General Manager, Tea Business – West Africa at Unilever Nigeria Plc

Unilever Nigeria Plc – Welcome to Unilever, a global multinational and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company with products sold in over 190 countries and more than 2 billion consumers across the world who use our amazing products everyday!

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: General Manager, Tea Business – West Africa

Job ID: R-13971
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Job type: Full Time

Background

Unilever is proud of its Tea business, the biggest in the world, with world class purpose driven brands such as Lipton, PG tips and Pukka. Recently, Unilever decided to separate the Tea business to ensure it can best achieve its potential.
Unilever is currently reviewing several options for separation, including a demerger, an initial public offering, a disposal or through partnership models. The Tea businesses in India and Indonesia, and the partnership interests in the ready-to-drink Tea joint ventures will be retained.
The balance of the Tea brands and geographies and all Tea estates, with generated revenues of €2 billion in 2019, is growing and profitable with proven potential both pre- and post-COVID-19. As a standalone entity, the Tea company remains number one in the world and is even better positioned to lead the industry and take full advantage of the opportunities in the category, with more focus and entrepreneurship driving greater growth and value.
The current vision for the Tea company is to champion a tastier, healthier, more sustainable world of plant-based drinking.
Purposeful thinking will be the core anchor of the business, its brands as well as its culture, and enables simple and agile decision making, supports an entrepreneurial mindset and is driven by passion for our consumers.
As we move through this journey towards separation, we are seeking employees with a passion for exciting entrepreneurial experiences, who want to pursue unique career opportunities and have a desire to be an integral part in building the bright future of this plant-based company.

Main Responsibilities

Act like an owner: Responsible for all business activities and growth of the business
P&L end-to-end. Directly responsible for driving business growth and profitability within the assigned scope
Lead & execute strategic growth plans across sales and marketing organization
Build winning market positions by identifying new opportunities, developing, defining, negotiating strong business relationships
Talent catalyst: Responsible for growing and nurturing talent including succession planning ensuring organization is fit to win short and long term
Channel development: Go-To-Market partners, retail and away from home
Key representative of Tea Co within organization as well as externally across various key stakeholders and organizational bodies

Key Tasks
Leadership and Stakeholder Management:

Leading regular cross functional leadership team meetings monthly
Develop and sign off annual and strategic business plans
Represent direct market and assigned distributor markets in business reviews
Drive growth agenda mindset throughout organization

Functional Tasks

Sales: Lead development, execution and signoff of business plans including
- Growth and profitability management
- Negotiation with strategic partners and customers
- New go to market business models and partners EG: Digital
- Representing Tea Co externally at key trade events
Marketing: Oversee short and long-term marketing and innovation plans ensuring organization is future fit to win (Digital)
Supply chain: Oversee supply chain in line with sourcing and finance principals to optimize profitability, cash flow and customer service levels
Finance: Responsible for all income & expenditure including cash flow management, budgeting, forecasting and reporting.
Drive people agenda: Act as talent catalyst. Retain and recruit the best employees while promoting a performance culture agenda

Scope / Interfaces / Relevant Stakeholders for this Role

The General Manager, Tea Business – West Africa will be fully responsible for both day to day as well as strategic direction and performance of the business within West Africa market.

Key Interfaces (Internal)
Internal:

MU leadership team: Reporting into General Manager Tea Business Africa
Global cross functional teams – EG: global marketing/ brand leads, Design for Channel
Local cross functional leadership team
Employees within local organization
Other Tea market leaders.

External:

Customers: Wholesalers, distributors, key accounts, away from home
Suppliers: Products, services, raw materials
Government organizations
Labour unions
Press
Regulatory bodies
Industry forums and trade events.

Flexibility for this Role (Working Model, Mobility):

The role is a full-time role and is office based within the head office of the market
Due to the hands-on nature of the role a flexible location or job sharing is not possible

Requirements
Must Haves:

Commercial Degree
10+ years’ experience in a FMCG business
Of which 5 years’ experience in a leadership role within customer development and marketing
Experience leading a cross functional team
Proven track record of delivery of business results

Nice to Have:

Experience within the beverages/ tea category
Digital/online sales and marketing experience
‘Away from home’ experience – Food Solutions

Professional Knowledge/Skill Requirements
Must Have:

Experience and understanding of the local market
Functional and technical knowledge
- P&L – financial acumen
- Marketing incl innovation
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Key processes. EG: Annual planning, S&OP
Proven track record of strong:
- Leadership and strategic influencing skills towards multifunctional stakeholders
- Communication skills
- Problem solving skills
- Crisis management skills
Language Requirements: English

Candidate Psychographics / Behavioral Competences (Soft skills):

This role requires the confidence and fearlessness to take decisions, exercise autonomy and have a strong bias for action
A strong sense of ownership and accountability
Organizationally and analytically strong
Ability to inspire and motivate
A dot connector
Curiosity: A customer centric mindset
You love to win, and have fun doing it
Ability to perform under pressure
Strategy guru. Responsible for long term success of the business.
Relevant values, drivers for this role
- Performance and growth mindset
- Agility to thrive in a VUCA world
- Flexibility to drive change
- Transparency and openness.