Agribusiness Solutions Manager

About the Organization: 

InDev is an India-based consulting and advisory services firm with a mission to catalyze inclusive development. It provides high impact consulting and advisory services in the inclusive development and financial inclusion sectors. 

About the Job: 

InDev is seeking an Agribusiness Solutions Manager. This position is based in Bangalore, India. 

The Agribusiness Solutions Manager will report to the VP - Solutions Consulting of the organization. S/he will structure the practice of Agribusiness Solutions Consulting and Advisory services for the organization. The practice will be built based on the anchor project that s/he will be involved in implementing for an existing client organization. By the end of 2016, s/he will have established a working model and strategy for a livelihoods inclusion and financial inclusion platform for farmer producer organisations and worked closely with the client organization to institutionalize these practices.

The solutions developed will span across livelihoods, microfinance, health and education, and will be implemented for the small holder farmer community and farmer producer organisations. S/he will develop and implement the financial and business model for the long term sustainability of the solutions developed, including the funding sources and revenue streams. S/he will interact extensively with agri input supplier organisations, agri output buying organisations, banks, and other stakeholders, and develop / maintain the relationships with CXO level stakeholders at these organizations to support the financial and business model for the solutions developed.

The strategy thereafter will involve scaling up the model to support a larger number of farmer producer organisations across India, South Asia and Africa, and disseminating best practices to the network and industry. S/he will need to handhold the partner institutions in their implementation of recommendations provided by the InDev team related to the organization's operations.

Tasks and Responsibilities: 

• Develop and formalize the operational toolkit for the agribusiness platform for farmer producer organisations, based on own experience / expertise, industry research, global best practices, and alignment with InDev’s strategic objectives.

• Develop and manage relationships with actors and stakeholders across the agribusiness value chain including agri input supplier organisations, agri output buying organisations, banks, and financial institutions.

• Work with select farmer producer organization networks, carrying out an institutional assessment, managing the subsequent institutional strengthening activities, and handhold the partner organization in the implementation of InDev's recommendations.

• Develop and implement the financial and business model for the solutions developed, including the funding sources and revenue streams.

• Come up with own ideas and identify promising concepts / ideas, and define / refine the solutions for implementation across livelihoods, microfinance, health and education sectors for the small holder farmers and farmer producer organisations.

• Assess the initiative’s overall performance and design product and service refinements to improve end-client outcomes.

• Analyze all findings and recommend strategies to industry practitioners that will enhance market research activities, assist with integration of industry tools, and promote successful acceleration of the agri business platform implementation.

• Contribute to the industry’s work on livelihoods inclusion and financial inclusion best practices, disseminate lessons learned across the industry and to key internal/external stakeholders.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree required. MBA preferred;

• Agribusiness domain expertise required;

• Existing strong relationships with agri input supplier organisations and agri output buyer organisations;

• More than 5 years of relevant experience, with more than 2 years of experience in agribusiness supply chain related areas;

• In-field work or experience with farmer producer organisations and livelihood services’ operations preferred;

• Demonstrated financial, strategic planning, and/or advisory skills. General knowledge of impact assessment techniques, supply chain management technology and management information systems;

• Strong analytical skills, demonstrated through experience with analysis of business problems (eg: market analysis, change management) and developing recommendations;

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills;

• Fluency in English. Proficiency in Hindi and other Indian languages strongly preferred;

• Comfortable with frequent travel – up to 40% of the time.