Market Development and Supply Systems Manager

Market Development and Supply Systems Manager

Location: Nigeria

Job Summary

• The Market Development and Supply Systems Manager is a high-level "deal-maker" responsible for landing concrete employment and business opportunities for project participants.
• This role goes beyond general networking; it requires a results-oriented professional who can convert strategic partnerships with processors, TVETs, government agencies, and financial institutions into tangible job placements, offtake agreements, and inclusive sourcing contracts.
• The success of this role is measured by the status quo being changed, moving partners from interest to action.
• The ideal candidate has a proven track record of creating work opportunities for youth, women, and persons with disabilities (PWD) through structured private-sector and government engagement.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

Private Sector Deal-Making & Inclusive Sourcing:

• Land Employment Opportunities: Secure firm commitments from large and medium-scale processors for the hiring of women and PWDs.
• Backward Integration: Broker formal supply contracts between processors and smallholder clusters, ensuring guaranteed markets for supported entrepreneurs.
• Inclusive Business Plans (IBPs): Move beyond MOUs to help processors implement operational labor policies and sourcing strategies that favor marginalized groups.

TVET & Workforce Pipeline Management:

• Placement-Led Partnerships: Establish MOUs with TVETs and polytechnics that are strictly tied to internship placements and permanent job transitions for students.
• Curriculum Alignment: Ensure TVET training modules for food processing and W2V are certified and directly meet the specific labor requirements of the project's private-sector partners.

Financial & Market Linkages (B2B):

• Secure Financing: Broker relationships with microfinance and commercial banks to create loan products specifically for W2V and food processing SMEs.
• Offtake Brokering: Facilitate B2B matchmaking that results in signed purchase orders between W2V enterprises and industrial buyers (e.g., feed manufacturers, organic fertilizer distributors).

Government Relations & Regulatory Navigation:

• Enable Compliance: Partner with agencies like NAFDAC, SON, and SMEDAN to streamline the certification process for micro-processors, removing regulatory bottlenecks that prevent business growth.
• Synergy Creation: Align project activities with government schemes (like SAPZs) to unlock additional infrastructure and resources for beneficiaries.

OPD & Inclusive Collaboration:

• Recruitment & Accessibility: Partner with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to identify high-potential candidates and ensure work environments are physically and socially accessible.
• Advocate for Change: Challenge industry stereotypes by demonstrating the business case for disability-inclusive hiring to large-scale processors.

Partnership Performance & Adaptive Management:

• Track Results: Monitor partnership performance against hard targets for job creation and business growth.
• Operationalize Lessons: Identify when a partnership is failing to produce results and pivot strategies to ensure project goals are met.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Agribusiness, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Marketing, Economics, or a related field with at least 7 years of relevant professional experience in market development, value chain development, or supply chain management in agricultural or food processing sectors; OR
• Master’s Degree in a relevant field with at least 5 years of professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience in supply chain optimization, backward integration, and market linkage development in agricultural value chains, preferably in developing country contexts.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing market access interven