Country Commercial Lead

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Job Purpose
As the Country Commercial Lead, this role serves as the commercial driver for the Malawi business, with a clear mandate to lead the business turnaround and return the Corn business to sustainable, profitable growth. In a demanded market, the role must align commercial growth ambition with supply realities. The role is responsible for reestablishing and strengthening market leadership by orchestrating the end to end commercial ecosystem – ensuring the Corn business delivers sustainable top line growth, margin expansion, and improved profitability as part of a broader turnaround and transformation agenda. The position holder will be responsible for strengthening governance, compliance, and risk management, and rebuilding the commercial organization and capability.

Summary Role Purpose

• Turnaround leadership
• Commercial and channel leadership
• Governance and risk discipline
• Cross-functional leadership
• Change leadership and resilience

This role reports to the Cluster Commercial Lead Africa – Crop Science.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

• Lead the turnaround of the Malawi business by restoring profitable growth and commercial discipline. Own the country P&L, including net sales, gross profit, and EBIT, with a strong focus on margin recovery, cost efficiency, and cash generation.
• Partner with Finance to implement and enforce a robust credit management framework that enables disciplined, profitable growth. Balance decisive market penetration with the protection of cash flow, active risk mitigation, and reduction of Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) to stabilize and strengthen the business.
• Lead business planning and forecasting with a clear turnaround lens—resetting assumptions, reallocating resources, and prioritizing high-impact opportunities. Ensure the commercial roadmap is resilient to market volatility and seed supply constraints, while repositioning the business for sustainable recovery and future growth.
• Act as the primary integrator between the unit support squad and field operations to fix execution gaps and remove inefficiencies. Ensure that demand generation and product launches are tightly aligned with supply availability, minimizing market friction and rebuilding customer trust.
• Rebuild and deepen strategic relationships with government bodies, industry regulators, and key distribution partners to support the turnaround agenda. Act as the face of the Commercial organization in Malawi.

Key Working Relations

• Internal: Cluster CS Lead- Africa. Sales Effectiveness & Forecasting teams, Customer Marketing, Agronomic Excellence, Regulatory Science, Field Solutions, Finance Business Partners, and Supply Chain leadership. The Unit Support Squad – both Value Proposition and Commercial Operations. Finance and Credit Management. Legal and compliance.
• External: Ministry of Agriculture, Seed Certification Institutes, Plant Health and Pesticides Authorities, NGO partners, and local industry associations. Distributors and key channel partners. Major customers and market actors. Relevant regulators and industry stakeholders, and External partners supporting market access or business continuity

Experience, Skills and Qualifications

• University degree in Business or Agriculture; master’s degree (MBA) highly preferred.
• 10+ years in commercial sales with a proven history of managing complexity and P&L responsibility.
• Experience in the agricultural sector is essential.
• Demonstrated ability to think at an enterprise level (turn around) and navigate complex, demand-led market dynamics.
• Leadership: A track record of developing high-performing teams and fostering a culture of accountability and agility. 5 years leading a fast-growing organization.
• Influence: Exceptional networking skills with the ability to influence government and regulatory stakeholders.

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