Female Regional Coordinator-South Rift and Nyanza

ROLE BRIEF 

We are looking for a female candidate passionate about rural development, who enjoys meeting new people and experiencing diverse situations with the aim of driving collaborative efforts to promote staff engagement and increase job satisfaction, retention and performance.

The Regional Coordinator will be primarily responsible for supporting our Area Coordinators in driving their business objectives in Nyanza and South Rift region. The region is set to have 6 branches with one (i.e. in Bomet) up and running at the moment. The rest are set to kick off operations in 2020. Each of the Area Coordinators is responsible for 7-8 field staff who work as sales agents and loan collection officers. The job holder will therefore also be involved in kicking off operations in the upcoming branches where this entails recruiting the Area Coordinators and their respective teams.

This is a mid-level position based in Nyanza and South Rift, reporting to the Nairobi-based Director directly. You will work across the branches to assess and increase employee engagement and performance. You will gauge customer satisfaction and suggest relevant initiatives to the team.

Key responsibilities and activities will include:

1. Area Coordinators based in South Rift will be reporting to you. Developing their people management skills further is key to growing the business. 
2. By working with the Area Coordinators on a daily basis you will be strengthening the capacity of the teams at the branches. 
3. Through this we expect the following outcomes from you: increased staff satisfaction, retention and performance, with the ultimate goal of sales growth, improved debt collections, customer satisfaction and referral sales.
4. Provide deep and specific support to South Rift Area Coordinators:

• Recruitment of Area Coordinators and their respective teams, in collaboration with the HR team, in the upcoming branches i.e. Kericho, Nyamira, Homa Bay & Migori
• Engage Area Coordinators one on one, supporting them in driving results in their branches through their teams. This includes coaching and supporting them in key processes such as performance management.
• Build their skills to becoming stronger trainers, coaches and leaders themselves.
• Provide specific, situational and practical advice around team-related issues and decisions, and help Area Coordinators in finding solutions that work in their locality and for their team.
• Further drive the spirit and community of learning between Area Coordinators through facilitating peer forums and conversations.
• Pull in and liaise with relevant HQ staff on key issues.

5. Drive Engagement and motivation in our field teams 

• Constantly communicate Bidhaa Sasa's vision and values, further enhancing buy-in into our unique approach to sales and rural development.
• Visit the branches and go for field visits, to actively track engagement and motivation of our field staff (in collaboration with the HR team).
• Identify learning and training needs per branch and liaise with HQ team to come up with relevant curricula and training.
• Organize and conduct training sessions.
• Work collaboratively with Business Support, Research & Data team and HR to foster a continuous learning culture and standardization of processes.
• Participate in the on-boarding weeks for new staff through running training sessions.

6. Help  drive overall performance and improve proceedures

• Capture learning from the field, observe trends and raise challenges and opportunities to the larger team. This is a joint responsibility with our Business Support Manager, who drives overall process improvement in the company.
• Bring ideas and liaise with others in the team to improve our sales and collection procedures.
• Actively participate in weekly calls to discuss and monitor branch performance with the head office team.
• Conduct quarterly performance appraisals for the Area Coordinators.
• Interact with clients frequently to understand their needs, problems, gauge their satisfaction with our products and services.

We are looking for 

• You are passionate about rural development and making a difference for the less well-off.
• You have at least 5 years of relevant progressive experiences in leading teams in a business or social enterprise (Direct sales experience or work with sales agents/teams is not a must).
• A relevant bachelor degree is required.
• You have interacted with a wide range of people and teams. Your leadership style focuses on people management and talent development.
• You are analytical and know how to troubleshoot an issue and draw insights.
• You have a good track record of coaching and developing people to reach difficult goals.
• You have deep knowledge about rural communities, their culture and their decision making.
• You know how to identify capacity gaps in teams and think through interventions (training and otherwise) to fill them.
• You have experience and skill in running engaging and practical training workshops (an added advantage).
• You are energized by interacting with people, and enjoy spending a lot of time in the field and outdoors.
• You are a team player who leads by example and excellent at listening and building trust and long-lasting relationships with clients and within teams.
• You are self-driven, highly organised and able to operate independently towards set targets.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English required. Working knowledge in local languages (Kalenjin, Luo, Kisii) is an added advantage.
• You are willing to roll up your sleeves and help out wherever needed to solve arising problems and harness business opportunities.
• Willingness to live, work and travel in Nyanza & South Rift region to easily access our branches and clients.
• When we talk about supporting the branches, we don’t mean on the phone! There will be a lot of travelling! Each of the branches needs to be visited on a regular basis and once you’re done with one the next visit is waiting! For easy access to our branches, you could be based in or around Kisii for easier access to all parts of the region