Head of Markets and Post-Harvest Management at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President – Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, the Head of Markets and Post-Harvest Management will be responsible for designing and implementing a strategy to achieve large scale use of output market access techniques and technologies for agricultural commodities and higher value products for smallholder farmers. The goal is to link smallholder farmers to profitable local, regional and international markets which is ultimately expected to improve the lives of 30 million smallholder farmer households. The position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with the program officers of the Markets & Post Harvest Management to develop initiatives that translate smallholder farm activity gains into increased incomes;
• Work with Program officers in the countries and GST’s to design and implement grant-making activities that address constraints to farmer knowledge and behaviour change, which apply new ideas to the extension of improved market access;
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of private sector engagement in markets and ability to promote and develop targeted risk mitigation strategies that are both inclusive and market appropriate;
• Perform concise value chain analytical work in support of market development and post-harvest management and be able to convey these in a clear and articulate manner using a range of computer enabled tools;
• Establish and maintain networks with policy-makers and leaders of private, governmental and non-governmental organizations providing extension services and experts to be updated with trends and developments in market access for smallholder farmers;
• Engage the Markets & Harvest Management team in direct dialogue with farmers and their organizations to understand their goals and needs served by the program, with particular attention to benefits to women;
• Work with the AGRA policy team to develop appropriate policies to promote regional agricultural trade and facilitate linkage of smallholder farmer productivity with demand mechanisms e.g. school feeding programs;
• Develop an approach to reform national and regional policies and institutions to facilitate agricultural market development and trade;
• Develop and support innovative value chain approaches that increase the participation of smallholder farmers in local, regional and global trade flows;
• Identify and steer efforts that enable smallholder farmers to sell their products and capture value from downstream activities. This includes market information systems;
• Lead efforts to facilitate economic transactions between value chain players and smallholder farmers in Africa including out-grower schemes;
• Support SMEs engaged in agro-processing linking them to smallholder farmers as reliable suppliers;
• Develop de-risking instruments for value chain actors including crop insurance;
• Work with the resilience team to design products that cushion smallholder farmers from shocks;
• Develop and support multi-disciplinary networks of individuals and organizations that promote linking smallholder farmers to markets;
• Develop and support programs for training the next generation of agri-business leaders in Africa.

Key Qualifications and Experience required

• Advanced degree in Business (Marketing option), Agricultural Economics or related disciplines;
• At least 12 years of experience, leading agri-businesses and development efforts, at least partially in Africa;
• Deep knowledge of agricultural development in Africa;
• A proven entrepreneur able to develop and implement innovative solutions to markets and develop agribusiness linkages which serve poor farmers;
• Experience managing multinational initiatives in the private and/or public sector;
• Solid understanding of agricultural markets, commodities and higher value products;
• Solid understanding of farmer incentives that influence the adoption of technologies and market linkages and ability to work with national and regional agricultural institutions to accelerate technology uptake;
• Proven ability to lead effective and high impact teams and partnerships;
• Sound knowledge of, and experience in agricultural trade development at national, regional and/or international levels;
• Experience in working with key stakeholders to reform national and regional policies and institutions;
• Sound understanding of underlying demand and supply challenges in Africa, and ability to lead program officers to implement high-impact programs to solve these challenges;
• Technical knowledge of drivers that influence smallholder market linkage;
• A sound knowledge of risk management tools that respond to smallholder farmers (includes crop insurance products, market information/ICT platforms);
• Knowledge/experience with warehouse receipt system/commodity exchanges and commodity trading;
• Proven leadership ability to influence, develop, and empower all stakeholders to achieve their best with a team approach;
• Results and detail orientated with a very hands-on approach;
• Intelligent, motivated self-starter with strong interpersonal skills and work ethic.

An attractive remuneration package commensurate with the responsibilities of the position will be negotiated with the successful candidate.