LivelyHoods is a young, dynamic social enterprise that works relentlessly to create livelihoods for youth and women in urban slums. Over the past five years we have built a sales network that trains and employs youth and women to sell life-improving goods particularly solar powered lamps and improved clean cook stoves, in underserved, high-density, low-income (slum) communities.
To date, LivelyHoods has employed over 1,300 youth and women sales representatives who have sold over 23,000 products through branches in their communities throughout Kenya. Sales representatives make an impact in their community, earn a livelihood, and gain employable skills that increase their lifetime earning potential.
The environment LivelyHoods works in is dynamic as our customer needs and context change fast. We constantly bring new products to our communities, which means we have to develop the market in creative ways. We have been recognized with awards and fellowships for social innovation and have been profiled by media outlets like the Guardian, Fast Company, and PBS.
Over our first five years, LivelyHoods has grown to 14 local branches in towns across Kenya and 27 staff. We are currently selling approximately 10,000 products per year. By 2020 we project to sell 30,000 products per year across 30 branches in East Africa, creating over 5,000 job and training opportunities.
About the Role
As General Manager you will oversee all business functions and lead the operations in Kenya. You will steer a growing and exciting business and help us reach our commercial goals and targets while keeping in mind our impact mission.
You are in charge of building the team and inspiring them towards achievement of our impact.
Given that we are a small team you will need to balance getting results through others with getting personally involved.
Key areas are sales, training programs, financial modeling and general operations, balanced with strategic outlook. You will liaise with the Executive Director and the Director of Development to ensure healthy communication and results between commercial and social impact outcomes.
General Manager NGO Job Responsibilities
Achieve sales targets. Our sales are our impact!
- Oversee all sales related activities: recruitment and training of sales agents, procurement and supplier negotiations to ensure an attractive product portfolio, marketing campaigns, strategic sales initiatives and promotional partnerships with suppliers.
- Manage our sales leads and regional sales managers, indirectly engaging the whole sales force across Kenya.
- Improve organizational structures and approaches to optimize performance.
- Ensure our sales agents are engaged and benefit from being part of Livelyhoods. This includes optimizing an incentive system which is attractive to them and makes business sense for us.
- Understanding and continuously developing the value proposition for the various stakeholders: agents, community members, legal and regulatory authorities, etc.
Overseeing operations
- Work with the headquarter team to deliver optimal support to a network of branches in order to improve their operations and financial sustainability.
- Make staffing decisions in the HQ team and oversee it at the branch level.
- Ensure our information management systems are optimally functioning and our data is relevant to measuring our business performance and outcomes.
- Evaluate and optimize operations, ensuring cost-effectiveness.
- Derive actionable plans for all departments from the overall strategic plan.
- Coordinate, manage and track team members and activities to ensure we are delivering our goals effectively and efficiently.
- Set up an Operations Committee (board members and other experts) to help grow our capacity in sales and operations.
Oversee financial management and lead the organization to profitability
- Evaluating management reports created from the accounting data and drawing insights on profit margins, identifying big expense drivers, cashflow etc.
- Make sure our processes are preventing mismanagement and theft.
- Take decisions on spending: Vet investment opportunities based on likely impact on sales.
- Managing relationship with accounting firm and auditor.
Growth and strategy development
- Creating strategic plans, financial projections, and engaging and informing all relevant stakeholders, including funders and board members.
- Implementation of these plans on the team side, including frequent meetings with staff.
- Oversee geographic expansion where required.
- Interfacing with the Director of Development on fundraising, partnerships and communications strategy and support implementation of the same.
- Evolve the organization structure in line with growth.
- Coaching and mentoring the team members to deliver their full potential for the organization.
External representation and management of key stakeholders
- Manage relationships with board members, including board reporting
- Represent Livelyhoods at strategic forums and to key stakeholders as needed
- Build relations with donors and funders in order to communicate LivelyHood’s vision and strategies to attract funding in collaboration with the Director of Development
- Building reports and being able to explain results to all key stakeholders, in particular funders and donors.
nteracting with government actors as required.
Requirements for the General Manager NGO Job
- You are excited about taking a business to the next level, a demanding job with a lot of responsibility
- You have been part of a rapidly growing organization, ideally with a network across the country
- You have managed a team of 5-10 people directly who had individuals and teams reporting to them
- You easily combine your strong for-profit mindset with your passion for social advancement
- You are resourceful and willing to roll up your sleeves to get things done
- You have a track record of successfully managing diverse stakeholders
- You have good financial management skills and have handled budgets, pricing/profit models and cashflow
- You have a track record of delivering an organization’s growth with clear and impressive measurable outcomes (in indicators like sales, subscriptions, distributors, market coverage, program reach)
- You are very comfortable with quantitative approaches and making decisions based on numbers and data
- You know how to create and adapt processes that help a business grow
- You have adjusted team structure along the growth journey and hired great people into the right places
- Creative in how to position and sell products that don’t “sell themselves” to customers with limited disposable income
- You take a developmental approach to managing people while being firm in pushing for and ensuring targets are met
- You thrive in environments where there are a lot of moving parts. You adjust quickly and incorporate new developments into your strategies
- Comfortable and experienced making decisions with limited data
- You are resourceful: On many occasions, you have been able to deliver a lot with little money
- You are highly self-motivated
- You have the ability to manage multiple stakeholders and be fluidly responsible to them
- Having exposure in East Africa beyond Kenya is highly preferred
- Highly preferred to have a background in financial management
- An undergraduate degree is required, a Master’s is preferred
You would be a good fit with our organizational culture if:
- You want to serve and leave your mark in communities across Kenya
- You have strong interpersonal communication skills, with a high degree of empathy
- You are dynamic and excited to pivot when necessary to deliver the best possible outcomes
- You pursue learning outcomes for yourself and your team on every occasion, and pride yourself on being flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances
- You have a passion for social change through businesses-oriented interventions, and have a keen interest in keeping up-to-date with the latest innovations
- You are comfortable in varying social and professional settings, alternating between interacting with under-educated youth in slums, and high-level stakeholder meetings with institutional representatives
Why work with us?
Our work is very rewarding – you see lives changing before your eyes! You’re selling products not just for profit but to make a difference.
As General Manager, you have a high level of ownership and responsibility – over 100 sales agents depend on you for their livelihoods. The role has a fulfilling level of autonomy: you can dream something into existence and implement it.
We are a close-knit and committed team.
We are growing fast, and sometimes we have to run to catch up with ourselves, so there’s always something to look forward to.
We’re not afraid to innovate, and move quickly in tackling issues when we identify them, so you can have a major impact on the direction of the organization, and directly lead change.
Other information
The position is based in our Nairobi office (Kawangware) and we would strongly prefer a Kenyan citizen for this role. Occasional weekend work is required as per business needs. We are looking for candidates who are ready to commit to a minimum of 4-5 years. There is a six month probation period and we will agree on performance and learning objectives.
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