Job at Babban Gona for Head of Operations

Location: Nigeria

Job Description

• Do you want to change the world by enabling 1 million people lift themselves out of poverty by 2025? Do you want to build Africa’s largest farmer service operation, of nearly 5,000 passionate and committed team members, delivering yield enhancing services to a million of smallholder farmers?
• Do you want to build one of Nigeria’s largest supply chains capable of moving hundreds of thousands of metric tons of farming products to a million smallholder farmers?
• Do you want to build Africa’s leading commodity trading organization, storing and marketing millions of metric tons of produce? If you answered yes to these questions join our team. Babban Gona seeks a passionate leader as our Head of Operations.
• We are seeking a driven, and knowledgeable professional with demonstrated leadership experience in managing large complex operations, coupled with experience across sales, administration, human resources and procurement.
• The Head of Operations will manage a diverse team spanning our agricultural services team delivering agricultural products and services to thousands of Smallholder Farmers, Agricultural Commodity Sales, Inbound and Outbound Logistics, Warehouse/Inventory Management, Procurement, IT, Administration and HR.
• The Head of Operations will work closely with the Managing Director to create and execute on the vision, identify deliverable gaps and put in place appropriate structures and policies to enable the organisation to continue to scale.
• They will also be responsible for developing long-term relationships with external stakeholders such as input providers, human development practitioners, equipment and office resources providers etc.
• As part of the leadership of the organization, the Head of Operations will support overall strategic and operational decision-making, in addition to fulfilling stewardship responsibilities within their division.
• Apply today, and join us as we transform the Nigerian agriculture sector and enable 1 million smallholder farmers to transition from subsistence farming to commercial farming by 2025. Agriculture is Nigeria’s job creation engine; we believe that in partnering with you, we can establish it as a basis for security and employment.

Responsibilities
General:

• Design and lead the operations of the entire organization with the overall aim of delivering a high level of service that meets organizational, farmer and employee needs, while maintaining the balance between risk, cost and service objectives.
• Develop best practice processes to deliver standardized and efficient services across the operations.
• Stay up to date with trends and developments within functional areas of expertise by researching and deploying best practices of similar and successful companies as benchmarks
• Develop and maintain metrics as well as analyze data to assess performance and implement improvements across the operations.
• Promote and lead a culture of structured Continuous Improvement through simplification, standardisation and automation
• Own the service level agreement (SLA) obligations for shared services in line with cost, quality and control requirements
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Agricultural Services:

• Create and execute dept. strategy to manage the seamless delivery of yield enhancing agricultural products and services to thousands of smallholder farmers on credit.
• Inspire and lead a team of thousands of field officers, to go above and beyond to support our smallholder farmer customers.

Commodity Sales:

• Manage a sales organization to establish and honour forward contracts and sales relationships with leading food company’s.
• Drive effective sales of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of agricultural products, enabling the organization to optimize value for our smallholder farmer members.

Supply and Distribution:

• Create and execute dept. strategy to manage the seamless receipt and distribution of inputs and harvest services to farmers and ensure delivery of farmer produce to customers.
• Direct inventory management by supervising inventory reconciliation and reporting, as well as supervising produce storage to minimize post-harvest losses or over- and under-capitalization
• Oversee Enhanced Warehouse Receipts programme by planning logistics and produce shipments to customers.

Information Technology:

• Lead an enterprise development team to build and manage applications to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s operations.
• Identify and address operational areas of improvement and bring to realisation the relevant technological interventions required to overcome them

Human Development:

• Lead the strategy and execution of the Training and Development and Human Resources functions
• Oversee the delivery of the Training and Development of farmers via the Farm University Platform including onboarding members, designing relevant modules, planning logistics and ensuring relevant best practice methods are taught
• Drive the Human Resources function strategy to attract exceptional talent and develop a talent management process aimed at increasing employee success and satisfaction.

Procurement:

• Develop and implement organizational strategies for procuring storage and harvest equipment, agricultural inputs, insurance and office equipment
• Liaise with various departments to determine their equipment and service needs to enable cost planning and sourcing
• Nurture relationships with suppliers while identifying and researching potential new suppliers, including vendor and contract management
• Negotiate the best prices for the organisation bearing in mind quality, quantity, time and location
• Identify and realize cost-saving and cost-reduction opportunities

Administration:

• Oversee coordination of office activities and smooth running of operations to drive sustainable growth and ensure efficiency and compliance to company policies
• Supervise execution of administrative tasks and implement effective administrative system, ensuring staff have adequate support to work efficiently.
• Oversee creation and updating of records/databases with personnel, financial and other data.
• Maintain a safe and secure work environment and ensure general welfare across the organization; identify additional service offerings, department needs or opportunities for improvement
• Submit timely reports and prepare presentations/proposals as assigned, to track performance or management of business operations
• Ensure proper allocation of resources and provide an effective support system while balancing staff needs and economic production

Qualifications and Experience

• A Bachelor’s Degree. Master’s Degree preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years leading Operations for logistically and operationally intensive business
• Minimum of 10+ years of overall progressive experience in Commodity Sales, Agricultural Services, Procurement and Supply & Distribution
• Demonstrable ability to lead and manage staff across various functions
• Ability to engage at executive levels and collaborate across business units and functional partners
• Experience in managing high volume transactions across a branch network of warehouses in remote areas
• Experience in managing network of transport contractors
• Proven strategic influencing, networking and stakeholder management skills
• Outstanding track record in leading service, process and system improvements
• Strong analytical, problem solving and organisational skills
• Advanced proficiency with and extensive skills in MS Excel
• Ability to work independently and handle multiple projects
• Proven ability to manage tasks with competing priorities and deadlines, independently determining order of priority and self-initiating other value-added tasks
• High level of integrity and objectivity anchored by their fundamental professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour
• Effective attention to detail and a high degree of accuracy
• Experience in managing agricultural commodities

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary and benefits are competitive, commensurate with experience.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV’s and cover letter to: careers@doreopartners.com using “Head of Operations” as the Subject of the mail.