How to apply: Submit application to careers.ug@uzimachicken.com
Reports to: National Operations Manager
Work location: Kampala, Uganda
Deadline: 30 April 2024
About the Company
Uzima Chicken Uganda is a social enterprise focused on making smallholder farmers healthier and wealthier. Uzima Chicken distributes an improved breed of chicken that is 4x more productive than local breeds in terms of egg and meat production while requiring the same level of management and care as the local chicken. With Uzima’s bird, rural households in Uganda can build income resilience, confidently pay for their children’s school fees, and introduce larger volumes of animal protein into their daily diets.
Uzima Chicken seeks to reach every rural household by 2025 and aims to be the leading smallholder-focused poultry enterprise in East Africa. In the past 3 years of operations, Uzima Chicken has attracted investments from the AgDevCo and Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund. Uzima Chicken Uganda prioritizes hiring and developing Ugandan talent and offers significant professional growth opportunities and leadership development.
Summary of Position:
In order to ensure that all Uzima’s customers have access to high-quality, reliable feeds Uzima developed a Rural Feeds Strategy focused on expansion of depot to serve farmers. The Depot Operations Associate is a key leader in the execution of Uzima’s depot and rural feeds strategy.
This individual must be a team-player who coordinates across multiple departments to drive results. The key responsibilities include launch and management of Uzima’s depot network across the country to ensure access to high quality feeds. Responsibilities will vary and may include sourcing new locations, onboarding attendants, ongoing management and supervision, and addressing key challenges as they arise. This role will also be expected to provide insight to management related to Rural Feeds Strategy and possible areas for improvement.
Key KPIs:
- All geographic areas of operations fully covered by depots
- All depots fully operational (clean, professional, supportive) during prescribed schedules
- No writeoff of feeds due to damage (weevils, pests, etc)
- No stockouts of feeds at depots
Duties and Responsibilities
Depot and Feed dealer Launch (~20% of working time)
- Coordinate with Sales Leadership to identify target districts/locations for new depots
- Lead activities related to depot launch according to company Depot Launch SOPs; this may include sourcing of locations, review of premises, or coordinating activities related to launch.
- Support Talent in recruitment and onboarding of new depot attendants
- Onboarding Depot Attendants to daily activities, including
Depot Oversight (~60% of working time):
- Ensure effective depot operations always by making sure the depot attendants are on duty all the time.
- Lead fumigation implementation for depots, including supporting depot attendants on fumigation and ensuring adherence to set fumigation SOPs.
- Oversee customer complaints and liaise with Customer Insights or Finance to support
- Liaise with the Finance team to propose stock ups at depots and ensure no stock-outs of feeds
- Support on new depot attendant and/or new depot launch activities
- Follow up on day-to-day depot management including (but not limited to following up with depot attendants to ensure they report on time, depot is well-cleaned, stock is well arranged, etc)
- Assist with ongoing depot activities, including tracking of rent payments, organizing with Talent & Admin to support the depot attendants to have daily consumables and cleaning materials every month, etc. Conduct regular visits to the depots to audit activities
Transport Management (~20% of working time):
- Responsible for managing all transport related to depots and production sites including, but not limited to:
○ Identifying reliable preferred Feed transporters
○ Onboarding drivers (training them on Uzima feed delivery standards, ensuring proper documents in place, etc)
○ Negotiating rates with drivers
○ Communicating with the feed mill and depot teams on transport schedule, sharing necessary authorizations for stock transfers, etc.
- Submit all necessary documents to Finance for timely payment of transporters
- Investigate and report any misconduct of drivers
Other Operations Activities:
- Prepare reports for Management on the key activities of the depots, successes, and additional strategies to deploy in order to drive further sales
- Officer may be assigned other responsibilities at will of the manager, including assisting with import/export activities, DOC delivery, or vehicle management
Qualifications & Skills
- Degree in Business administration (BBA) , Social work and social sciences, Social Works and Social Administration, Public administration and management, At least 2 years of experience in a similar role.
- Strong problem-solving abilities.
- Team leadership and management skills.
- Proven experience managing projects from inception to completion.
- Exceptional analytical and interpersonal skills.
- Passionate about positively impacting smallholder farmers and customers in rural areas
- Written and verbal communication skills Enjoy coaching and team development
- Cultural awareness and sensitivity.
- Diversity & Inclusion awareness