Marketing and Business Development Head, Southern Africa at UPL

Role Summary

• UPL AME (Africa Middle East) is a leading company in the agricultural inputs industry. This role will focus on leading the marketing and business development function in Southern Africa, which includes South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Mauritius. The incumbent of this role would need to undertake market research, understand the trends and customer preferences, create marketing strategy and budgets, oversee the creation of marketing materials and content, and perform all other relevant tasks essential for increasing the business’s sales. As this role will be crucial to our success and growth, we are expecting the incumbent to have an entrepreneurial mindset and hands on leadership skills.

Role Responsibilities
Strategic Marketing and Communication

• Provide strategic marketing guidance to R&D strategy, collaborating on the strategic direction of the organization.
• Analyze the portfolio gap & make strategic recommendations for licensing-in operations.
• Define proprietary and third-party product strategies, including the 5 Ps of marketing.
• Implement sub-regional marketing platform for communication material and best practice sharing.
• Provide strategic guidance to the key corporate communication initiatives including UPL Campaign, PR & web site.
• Gather, follow and monitor local markets by crop and customer segment and report market trends/evolution to the crop poles.
• Drive, manage and support the implementation of all strategic marketing initiatives in the area of segmentation, Go To Market Strategy, Key Account Management, POS leadership, Value Chain approach, Crop Solutions, value adding services including Digital innovation offerings or projects.
• Drive the optimal utilization of company systems and platform for example Smart sheet GNPL, Calyx, UDAAN, Open Skies, Pathfinder or other implemented local and global systems
• Responsible for supporting the Southern Africa marketing budget.
• Member of the global category team, Bio-Stimulant and Value Added Nutrients.
• Coordinate crop specific workshops and crop poles. Marketing member of fruit & row crop workshops and panels.
• Oversee Corporate, Product, Regional and Local Communication initiatives, Trade Mark management and all customer focused key initiatives.
• Lead the marketing team in Southern Africa.
• Support roll out of AME corporate identity as specified by AME Communication and PR manager.
• Lead promotional and marketing communication strategy. (Electronic, printed media. Product demonstration platforms etc.)
• Lead interdepartmental interaction and coordination amongst the different departments at UPL.
• Change Management.

Pricing

• Provide pricing studies to optimize pricing positioning of core products.
• Lead monthly Pricing meeting: assessment and price decision by pricing committee based on Value Map and GP Variance Analysis.

Business Development

• Contribute to initiating, negotiating, closing and securing of co-development and distribution deals with key suppliers.
• Coordinate operational working and communication flow with key suppliers regarding product strategy & product launches.
• Drive the marketing planning and business development for blockbuster products (proprietary and 3rd party proprietary).
• Achieve a high success rate in landing distribution or licensing deals with key suppliers (high GP% X GP absolute).
• Drive and manage stewardship and other small scale farmer projects

New Product Introduction

• Define, implement, and monitor new product introduction process based on global, regional and local processes to ensure delivery of expected budget contribution and participate in regional SOP process to ensure successful new product introductions.
• Provide leadership to portfolio & regional marketing managers

People Leadership

• Ensure the Southern Africa Marketing & Communication team is fully staffed with appropriately experienced employees. Drive for performance, set objectives, follow-up and annual review in line with the department objectives
• Adhere to all HR policies, procedures and requirements to ensure sound people practices

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required

• 5 years’ experience in leading a team and experience in cross functional and functional leadership.
• Broad knowledge of agrochemical & Ag input business with good industry credibility and value chain expertise.
• Advanced understanding of products, product positioning and key competitors
• General knowledge of the market and regulatory processes. Fluent English & Afrikaans is an important benefit.
• Mastery of business/market intelligence and marketing tools.
• Strong financial acumen with ability to negotiate product access and distribution licenses
• Advanced Excel Skills

UPL Competencies

Adaptability & Resilience

• Recognizes and is open to changing circumstances and alters behavior and scales up as necessary; increases personal awareness and appreciation of individual and cultural differences to create an open, inclusive, and accepting workplace

Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Has a creative mindset and ability to think holistically, takes calculated risks and maximizes opportunities

Results Orientations

• Takes action, pursues goals with persistence and achieves results; communicates goals and vision to the team to drive enthusiasm and ambition

Execution Excellence

• Enhances the speed of execution and builds efficiency in processes, systems and people; has sharp focus on quality-orientation

Strategic Orientation

• Demonstrates knowledge of the social, economic, and environmental factors and how they impact the business. Identifies key issues that could impact the business and develops strategy through an analytical lens / design thinking

Building Teams and Talent

• Empowers colleagues through knowledge sharing and delegation, quickly establishing rapport; provides recognition for achievements and accomplishments

Customer Centricity

• Understands the customer needs and pain points, fulfills the needs and expectations by focusing on creating value for customers.