partners and stakeholders across the private and public sector to ensure smooth running of project operations.
• On a quarterly basis, participate in stakeholder fora and seek pitching opportunities
• Oversee nation wide sensitization campaigns while engaging with internal and external stakeholders through collaboration in sectoral activities e.g., policy formulation, project design etc.
• Coordinate with the commercial and insurance operations teams to provide monthly progress reports for all field operations activities
• Coordinate and deliver high level trainings and workshops to Pula’s partners and clients across different industries
• Provide strategic guidance to the field operations team through the Field Associate Manager

Execution of data collection:

• Recruit Field Associate Manager, Field Coordinators and Call Centre Coordinators while providing oversight on Field Agent recruitment 
• Build a pipeline of candidates that have performed well in previous seasons for upcoming seasons
• Monitor data collection closely and action any flags through the use of available dashboards 
• Provide strategic guidance on data collection issues, unusual events or significant farm losses, ensuring that they are meticulously and indisputably documented. 
• Provide accurate timelines for project implementation and completion through collaboration with the commercial and insurance operations teams based on the uniqueness of clients
• Ensure meticulous completion - leave no farm behind.

Evaluate efficiency of service delivery and operations using spending data, while actioning strategic initiatives to keep costs low for field operations and call center teams

• Detailed assessment of real costs by location and responsibility
• Apply ingenuity to find savings wherever possible
• Ensure all expenses are reconciled within policy deadlines.
• Monitor budget vs spend closely

Strategic Development and learning

• Organize post-project team workshops to evaluate key learnings and improvements in the design, tools, and execution of the project
• Coordinating with the innovations and expansion teammates on launching new initiatives and pilots

Other operational work

• Design data collection tools and any other operational related tools where necessary.
• Write content for any stakeholders as asked (internal, clients, etc)
• Other assignments as tasked

The right applicant would have the following skillset:

• 5 years + experience working in agriculture/ social enterprises. Experience leading field operations or Monitoring and Evaluation department is a must have
• Experience working at national level in a fast moving environment/ startup is an added advantage
• Experience in managing teams remotely is an added advantage
• Deep commitment to the "art of management" and nuances of modern management practice
• Ability to work independently – highly self-motivated
• Creative problem-solving skills
• Highly collaborative, with an outgoing personality and clear and consistent communication
• Detail-oriented, meticulous, and attentive to accuracy
• Ability to grasp complex analytical concepts quickly and thoroughly
• Prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring timely delivery

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What you will be doing

• The Commercial Director at Pula is far from the typical sales leader. You must be passionate about having meaning in your work. Willing to go the extra mile to evangelize the importance of agriculture insurance in transforming the lives of millions of smallholder farmers across multiple stakeholders from the political elites to the Government systems, and development agencies all the way down to the farmer. For you to be successful at the role, one must consider it their mission - “how you will be remembered”. You will be rewarded very well at it as we believe in “doing good and doing well”. Whilst impacting hundreds of millions of farmers, our mantra is that those who are successful in the mission must be dollar millionaires in the end. At Pula, good deeds are rewarded. 

In this role, you'll;

Expanding your networks, influence and Pula’s positioning in the region

• Constantly building deeply entrenched relationships that will enable one to understand client needs, gather market intelligence and build a credible pipeline of opportunities. To succeed in the role, one must incredible enjoy building new relationships and leveraging on relationships to achieve your goals.
• Effectively communicate value propositions through presentations and proposals
• Act as the Pula spokesperson in the region.
• Using knowledge of the market and competitors in the regions, identify and develop the company’s unique selling propositions and differentiators.

Business Development

• Defining Commercial OKRs in your region and ownership of the results.
• Research, prepare and execute a sales plan focused on delivering new and recurring revenues through partnerships with agro-input companies and the public sector.
• Develop pipeline and continuously mature & qualify opportunities in order to increase Pula’’s market share and to enable achievement of sales target.
• Generating and qualifying new leads and using different approaches to penetrate prospective clients in your region. You are expected to qualify opportunities, know which deals to work on, and which ones to pass on.
• Progress prospects through a defined sales process to eventual contracting and implementation.

Customer Relationship Management

• Manage and nurture existing client relationships across a wide range of stakeholders including commodity associations, farmers’ aggregators, insurers, government and private companies.
• Manage the handover of new customers to the operations team for the implementation of the solution.

Team Leadership

• Build and / or manage a high performing sales team to execute end to end sales including outreach, pitching, getting alignment, negotiation, closing deals and implementation.
• Analyze data and use it to make key strategic decisions for the business. 

What you need to be successful

• You have experience in strong demonstrable sales to development agencies, NGOs, Social Entreprises and/or Governments.
• You have demonstrable success working against a sales quota target.
• You have experience working with Development Agencies and / or Government officials at all levels and navigating government structures.
• Critical Thinking Skills. You must have the ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions
• Behavioural Skills. You must be self-directed, work well alone or in a team structure, highly results oriented, and willing to learn and expand his/her technical and product knowledge base through formal education, professional training, and self-study.
• You have knowledge and understanding of dealing with C-suite executives with excellent communication and presentation skills, integrity and impeccable professionalism.
• Sales and or consulting experience in the area of agriculture: seed / fertilizer / agrochemical industry or related is a significant advantage.
• Experience and knowledge in the insurance industry will place you at an advantage.
• You have the ability to use data and KPIs to make management decisions.
• You are fully comfortable with sales CRM platforms, Google Drive applications such as Google Sheets, Google Docs etc.