U.S. Department of Agriculture Food for Progress Lesotho – Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS)
Grade 9
Maseru, Lesotho
Background:
Land O’Lakes’ Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in dairy, animal nutrition, crop inputs and agricultural insights from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.
Our team is made up of nearly 350 employees who are committed to market-led approaches, and passionate about collaborating locally to create lasting inclusive economic growth. By unlocking the potential of agriculture for the last 36 years, the lives of more than 3 million people have been transformed through nearly 300 programs in more than 80 countries.
Project Description:
STEPS aims to catalyze private sector-driven transformation enabling local poultry sector actors to access Lesotho’s strong end-markets and reclaim market share. STEPS will transform Lesotho’s poultry sector to enhance the profitability of value chain actors, increase meat and egg production and improve food security.
Leveraging existing opportunities and tools, STEPS will address constraints which limit production, productivity, and efficiency of local poultry egg and meat markets. A segmented approach takes into consideration the unique needs of local poultry producers, including subsistence farmers, and small to large scale commercial poultry enterprises engaged in production, processing, marketing, and retailing of eggs, meat, and processed poultry products. These actors will be engaged through the indigenous and dual-purpose poultry value chains, and the commercial broiler and layer value chains respectively. STEPS will identify pathways to further integrate and grow poultry, and poultry related business opportunities for women and youth.
Position Summary and Primary Responsibilities:
The Markets and Business Specialist is responsible, in close coordination with implementing partners, for planning, directing, and coordinating all business and marketing activities of the program to build the capacity of poultry associations/cooperatives, facilitating buyer-seller relationships and strengthening private sector input providers (e.g. feed, abattoirs, hatcheries, laboratories). This includes building market linkages for livestock between input suppliers, producers, traders, processors, and consumers, amongst others. S/he will also be responsible for developing and managing training on the benefits of forming and belonging to farmer groups, associations, and cooperatives with the overall goal of creating marketing strategies aimed at increasing the profits of farmer groups.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Conduct capacity assessments of identified trade associations using Venture37’s Performance Management Measurement (PM2) tool, develop and implement action plans, and provide ongoing technical training and support to enhance and strengthen institutional and business capacities.
- Draft strategic and annual plans for farmer groups to strengthen governance, and provide ongoing support through constitutional reviews, evaluations, and revisions as needed.
- In coordination with the Technical Director, develop and train farmer groups on various financial models to improve informed decision-making and increase profitability.
- Provide administrative and technical assistance to associations, cooperatives and other farmer groups on national registration process, as required.
- Identify and establish linkages to financing options and opportunities for trade associations including the loan/grant Poultry Investment Fund (PIF), and other financing institutions.
- Support the creation and roll-out of a Poultry Internship Development program, including reviewing scopes of work, identifying education institutions and private sector hosts, facilitating linkages to intern placements, and assessing the impact of the program.
- Lead the development and implementation of digital and physical marketplace solutions, identifying opportunities for growth, new markets and users.
- Lead the identification, assessment, piloting, and scaling up of business-relevant Buyer Hubs to facilitate connections to animal health services including vaccines.
- Identify business opportunities for aggregators (meat and eggs), and connect buyers to markets, while identifying and promoting opportunities for local products.
- Facilitate market and trade linkages for processors, producer groups, and input/service providers and improve penetration and efficiency of distribution and coordinating marketing, promotions and value chain management.
- Lead the identification and selection of input and service providers (feed, abattoirs, laboratories, hatcheries, etc.).
- Ensure adherence to the program implementation plan and assist the Investment & Grants Team, and the M&E Team as necessary with monitoring oversight, data collection and analysis.
- Other duties as assigned.
Reporting & Supervision:
- The Markets and Business Specialist will report directly to the Technical Director and has no direct reports.This position will be based in Maseru, Lesotho.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in business management/marketing, Agriculture Economics/Finance, Cooperative Development, or equivalent.
- Minimum five years’ relevant experience in value chain, marketing, sales, distribution, cooperative development, preferred.
- Demonstratedability to analyze market channels to identify underserved sectors and formulate marketing strategies, including bankable business plans to capture opportunities.
- The ability to evaluate distribution systems to identify inefficiencies and develop strategies to streamline distribution and cut costs.
- Demonstratedability to strengthen relationships between producers and value chain players as well as between producers and retail outlets.
- Willingness to travel frequently to rural areas.
- Professional proficiency in English and Sesotho required.
- Must be a citizen of Lesotho.
To apply, please visitMarkets and Business Specialist – Careers (avature.net) and submit your application by Monday, April 8th 2024.
Land O’Lakes Venture37 will never ask you for personable identifiable information, and we will never request money or payment during the recruitment or employment process.
Land O’Lakes Venture37 is an equal opportunity employer and an organization striving to help global communities thrive through agriculture. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status, among other factors. Our culture values a diversity of voices. So, bring us your unique experiences, your workstyle, and your dreams — they’ll only make us stronger.