Your responsibilities will include:
Identifying wholesale demand within the area and balance our working capital abilities with this demand: Create an ideal balance between wholesale and retail approach for our shops.
Developing a 6 months strategic plan with supervisors for development of wholesaling business
Thinking through the requirements for a successful wholesale and distribution business in Nairobi (inventory, licensing, security, contracts, distribution etc.) and implement the required ground work
Identifying providers of key strategic products (unga etc) and establish supplier contracts
Put in place procedures around sales, inventory, accounting and all other systems
Training GE’s and partner’s staff on the new business approach and their roles
Together with our field officers identify and sign up clients and distributors of our products (other shops in the area to use our wholesale services)
Monthly tracking, analyzing of data and adjusting of priorities and approach
Coaching the teams on the ground to build skill – and in turn revenues and profits
Managing your time and approach as we roll out in Mombasa and Nairobi simultaneously
Participating in other strategic initiatives:
Marketing our model and ideas to SACCOs.
Developing partnerships for pilots with them where suitable.
Support in grant proposals and fundraising where possible
Always keep in mind the larger vision of Grassroots Economics. Feeding all your learnings into the credit and savings facilities.
Who we are looking for:
Strong passion for progress in low-income areas and empathy to relate with small business owners and the community. You are interested in the larger questions of building economies, livelihoods, collateral, lending and credit questions.
Excited to get on the ground, roll up your sleeves and work with our team to figure out the economics of the wholesale business model
You are a strong relationship builder: with suppliers, clients and your team
While we don’t require accounting skills or training, you easily navigate ETR machines, book-keeping and inventory systems. You have collaborated with an accountant before.
You have at least three years work experience in warehousing, storage, supply chains and distribution
Proven experience setting up and running retail and wholesale shops especially in the FMCG space
Experience in linkages to unga and other goods whole-sellers. Ideally you have a network of product and service providers we can tap into
You are dynamic and pride yourself in your ability to get results within days and weeks where others may take months or years
You have a certificate or diploma in retail, wholesale, inventory or a related area
Understanding of both, Nairobi and Mombasa markets is an added advantage
Work experience in SACCO and credit industry and engaging with a large portfolio of (over 1,000) members is an added advantage.
You are fluent in English and Kiswahili
Why work with us? Grassroots Economics seeks to be a leader in Financial Technology with a unique product of Community Currency.
You will learn a lot! You will have the chance to help marginalized communities excel and build business management capacity in others.
Our small and growing team of 8 is highly committed, we share information and learn together. We are self-starters and passionately believe in community development.
We do exchange visits between Mombasa and Nairobi and hold our annual strategy retreat at the coast. We entrust you with great responsibility and match this with freedom and space for ideas.
Other information: You will be based in Nairobi and work from our main office in Kawangware (Gatina). You will visit our shops in Kangemi and Kibera several times per week and have meetings across town to build the required relationships. Occasional travel to visit the Mombasa shops will be scheduled as needed.
You will work closely with one of the Directors who is also based in Nairobi. We envision that the change process in our existing shops will take around six months after which the field team is able to keep profits up and increase revenues to sustain the shops.
We are looking for someone who is versatile and creative, who will continue working with us on new projects afterwards, e.g. rural areas expansion, SACCO integration etc.
