Vacancy title:
Country Director

Jobs at:
Lafayette Resources

Deadline of this Job:
Open

Duty Station:
Nairobi, Kenya

JOB DETAILS:
Country Director Job at Lafayette Resources
Our Client an organization that supplies smallholder farmers with the tools and financing they need to succeed. The organization began its pilot in Malawi in 2013 and launched full operations in 2016. In Malawi, they currently serve 13,000 farm families with input loans, and an additional 50,000 the training-only service. The Organization seeks to fill the position of a Malawi Country Director and we are thus hunting for exceptional talent for the role
Role purpose
The individual will oversee a social enterprise with two programs that currently include around 250 employees across the Southern Region. The role spans four key areas of leadership for which you will lean on both global support and local key deputies.
Country Director Job Responsibilities
Strategy and Vision:

• Develop and refine a long-term vision and 5-year plan for the social enterprise within Malawi.
• Draft annual country goals, including team priorities, R&D projects, sales and impact targets.
• Chair the in-country weekly Steering Committee meeting and lead the annual leadership retreat.
• Identify and address short-term and long-term risks and remove roadblocks to success.
• Ensure decision-making is aligned with both global organizational priorities and local data from clients and staff.
• Represent the organization externally within Malawi when needed.
  Build Culture
• Inspire all levels of staff through celebration of team wins and communication of the organization’s story internally.
• Ensure the organization’s values are known and practiced.
• Conduct between 2-4 field visits per month to spot check program execution and to connect with clients.
• Monitor team sustainability and make adjustments to workload where needed.
• Oversee annual roll-out of staff satisfaction survey, among other feedback channels, and the resulting initiatives.
  Build Team
• Recruit and retain the best talent from both international and national talent pools (closely involved in hiring and promotions).
• Provide big-picture feedback and guidance to 4-6 direct reports through weekly 1-on-1 check-ins.
• Ensure key linkages and communication between in-country department heads and global support.
• Build robust training programs at all job levels to maintain strong leadership development pipelines.
• Maintain a country team organizational chart.
  Resource Allocation
• Help lead the annual country budget process in line with goal setting.
• Approve any significant mid-year changes to spending.
• Monitor program financial sustainability and our Social Return on Investment (SROI) performance through monthly Budget-vs-Actual analyses and gross margin decisions.
• Ensure appropriate levels of business controls are in place.
• Provide necessary information and due diligence request support for Malawi-specific funding opportunities.
  Qualifications for the Country Director Job
• 7+ years of relevant work experience, including strong entrepreneurial and leadership roles (e.g. starting a field program in an emerging market, starting a business or social enterprise, managing a growing team, etc.)
• Bachelor’s degree required, Masters strongly preferred (e.g. MBA, MPA).
• A willingness to commit to living in Zomba/Malawi for at least three years. This is a permanent, career track role.
  Key skills
• Mission-driven individual that can 100% align with the organization’s values in putting farmers first.
• This role is an extremely competitive posting for a business/ management style position
• Strong general management skills and ability to manage a wide range of topics across different teams. Experience in implementing financial efficiency measures strongly preferred.
• Strong people management skills: The ideal candidate has managed 3+ people directly and led a team of 10+ people in previous roles. Please indicate your people management experience in your application.
• Private sector experience a plus (mixed / varied background preferred)

Job application procedure
If you believe you are qualified and ready to take on new challenges, then we want to talk to you urgently.
Please send your application to us right away at service@lafayette-resources.com  and include your current and expected remuneration
Kindly note only qualified candidates will be contacted.