New Business Head (Africa all markets) – FMCG
Our client is a leading local FMCG company seeking an experienced international business leader to lead market expansion across Africa, CIS, and India
Job Description:
- Lead new business development and market expansion across Africa, CIS, and India for the coffee category.
- Identify and evaluate new market entry opportunities and growth potential.
- Develop and execute go-to-market and country expansion strategies.
- Build and establish business operations from scratch in emerging markets.
- Identify, assess, onboard, and manage FMCG distributors across target geographies.
- Leverage strong distributor networks and owner-level relationships to accelerate market penetration.
- Conduct distributor due diligence, commercial negotiations, and partnership development.
- Drive owner-to-owner engagement with distributors and senior stakeholders.
- Support route-to-market setup, trade activation, and commercial execution.
- Monitor market performance, competitive landscape, and growth opportunities.
- Lead field engagement through extensive travel and in-market relationship building.
- Provide strategic recommendations on new categories, partnerships, and white-space opportunities.
- Report directly to Managing Director and Board of Directors.
- 12–15+ years of FMCG experience in international business development and distributor management.
- Proven experience building businesses from zero in emerging markets.
- Strong exposure to Africa (especially East & Southern Africa), CIS markets, and India.
- Coffee category experience preferred.
- Existing FMCG distributor network across target regions is highly preferred.
- Strong expertise in market entry strategy and distributor development.
- Deep understanding of FMCG trade dynamics and route-to-market structures.
- Excellent relationship-building and owner-level stakeholder management skills.
- Strong commercial acumen with entrepreneurial mindset.
- Highly execution-oriented, independent, and hands-on approach.
- Comfortable working in ambiguous and fast-evolving markets.
- Fluent English communication skills.
- Willingness to be based in Dubai, UAE, and travel extensively across Africa, CIS, and India.
Referral reward: Rp5000000