Market Access & Value Chain Analyst

Location: Nairobi (frequent travel to field sites and buyer hubs)
Reports to: Grants & Partnerships Lead
Type: Contract

A short note from Taita — Founder & CEO

I started Synnefa because I wanted a single, practical answer to a problem most farmers already know too well: good harvests that rot because there was nowhere to dry, store, and sell them at the right price. Our Smart Solar Dryers, FarmShield™ sensors and FarmCloud™ software fix the technical part - we dry faster and prove quality. What we now need is a person who can turn those technical wins into real, dependable buyers and income for farmers.

If you join us, you won’t be writing abstract strategies. You’ll do careful buyer work, run trials, and build simple commercial processes that make guaranteed market access real. You’ll work with me, Grants and Partnership Lead, field teams, product and data, and our partners. I want practical thinking, field experience, and a bias for getting things done.

Why this role matters

Our dryers halve drying time and improve quality. That’s only half the job. Farmers only benefit if someone will buy their product at a fair price, reliably and on time. This role closes that gap: you make sure the dried product has a home — and that the money reaches the farmer. If that works, farmers’ incomes rise and our product becomes indispensable.

Role summary

You will discover and qualify buyers, run trials and samples, and test the unit economics of value chains so we know which crops, buyers and models actually work. You will translate buyer needs into operational rules, quality checks and simple commercial contracts that our field teams, authorised partners and FarmCloud can use.

Key responsibilities

1. Market Discovery & Buyer Research — Primary (~60%)

You will build a disciplined buyer pipeline and a buyer-requirements library we can act on.

What this looks like every day:

• Find and profile buyers: local processors, traders/aggregators, institutional buyers, and export-adjacent firms.
• Run structured conversations (we will give you templates). Capture exactly: crop types, quality specs, allowable moisture, packaging, traceability needs, indicative price bands (not negotiated prices), minimum and trial volumes, payment terms and buyer expectations.
• Record everything in a buyer intelligence file: buyer name, contact, date, notes, and a short, factual summary of their requirements. No hearsay. No “I think”. Only documented inputs.
• Keep a buyer prioritization framework so we focus on buyers who can actually scale volume and pay on time.

2. Trial & Sample Coordination (~25%)

You will run the practical work that turns buyer interest into acceptance.

What this looks like:

• Coordinate how samples are prepared (drying to agreed QA rules), packaged and delivered.
• Use a structured feedback form to capture buyer responses and rejection reasons. Record exactly why a trial failed or passed.
• Keep a clean pipeline: Leads → Active Trials → Trial Outcomes → Repeat Interest / Negotiation.
• Make sure lessons from trials go straight to Field, Product and QA teams so we fix the real problems.

3. Unit Economics & Assumption Testing Support (~15%)

You will test whether buyer prices match the real costs and whether the value chain is financially viable.

What this looks like:

• Work with the Grants and Partnerships Lead and the Business Growth and Enablement team to compare buyer price bands to real costs (drying, collection, packing, transport, commissions).
• Tell us which value chains are viable and which are not, and why. Flag margin or payment risks early.
• Build simple financial scenarios: break-even, sensitivity to price swings, and the impact of late payments. Keep models readable — not fancy, just correct and usable.

Other responsibilities

• Map value chains (mango, chilli, ginger, onions, coffee, tomato, spices), identify bottlenecks, and propose operational fixes.
• Define QA and traceability rules that use FarmShield logs as evidence for buyers. Work with Product to make FarmCloud support batch traceability, inventory, collection-scheduling and buyer orders.
• Design aggregation models (hub, co-op, authorised partners, micro-collectors) that pool volumes, keep quality, and make payments traceable.
• Lead buyer negotiations for MOUs/offtake terms that include price, quality, volume and payment timelines; operationalize KPIs and dispute rules.
• Build partnerships with aggregators, financiers and government where needed to support buyer financing or advance payments.
• Produce short, practical market briefs and dashboards we can act on.

What we are looking for (qualifications & experience)

Education

• Degree in Agricultural Economics, Horticulture, Agribusiness, Supply Chain, Development Studies, or similar. Master’s is useful but not required.

Experience

• Good experience in the sector doing market access or value-chain roles. You should have worked directly with buyers, processors or exporters. A good fit would have 2 - 3 years experience.
• Hands-on experience designing aggregation/collection models and negotiating MOUs/offtake agreements.
• Field experience in East Africa and with crops like mango, chilli, coffee, tomato or spices is a big advantage.

Technical skills

• We are AI first! You must be able to use AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini. We will provide premium account access to these tools to supercharge your role.
• Strong Excel modeling. Comfortable with Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel is helpful.
• Comfortable with value-chain methods: actor mapping, gross margin and cost-to-serve.
• Experience with digital platforms or traceability systems is an advantage — we want someone who sees how software and sensors turn into commercial proof.

Practical traits

• You travel to the field and get things done in dusty places.
• You write clear notes and run tidy pipelines.
• You can translate buyer requirements into SOPs and simple contracts.
• You sense check your assumptions with AI and optimise your work with it.

Competencies & how you will operate

• Practical analysis: you turn field facts into clear financial sense.
• Negotiation: you close MOUs and make buyers reliable partners.
• Delivery focus: strategy stops at the moment it becomes operational process and SOP.
• Clear communication: short, factual reports and buyer summaries. No fluff.
• Systems thinking: you will work with Product and Data so FarmShield and FarmCloud actually serve buyers.

What success looks like (first 12 months)

We want measurable outcomes. Examples:

• 3–5 signed buyer MOUs/offtake agreements across at least two crops that can support guaranteed market access for pilot hubs.
• Operational marketplace features or workflows (pilot) that let us schedule collections, track inventory and show traceability from farm to buyer.
• QA protocols accepted by buyers that allow FarmShield logs to be used as part of acceptance criteria.
• Commercial results: a measurable share of pilot volumes sold under guaranteed terms, high QA acceptance rates, faster payments, and demonstrable uplift in farmer gross margins in the pilot.

Remuneration:

• For this role we have a budget of KES.75,000 - KES.120,000 per month tied to years of experience plus our internal bonus awards via Bonusly.

What we offer

• Monthly Cash Meal Benefit and Annual Health Cover with AAR Insurance.
• Flexible working hours and Work from Home benefit. You start work when you can and come to the office 4 days a week.
• An informal fun work culture with no hierarchy or bureaucracy. Just colleagues laser focused on moving our mission forward.
• A chance to shape how farmers get paid for higher-quality output and rejected fresh produce at scale — real impact work.
• A small, driven team working with IoT and a marketplace platform. You’ll have influence and ownership.

How to apply

If this sounds like you, please send a CV and a one-page note telling us about one recent market-access piece of work you led: what you did, what happened, and what you learned. Include two referees. Apply via our careers page: https://synnefa.breezy.hr

Equal Employment Opportunity: Synnefa🌱 is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strongly encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to apply, and we strive to make all employment decisions based on merit, potential, and company needs.

Disclaimer: We want to give everyone a fair shot at joining us, so we encourage all applicants to use our synnefa.breezy.hr applicant tracking system-ATS to apply for any openings at Synnefa and avoid contacting Synnefa employees or management about the opening.

Any attempt to contact us or any Synnefa team member, especially management, through unofficial means, including direct emails, phone calls, or social media messages, will result in automatic disqualification from the application process.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in maintaining a fair and orderly recruitment process.

How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to apply with their resume and a cover letter outlining their qualifications and experience at Synnefa’s job site found at https://synnefa.breezy.hr