Job title: Commodity Specialist, East Africa Grain and Pulse Trade
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
PanXchange is a financial technology company that is changing the way the world trade commodities. From wheat, corn and pulses in Africa, to world energy markets, our team designs solutions that improve agricultural economies and market efficiencies.
Our 2015 live launch of the grain marketing and procurement platform, PXAfrica, grew by an average of 10% per week, comprising agricultural producers, traders, processors and users spanning Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa, with goals to expand throughout Eastern and Southern Africa and connect to the global markets.
The live launch garnered so much attention that PX has been invited to become a Clinton Global Initiative member firm, working with other international entities to increase post-harvest profitability for players large and small.
In becoming a CGI member, we aim to be the market linkage to improve smallholder farmers’ price discovery, formalize trade through a cost-effective, bottom up approach, and increase market access for players along the supply chain.
Collectively, we seek to make quantifiable and sustainable contributions to the East Africa agricultural economy.
PanXchange is actively searching for a Commodity and Trade Specialist to take its proven technology platform and live market to the next level.
The specialist must possess a deep market knowledge and market reach in the agricultural sector.
The position will be a combination of client development, office management, and liaison.
This role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, and will cultivate the PanXchange brand to serve as an example for new market development.
This is a high-growth opportunity for a bright, self-motivating individual and the opportunity can grow as large as you can take it. Our culture is designed to promote creativity, collaboration and success.
We are chartering a path for major growth in the coming years and seek your passion and drive to fuel that growth.
We expect the Specialist to be a catalyst for expanding our product offerings both by geography and by commodity.
This is an exciting role for someone with an agricultural business background and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Requirements:
Lead the expansion of the East Africa platform
- Build existing and develop new client relationships through strong communication and field visits
- Support clients throughout the complete trading cycle from registering, familiarizing with the system, post-transaction fulfillment, to entering new orders.
- Encourage use of PanXchange platform for buying and selling of maize, wheat pulses, and other commodities offered. Aggregate client feedback on concerns with web-based trading, front-end customization suggestions, and desired or required policies to promote increased use of the platform
- Hunt for new opportunities regionally as well as in other commodity and trading markets, leveraging existing customers and users as well as finding new routes.
- Serve as liaison with local AID organizations, government entities, Clinton Global Initiative local partners and NGOs.
- Complete financial and governmental reporting
- Expand African team as revenues and client base expands
- Create weekly member-only market reports and internal market metric reports on activity
Responsibilities and Goals:
Ideal candidate will be self-motivated, comfortable managing and growing a regional office, and have a strong knowledge of African agricultural and commodity market linkages.
- Kenya citizenship or valid work permit
- The ideal candidate must have a passion for making a positive contribution toward improving the region’s agrarian economy. We seek a local representative who stands for PanXchange’s long-term values
- Strong knowledge of East African agricultural commodities and key players including banking relationships. Display a keen understanding of their needs, risks and motivations.
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; very comfortable utilizing all networking techniques – social media, cold calls, email, meet-ups
- Ability to build best practices and company culture in a dynamic, fast moving environment
- Travel required to customer-facing meetings and events
- Prior success implementing agricultural programs, preferably throughout multiple East African countries
- Prior international work experience in commodities and proven success working with a team comprised of international backgrounds
- Must be self-motivating, with excellent leadership and problem solving skills
- Last, and certainly not least—you operate with unquestionable integrity, possess a strong sense of personal responsibility, enthusiasm, and a winning attitude
Salary commensurate with market & experience.
Please send resume and cover letter to careers@panxchange.com