Africa Manager

SUMMARY:
We are looking for an Africa Manager for a well known logistics company base in the East Rand in Johannesburg.

POSITION INFO:
Job Purpose
Africa Agent performance and relationship management, Identifying and addressing potential risks related to shipping, customs, documentation, or other logistical challenges in the Africa tradelanes, keeping the business up-to-date with African countries' trade regulations, customs laws, and import/export requirements, keeping track of market trends, competitor strategies, and changes in African trade, Problem Solving, support operations with route optimization
 
Qualifications

• Matric
• Tertiary qualification in international supply chain essential
• Management post-graduate qualification wil be advantegeous
• At least 5 years management experience

• Proven experience in business processes design and implementation
• Commerial expertise including: agent management
• Africa Risk management experience will be advantegious
• At least 5 years relevant experience in the clearing and forwarding industry, with a focus on African trade
• In-depth knowledge of trade regulations, customs procedures, and logistics in the African region

• Strong leadership and managerial qualities
• Supply Chain knowledge will advantageous
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills to interact with clients and various stakeholders
• Strong proven working knowledge of International Forwarding and clearing industry with a focus on African trade
• Must be numerate
• Must be familiar with African customs processes

• Agent relationship management
• Well - developed inter-personal skills coupled with expert written and verbal communication
• Excellent negotiation skills
• Sound Planning and organisational skills
• Ability to manage and work under pressure
• Customer (internal and external) centric
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions
• Must have a high level of emotional intelligence

• Facilitate the signing up of additional agents where necessary
• Cultivate strong relationships with agents by fostering trust and cooperation
• Define relevant KPIs to measure the performance African agents
• Set up a system to regularly evaluate the performance of African agents
• Have regular engagements with African agents to foster continuous improvement
• Facilitate dispute resolution between agents and the operations teams
• Maintain open and regular communication with African agents.

• Ensure the African agents stay up-to-date with international trade regulations, customs laws, and shipping requirements in their countries and they share those updates with BIL in order to avoid potential delays or penalties
• Identify and address potential risks related to shipping, customs, documentation, or other logistical challenges When issues arise, such as delays, damages, or disruptions in the supply chain, find solutions promptly and efficiently

• Collaborate with sales, operations, and Trade Lane to ensure that Africa pricing strategies align with business objectives and profitability targets.
• Collaborate on pricing strategy development considering market dynamics, competitive landscape, and customer demands
• Conduct regular market research and analysis to monitor competitor pricing, identify emerging trends, and make data-driven pricing decisions

• Understand client-specific Africa trade needs, and support Business Development and Operations to provide effective solutions to meet their requirements

• Put in place and maintain processes and procedures to ensure accurate upload of Africa information on internal system e.g. Cargowise
• Utilise relevant Management Information System (e.g.Monthly Dashboard and KPI's) in decision making
• Interpret and use information on system delivery from Service Reports and Customer Surveys
• Interpret and use information from Balanced Scorecard- analyse, interpret trends
• Prepare Africa Tradelane and EXCO reports timeously
• Disseminate information to direct reports and ensure it filters down to teams
• Provide inputs for the Balanced Scorecard (if required)
• Ensure confidential information is treated as such and put measures in place to ensure it is treated appropriately
• Conduct market research to identify potential trade opportunities, trade patterns, and emerging trends in the African region
• Monitor each African trade lane performance, costs, and revenue to ensure profitability and identify areas for improvement
• On agreed intervals, prepare the following reports: KPI reports (for agents and tradelanes), country market and industry reports, profitability reports, risk management report, rates trends report

• Achieve Africa budget and forecast
• Maximize Profits by rate negotiations with suppliers and improving profits where possible
• Manage cash flows - invoicing, query resolution and collection
• Minimize financial waste
• Safeguard assets