Commercial Director / Vice President - East Africa
Pula Advisors
About Pula
We are an insuretech firm that provides agriculture insurance design and execution services, specialising in index based insurance and are backed by top tier VC investors who have invested more than $25 million in the business. Since 2015 we have provided climate insurance to 15.4 million smallholder farmers, 41% of which were women across 19 markets in Africa and Asia who pay an average of $6.8 per season to insure their crops. So far we've unlocked over $2.22 billion of capital from local and international insurance markets for climate risks since we started in 2015 and paid out $40.8 million to our client farmers.
Pula is a fast-paced space, constantly adapting to new opportunities and challenges and we are made up of a high-performance, multi-cultural team. We expect our team to value performance, results and professionalism.
At Pula, our values are:
- Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
- Connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
- Have a Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
- We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.
According to the UN’s InterGovernmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall.
Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.
At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 6 million farmers, 30% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $10 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.
Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.
At Pula, our culture is defined by our:
1.Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
2. Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
3. Our Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
4. Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.
What you will be doing
As a Commercial Director at Pula, you will drive commercial growth across a broader territory (multiple countries), guiding (senior) commercial managers to achieve ambitious targets and continuously grow and develop their skills. You’ll also play a key role in refining Pula's commercial structures and systems. You'll be an essential contributor to our mission to protect smallholder farmers worldwide.
Key Responsibilities
1. Build and Lead a High-Performing Commercial Team (50%)
- Team Development: Mentor and develop Senior Commercial Managers and Commercial Managers, fostering strong commercial competencies and advancing their technical sales toolkit.
- Performance Excellence: Oversee team performance to meet and exceed targets, with a focus on employee engagement, retention, and internal promotions.
- Inspiration and Motivation: Cultivate a culture of ambition and dedication, encouraging teams to go above and beyond in achieving Pula’s objectives.
2. Stakeholder and Deal Management (30%)
- High-Level Negotiation and Relationship Building: Maintain and deepen relationships with high-level stakeholders, including government leaders, to support regional growth and market positioning.
- Strategic Problem-Solving: Help teams navigate obstacles by seeing the broader picture and identifying creative ways to progress deals.
- Market Insight and Assessment: Quickly assess situations, identifying core issues and opportunities within complex stakeholder environments.
3. System Building and Process Enhancement (10%)
- System Compliance: Ensure that all commercial activities align with Pula’s established systems and processes, reinforcing a structured approach to commercial execution.
- Knowledge Management: Oversee the documentation and sharing of insights, ensuring that commercial learnings and knowledge contribute to Pula's organizational intelligence.
- Portfolio Management: Systematically manage regional portfolios, establishing a consistent approach to territory management and growth.
4. Strategic Innovation and Market Expansion (10%)
- Innovative Problem-Solving: Develop new strategies to address market challenges, continuously exploring creative ways to enhance Pula’s product and service offerings.
- New Market Exploration: Lead small expansion projects, piloting entry into new territories and sectors with an innovative, forward-thinking approach.
What makes a successful Pula Commercial Director?
Core Competencies
- Proven Leadership in B2G Sales: 10+ years of experience leading commercial teams in B2G sales in a multi-country context, selling complex and tailored solutions
- Advanced Negotiation and Influence: Ability to build and maintain high-level relationships and navigate complex negotiations with senior government officials and other top-tier stakeholders.
- Strategic Problem-Solving: Skilled at analyzing high-stakes situations and proposing actionable solutions, guiding teams to successful deal closures.
- Systems Orientation: Strong commitment to building, refining, and implementing organizational processes that align with company goals.
- Innovation and Growth Mindset: A creative thinker with a track record of pioneering new market entry strategies and successfully launching new products or services.
Behavioral Attributes
- Inspiring Leadership: Ability to foster a high-energy, growth-focused environment where teams are motivated to surpass goals.
- Big-Picture Vision: Skilled at viewing issues strategically, enabling a broad understanding of market trends and stakeholder dynamics.
- Accountable and Results-Oriented: High level of ownership, delivering on ambitious goals through a disciplined, results-driven approach.
Resilience and Tenacity: A relentless pursuit of goals with the ability to overcome setbacks and persist in challenging environments.
What Pula will bring to the table
- Growth potential: At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 19 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2023, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 5 million farmers, 40% of which are women. We are a for profit, and have raised over $25 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.
- Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in it’s category with 11m farmers insured as of 2023.
- Solid: Pula has been funded by leading venture capital investors (Omidyar Network, ACCION, MercyCorps) and global philanthropic institutions (MasterCard Foundation, CGAP/World Bank as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Pula closed an oversubscribed $20m series B funding despite the economic downturn.
- Respected: Winner of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2019, Winner of The InsureTech of the Award, Africa. Featured on TED talks, The New York Times, The Economist.
- Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
- Leadership: The founders & CEO foster a culture of transparency, respect, high performance, pragmatism, execution and personal development.
- Purpose: It is rare to find a professional opportunity that offers accelerated professional development and a life purpose. Pula is going through a second phase of accelerated growth that will naturally provide professional development, whilst contributing to the financial stability of small farmers in the emerging markets.
- Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed sales and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.
To learn more about Pula you can visit
TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.
Pula’s mission is to provide farmer resilience. To achieve this, we put our small holder farmers that use our services and the employees that provide them at the heart of everything we do. For that purpose, Pula was created to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
