What if you help big corporations not only source for crops based on their quality specifications to save time and money, but also provide accelerated invoice settlements to ease cash flow?

Zowasel works alongside local growers to sustainably produce high-quality harvests to provide healthy food for all. The company then connects growers and buyers directly to bring these harvests to market. Working across the supply chain, Zowasel is forwarding its mission of sustainable crop quality standardization, access to markets that result in a more transparent, fair, and increased revenue for growers.

Currently, we are looking for various Key Account Specialists, to drive Zowasel’s market entry strategy in Nigeria. This role will immediately identify target processors/buyers and promote Zowasel innovative services and digital technologies, as well as promoting Zowasel Marketplace and Certified Crop. Key Account Managers will work rather independently while our team provides adequate support and guidance.

This role will be the primary sales and service touchpoint for our buyer customers. They represent Zowasel and are well versed in all Zowasel value propositions and will be able to execute with the clear objective of supporting the buyers in business decisions to help improve supply chain efficiency and purchase profitability. Customer experience is core to the success of these team members in a quest to develop “enterprise” buyer customers.

The role of the Key Account Specialist is to build and maintain close, emotional relationships with Zowasel’s enterprise customers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serves as a primary relationship manager for buyer-customers and leads a buyer-facing team of Subject Matter Experts
• Takes overall market and business development accountability within the predefined area in Nigeria
• Establish a network of processors and millers buyers as a target customer list
• Organize buyers meeting events to present Zowasel and its solutions and digital technologies, as well as its Marketplace and Certified Crop opportunities
• Design locally adapted value proposition and business models that accelerate Zowasel technology adoption
• Partners with buyer customers resulting in their adopting Zowasel solutions (financial, digital technologies, Marketplace, and Certified Crop)
• Identifies and operationally manages crop quality specifications and partners supply chain expectations
• Follow up through the season until harvest to assess product yield uplift
• Promote Zowasel MarketplaceTM Zowasel Certified CropTM as part of Zowasel overall offer within target buyer customers
• Support development of a network of feed mills as MarketplaceTM buyers within their own area
• Support design of scale-up strategy and the assessment of distribution partners
• Stay aligned with business unit direction and team
• Maintains buyer accounts, sales stages, important notes, and sales process information in CRM tool and utilizes other sales enablement technologies provided to them
• Have a developed a book of business such that repeat transactions become the norm and we are on track to be transacting 65%+ of each buyer’s grain through Marketplace
• Interact with 100% of assigned leads
• Able to respond to new leads within 24 hours (1 business day)
• Build a book of business (from warm, qualified leads) that are increasingly using Marketplace and other Zowasel products*Attributes and Competencies:
• Strong self-starter, comfortable in rapidly changing and entrepreneurial agtech start-up environment
• Commercially minded, sales-results oriented, highly confident, deal closer
• High energy, positive attitude, goal-getter, never-give-up mindset
• Passionate about agriculture, crop production, and sustainability
• Good understanding of cropping practices, seed genetics, and downstream mill quality/ value drivers
• Open-minded to new ways and digital technologies that shape the future of agriculture
• Very comfortable discussing business in front of buyers, growers, financial partners, and agronomy technical advisors
• Strong record-keeping, organizational, and multitasking skills
• It is highly preferable that a candidate brings a strong network of growers within their target area
• Willingness to work flexible hours to align with customer convenience
• Ability to manager a large portfolio of buyers
• Strong Phone skills-ability to develop long term, trusting relationships over the phone
• Familiar with agribusiness industry products, Minimum Price Contracts, etc.
• Experience selling in a team environment
• Analytical and Smart
• Ability to quickly develop relationships with someone over the phone
• High energy
• Flexible in mindset and approach
• Ambitious and successful – the high internal drive
• Strong farm and agribusiness acumen
• High ability to use new software and continually learn new functions
• High integrity, ownership, and accountability
• Someone who we would want to be in a room with all-day under high pressure
• Ability to sell successfully in a high growth company

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Preferred degrees: Agribusiness, Agronomy, Marketing, Finance, and Business, or similar
• Roles dealing directly with enterprise processors
• The ideal candidate has a strong experience in grain marketing and sales within the Nigerian market, candidates with outstanding sales or technical agribusiness background also considered
• 2+ years of Cash Grain experience
• 2+ years of Salesforce or a CRM system, or equivalent skills required
• 2+ years of Production Ag, Grain Marketing experience
• Previous experience and current knowledge about maize and soybean, specifically
• Nigerian native languages (Hausa, Yoruba, etc), strong English skills
• Experience with QMS systems is a plus
• Experience with Agriculture science work is plus

About Zowasel
Zowasel is a company dedicated to sustainable crop quality standardization, access to markets that result in a more transparent, fair, and increase revenue for growers. With a vision of creating a world where farming is an economically desirable career and profitable profession. Zowasel works alongside its growers, sellers, and processors to practice sustainable cultivation, and grow healthy food for all.

The company is headquartered in Delaware, USA, with additional regional operations offices in Lagos, Abuja, with regional field representatives across Northeast, Northcentral, and Northwest, Nigeria.

Zowasel is committed to living our values, specifically creating a model workplace in emerging economies where employees are most valued, respected, appreciated, and accepted for who they are. We strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels they can be themselves and has an equal opportunity of succeeding.

As part of living our values, our desire is to build a unique workplace culture where team members are made self-managers who are self-organized, self-responsible, self-sufficient, and take the ownership approach to work with zero supervision.