Senior Business Development Officer, N2Africa at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

IITA is an international non-profit agricultural research-for-development (R4D) organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our R4D approach is anchored on the development needs of tropical nations. We work with partners in the public and private sectors to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa.

The Putting Nitrogen Fixation to Work for Smallholder Farmers in Africa (http://www.n2africa.org) Project is led by Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The project aims to deploy state-of-the-art legume and rhizobial inoculant technologies to African smallholder farmers to enhance inputs of free atmospheric nitrogen by biological nitrogen fixation, thereby improving legume productivity, human nutrition and farm income, while enhancing soil health. In its second phase, the project will put a major emphasis on (i) institutionalizing N2Africa technologies, approaches, and expertise and (ii) fostering long-term sustainability of the various components addressed by N2Africa, including seed, inoculant, and fertilizer supply chains, access to profitable legume markets, and knowledge transfer. The project will primarily work in the N2Africa Core Countries, namely Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia (with a limited range of activities in DR Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique).

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the position of Senior Business Development Officer (BDO), N2Africa.

Job Title: Senior Business Development Officer, N2Africa

Ref: DDG-R4D/N2A/SBDO/12/13
Locatiuon: Ibadan, Nigeria

Responsibilities

• IITA seeks a qualified Senior Business Development Officer to lead the implementation of activities focused on creating sustainable seed, inoculant, and fertilizer input supply chains and linking small holder farmers and farmer organizations to profitable and sustainable legume markets through public-private partnerships.
• The successful candidate will develop strategies, design implementation plans and oversee activities in the project countries, with the goal of identifying opportunities to stimulate business development as part of the larger program team.
• He/she will lead a small team with a focus on creating, delivering and implementing agreements that establish effective partnerships in two distinct domains of the legume value chain: the production and distribution of relevant seed, inoculants and fertilizers for legumes crops; and demand-side market development, with an emphasis on business opportunities that create vibrant local, regional, and export legume markets, including price stabilization, grain supply and processing activities where feasible.
• The successful candidate will recognize and understand the critical role that women play in the legume value chain and build realistic, sustainable business solutions that include their perspective and create opportunities for their participation.
• The senior business development officer will assist in hiring and supervising in-country business development officers in each of the Core Countries.
• She/he will be responsible for the development of both input and output market strategies, implementation plans and execution in each country. Activities will include the convening of workshops to develop and revise workplans based on developing market dynamics, assistance in identifying and approaching key actors in the private sector, and delivery of agreements/contracts that drive the market strategies through partnerships.
• The successful candidate will report to the R4D Director on Natural Resource Management and the R4D Director for West (or East, depending on the duty station) Africa.
• Assess the current state of agricultural input production, marketing and consumption in the project countries and characterize the agricultural input supply system.
• Establish a strategic framework for sustainable agricultural input business development.
• Identify existing partnerships and initiatives in the agricultural input business sector.
• Identify potential partnerships and initiatives with public (school feeding, WFP Purchase for Progress, etc.) and private sector output market actors.
• Consistently seek, develop and deliver new business opportunities and successful alliances with commercial farms, trading companies, processors, exporters and international corporations interested in sourcing quality legume supplies.
• Participate in platforms (or establish these if needed) on legume crop value chains and establish relationships with prospective partners and stakeholders that lead to executed agreements and contracts.
• Identify opportunities for fund raising and assist in applying for grants for business development and establishment; liaise with donor community on possible grant making for business incubation and development.
• Identify and develop partnerships with financial institutions willing to support smallholder farmer enterprises, commercial farm, processor and input supply development.
• Conduct and oversee advocacy for business development and promotional campaigns.
• Identify enabling environment constraints and work with project management to address such constraints.
• Work with and inform project management and research and field staff and/or delivery partners to a) identify and produce market preferred varieties; b) identify those farmers and/or farmer organizations most capable of producing for the market.
• Report to project management on developments and achievements in promoting business development.
• Manage and supervise a small team of country business development officers that support the project objectives.

Requirements

• The successful candidate will have a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) or a PhD in business, agricultural economics or a related field from a highly recognized university and at least 10 years experience developing or working with agricultural businesses in sub-Saharan Africa or similar developing country environment.
• Core Competencies
• Strong knowledge and experience with African farming systems and input/output value chains in Africa.
• Successful experience facilitating national and/or partnership platforms related to agricultural intensification; positive track record of work relations with a wide range of partners, including research institutes, governments, private sector, and other development entities.
• Successful experience facilitating private-public partnerships in the realm of input/output markets.
• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to execute agreements.
• Highly developed project management, implementation and monitoring skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead the writing of technical documents.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully manage a small team with a high degree of interpersonal effectiveness, and to work positively in a dynamic team environment.
• Excellent spoken and written English (with French being an added advantage).
• Ability to work independently in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multi-cultural environment.

Remuneration and Conditions of Service
Initial appointment is for two years. IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.

Application Closing Date
31st December, 2013

Method Of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply
Note: Applications which must include covering letter, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three referees should be addressed to the Head, Human Resources Service
Click here for more details on the job.