Business Development Coordinator at VisionSpring Nigeria (Abuja and Niger)

VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, was founded in 2001 with a mission to broaden access to affordable eyewear everywhere. We establish market access to eyeglasses and vision correction for people living in poverty so that they may enhance their livelihoods, learning, and quality of life. To date, VisionSpring has sold 4.4 million pairs of glasses to low income consumers living in emerging and frontier markets, and is working to reach 10 million pairs.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Business Development Coordinator

Locations: Abuja, Niger
Start date: August 18, 2019

Job Descriptions

• Are you ready to use your business development and sales acumen to play a pivotal role in restoring vision for millions of people in low-income settings across Nigeria? Would you like to work for an organization that combines the best of business and social impact practices?
• VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, seeks TWO business development coordinators to develop new customer relationships and drive the sale of eyeglasses, primarily in the healthcare sector.
• The business development coordinators will pursue sales directly by approaching hospitals, eye hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers.
• They also will increase the depth and breadth of eyeglass distribution channels by growing a network of channel partners in and around Abuja and the South South region, uncovering untapped customer demand for eyeglasses in other market sectors and working with partners that serve low-income communities.
• The coordinators will foster and manage assigned accounts, grow sales across multiple optical product categories (reading glasses, frames, sunglasses, etc.), and seamlessly execute all aspects of the sales process.
• Based in Abuja, the coordinators will report to the senior executive of business development and institutional partnerships in Lagos, and work closely with the New York-based sales management team led by the vice president of global sales and institutional partnerships. 
• This role is a contract-based, full-time position for the initial period of one year. VisionSpring will be hiring TWO candidates to assume this role. As with other contractors with whom we have worked for many years, we expect the successful candidates to be willing to be long-term contractors for VisionSpring.

About You

• You are an entrepreneur at heart and want to build a socially-oriented business. The prospect of becoming an expert in the optics industry excites you.
• You are accustomed to being a top performer in a high-growth environment. Achieving targets fills you with a sense of drive and satisfaction.
• You are self-motivated and deliver excellent results without the daily direct supervision of an on-site manager.
• You are adept at business-to-business and institutional sales and fully understand the sales management cycle. You are particularly adept at wholesale selling, and have a knack for expanding the distribution of physical products.
• You are strategic in your approach to new business, actively networking and doing research to identify new partners and nurture relationships. You are constantly seeking new and creative ways to reach your target market, and go above and beyond what is required to do it.
• You have the experience, maturity, and confidence, as well as the communication skills, to interact with people in senior positions. You can get others excited about what they are going to make possible by working with VisionSpring.
• You have a special talent for negotiating and closing win-win deals with clients.

What You’ll Do
New Business Development:

• Conduct research, network, and cold-call to pro-actively identify and pursue new opportunities to grow partnerships with eye hospitals, clinics, and other health service providers; assist them in introducing or expanding their optical services.
• Contact and stimulate engagement with known potential partners; transform them into satisfied customers.
• Meet and surpass monthly, quarterly, and annual sales targets by winning new and repeat orders.
• Grow and manage the channel partner network. Use your creativity to find new paths, and expand existing ones, to bring eyeglasses to our target population.
• Engage and consistently follow up with existing and new accounts, deliver the highest levels of customer service.
• Faithfully and accurately enter all sales activity - calls, conversations, emails, meetings, WhatsApp, SMS, etc. - into Salesforce, a customer relations management (CRM) system provided by VisionSpring.
• Help to represent VisionSpring at local industry forums, peer groups, market development events, seminars, conferences, etc.

Account Management:

• Service and manage assigned accounts. Maintain existing close relationships and assure that we are building new relationships that will last.
• Strengthen relationships with all key opinion makers and stakeholders.
• Periodically affirm that we are reaching our target population by reporting customer data and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Regularly follow up with customers for pre- and post-sale documentation and payments.
• Solicit feedback and gather testimonials from customers so that their words can inform our marketing collateral.

Job Requirements
What’s required:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Three to five years of professional experience in business-to-business and institutional sales.
• Current home residence in or near Abuja and a willingness to travel up to 50% of the time within the Abuja area and the South South region.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English, and other local languages such as Hausa, Igbo, and/or Yoruba.
• Experience creating and delivering sales presentations using PowerPoint.
• A laptop computer with Internet access.
• Computer software skills, especially Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Priority consideration will be given to candidates with these areas of experience and assets: institutional sales within the healthcare or pharmaceutical sectors; knowledge of vision care and/or optical services; comfort using Salesforce or another CRM; existing network of contacts in healthcare/pharma/vision care sectors; and/or personal vehicle.

Compensation

• Salary based on experience and education.
• Commission based on unit sales.
• Exciting performance-based bonuses.
• Monthly budget for expenses.
• One-year contract, renewable.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should please submit their Application, including a thoughtful Cover Letter and CV/Resume to: [email protected] Please assure there is a short description of each company or organization on your CV/Resume. Include your last name and "BDC Nigeria" in the subject line.

Application Process

• We want to know more than just what you have done. We want to know who you are. What are the passions and talents that draw you to this role?

Note

• Please note, only candidates to be interviewed will be contacted.
• VisionSpring is an Equal Opportunity Employer. VisionSpring does not and will not discriminate in employment and personnel practices based on race, sex, age, religion, national origin, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.