About Apollo Agriculture
Apollo Agriculture is a tech-enabled commercial farming platform that helps small-scale farmers maximize their profits. We provide optimized financing, high-quality farm products, and digital advice. Our mission is to ensure that small-scale farmers can unlock the economic value of their land, and in turn, boost their incomes while feeding a growing continent.
Apollo Agriculture has emerged as Africa’s leading agricultural fintech, growing our revenue 10x since our Series A. We now have our capable teams spread across our offices in Nairobi, Amsterdam, Lusaka, and Bangalore, and are helping our farmers increase their profitability 2-3x. Having recently closed our $40M Series B financing, we are focused on expanding geographically, enhancing our products and technology, and continuing to build our world-class team.
About the Role
Apollo is seeking a District Sales Officer based in Lusaka and the assigned district, or willing to relocate to the rural area of their assigned District, to own the management and support of field agents. This role will focus on two main sales channels : Cooperatives, and Direct Agent sales.
Cooperative sales will start in April to August and the role will be responsible for setting up meetings with cooperative leaders and farmers. Working closely with the Sales Manager, the DSO will be in charge of the recruitment and training of field agents, sales, and operations. As a District Sales Officer, you will be instrumental in meeting sales targets as well as expanding the reach of Apollo in Zambia.
Management : This role reports to the Sales Manager.
Number of open positions : Three (3)
Responsibilities:
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Sales ownership. Own the achievement of our target number of farmers in the assigned districts assigned:
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Agent Recruitment and Training. Own agent recruitment and training for the agents working under assigned districts. Training new agents, and providing continuous training to the team through meetings and field visits. This will also include providing and managing tools of the trade such as company-issued phones, marketing collateral, etc. Ensure strong communication with and from agents.
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District Agriculture Office Meetings - Work closely with the government relations team to ensure that district and camp officers have been informed of our Apollo presence in the area. Arranging meetings with village headmen, traditional chiefs, and other relevant authorities in the assigned districts to ensure there is a rapport
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Agent performance management. Evaluating agent cohort output to determine agent performance health, ensuring targets are met around metrics like the number of active agents, agent productivity, etc. Identifying different sales performance levels in the team and implementing different measures to support them to succeed e.g. rewarding and recognizing high performance, providing one-on-one coaching, etc.
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Insights collection and dissemination. Share bi-weekly reports to identify key insights from time spent with customers and agents to share and implement with the wider team e.g. best practices leveraged by high-performing agents, feedback from customers on their Apollo experience, etc.
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Repayment: Work closely with the repayment and collection team to support repayment efforts in the assigned districts.
Requirements:
- Have 3+ years of experience in sales and marketing in a rural environment, ideally with a focus on supporting and facilitating sales teams to succeed.
- Excellent communicator with well-developed interpersonal skills to relate with, guide, and motivate field agents, and deliver continuous training throughout seasons
- Have an understanding of field agent sales performance metrics and how to influence their outcome by working directly with agents to encourage or correct Sales approaches
- Have the drive to understand and build relationships with customers in your region, collecting insights and feedback that will drive sales strategy and agent training
- Ability to work on multiple tasks at the same time.
- Highly organized with strong execution, prioritization, and collaboration skills.
- Have a working knowledge of platforms needed to deliver on responsibilities - Google Drive, Google Sheets/Excel, Google Slides/PowerPoint, etc.
- Be able to write reports and generate insights from interviews with field agents, farmers, and other stakeholders
- At least 1 year + of experience in a supervisory role
- A diploma or graduate in business-related disciplines would be ideal but not required
Apollo Agriculture does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Apollo Agriculture is an equal opportunity/equal access employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce.
Apollo Agriculture is committed to providing a safe and productive learning and living community. To achieve that goal, we may conduct background investigations for all final candidates being considered for employment. Background checks may include, but are not limited to, criminal history, national sex offender search and motor vehicle history.
Apollo Agriculture does not charge money or any kind of fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
