Regional Sales Manager : West Africa.
Ignitia AB, Ghana
Job Description
Ignitia AB has developed a highly accurate weather model to help small-scale farmers in West Africa manage their daily activities to predict water availability and improve their yields to optimize food production.
Working in partnership with major telecom, Ignitia is a high-technology company and social enterprise that has recently developed the world’s first highly accurate tropical weather forecast model. We benefit small-scale farmers in West Africa by sending a daily forecast via SMS, provided in partnership with major telecommunication firms.
We started in 2010 as a new research team in physics and meteorology, gathered from different renowned universities and research institutions, such as NASA. We set out to tackle the difficult problem of accurately predicting weather in the tropics.
For the first time, rural small-scale farmers in West Africa were the first clients of a major technology innovation. We like that and we’re just getting started!
WHY IGNITIA?
The current food system contributes to roughly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions and is ill-equipped to meet rising global food demand in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. At the same time, small-holder farmers, who produce most of the world’s food, are often amongst the world’s poorest and most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We are working to change this. Ignitia has developed the world’s first and most accurate tropical weather forecasting model to benefit both small-scale farmers and agribusinesses. By providing hyper-local, highly accurate climate and weather information services, farmers make improved decisions that directly impact yield and productivity. We are a high-tech social enterprise that leverages advanced technologies to provide a unique and valuable means for farmers, agribusinesses, and organizations in emerging markets to stabilize operations, mitigate risks, build resilience, and maximize profits. Ignitia is a low-ego, high-energy environment. We don’t have multiple management layers and we are not into red tape or office politics. We have some of the best minds in meteorology, math, and technology working alongside a powerful commercial sales team to change how weather impacts the food system in the tropical belt.
HOW WILL YOU MAKE AN IMPACT?
Ignitia provides climate and weather forecasting services to 2 million subscribers through a robust portfolio of programs and partners in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. We have recently launched in Brazil and have ambitions to scale to other countries in the Latam region. In addition to reaching farmers directly through the region’s largest mobile network operators, and through a web app and web dashboard used by agribusinesses like crop input distributors, we’re also an agtech service provider to INGOs and their farmer beneficiaries.
You will be responsible for selling ignitia’s innovative and impactful products and services (weather data and software) across West Africa. This is a consultative sales role in which you will be expected to serve as a trusted business advisor to your customers and help them make better business decisions using our weather data and climate smart advisory tools. As the Regional Sales Manager for West Africa, you will work closely with the Regional Director for Africa, as well as the Marketing and Product teams to create and offer a unique value proposition levering our innovative weather forecast data and advisory services to agricultural supply chain customers across West Africa.
Key to this role is the individual’s experience in bundling multiple digital services alongside fertilizer, crop protection and nutrition products to attract sustainable partnerships with agribusinesses and other actors in the agricultural industry. The Regional Sales Manager will also be responsible for developing new business models and to scale up the last mile distribution channel currently being piloted in Ghana and Nigeria. A clear understanding of selling weather data as a service via APIs to AgTech firms and other actors along the agricultural value chain will be a great advantage.
You will collaborate with the marketing function, leverage company networks, and engage in industry events to create a robust pipeline of high potential deals. Employing your consultative selling skills, you will convert leads into contracts with high quality and high scale potential customers, including farmers, extension agents, aggregators, food processors and other agtech platforms. You will ensure a smooth handover from sales to our Customer Account Management team, responsible for successful customer onboarding, piloting, and recurring subscriptions to our services.
Key responsibilities
- Build and maintain long-lasting, strong relationships with customers while partnering with them to better understand their business objectives and needs in order to