Job Description

• Country Sales Strategy & Go-to-Market: In collaboration with the B2B Strategy and Operations teams in Nairobi, design, implement, and manage the national sales, distribution, and go-to-market strategy for general and modern trade. Drive the expansion of numeric and weighted distribution across all channels.
• Distributor & Retailer Recruitment: Identify, recruit, and onboard wholesalers and retailers (including small and medium-sized traders), as well as corporations, government institutions, and NGOs, into BURN’s network. Negotiate favorable trade terms and distribution partnership agreements that enable profitable, sustainable growth.
• P&L Ownership & Path to Profitability: Own and manage the country B2B P&L. Working with the B2B Strategy team, design and implement a coherent path to profitability and deliver break-even within six months — balancing volume growth with margin discipline and tight cost (OPEX) management.
• Account Management Manage existing distributor relationships and key accounts, co-developing simple Joint Business Plans (JBPs) that align on sales targets, stock, and trade investment, and providing support where needed.
• Marketing, Activations & Merchandising (BTL & Digital): On a lean budget, design and run cost-effective BTL activations and digital campaigns that create end-consumer demand and pull product through the channel. Hire (or outsource), train, and manage an on-the-ground activation/merchandising team to deliver live demos, store displays, and point-of-sale visibility in line with BURN’s market strategy.
• Logistics & Forecasting Plan order schedules together with distributors and the 3PL partner, support sales forecasting, and track the country sales and marketing budget.
• Market Intelligence & Reporting: Produce monthly reports for senior management in Nairobi covering sales performance, trends, activation effectiveness, and growth opportunities. Benchmark competitor pricing, products, and channel presence, and support the Market Research team in Nairobi with market-specific research projects.
• Training: Train distribution partners and their sales teams on BURN’s products.
• Government Relations Serve as BURN’s key on-the-ground contact with government officials, with guidance and support from the Global Business Development team in Nairobi.

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in sales and trade marketing within FMCG / consumer goods, with strong “boots-on-the-ground” field experience in-country.
• Strong personal networks with small and medium-sized retailers and wholesalers across the country’s major trading markets, with the ability to recruit them into BURN’s network quickly.
• High level of comfort working with wholesale and general-trade clients, and solid familiarity with general and modern trade dynamics and Route-to-Market.
• Demonstrated experience designing and running BTL activations and digital campaigns to create end-consumer demand on lean budgets.
• Managerial experience; ability to hire, train, and manage a small team of promoters/activators.
• Commercial and P&L acumen, with a strong analytical / number-crunching background and comfort with sales forecasting and budgets.
• Enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, creative, and a genuine desire to ‘sell for good’.
• Experience developing new distribution channels and negotiating trade terms/distribution agreements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in French; working proficiency in English an advantage.