Sales & Operations Director

Holland Dairy is an energetic scale-up in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, producing a variety of high-quality dairy products in its own processing plant. The Sales & Operations Director will initiate and guide the next steps of the successful growth story, while working and living in Africa.

About Holland Dairy

At Holland Dairy, the idea is simple: to buy raw milk directly from Ethiopian farmers for a fair price. Then, the milk is processed in the own factory in Debre Zeit into a variety of high-quality dairy products, which are delivered – every 48 hours – directly to hundreds of shops; a highly fragmented sales market.

Holland Dairy was founded in 2009 by Dutch entrepreneurs. It is currently supported by Veris Investments and Friesland Campina, respectively a Dutch food- & agri-business investor and one of the largest European dairy companies.

Growing from start-up to scale-up, Holland Dairy has experienced high growth over the last years and expanded the team to three hundred FTE. Now is the time to further strengthen all processes and develop into a mature organization.

Holland Dairy has a strong market position in the Ethiopian dairy market with a focus on high-quality yogurt. After a full rebrand in 2021, this is a premium brand with strong brand equity throughout Ethiopia. Optimizing route-to-market strategy offers huge sales increase possibilities.

Vacancy: Sales & Operations Director

To support the current growth path, Holland Dairy is hiring a Sales & Operations Director to further strengthen the commercial department. They will be leading a dynamic team of seven direct reports and be part of the Holland Dairy Management Team at the headquarters in Addis Ababa, directly reporting to the General Manager.

The Sales & Operations Department consists of four teams, with a total of 55 FTE. These teams are Field Sales, Telesales, Distribution and (Trade) Marketing.

As a key member of the team, their responsibilities include designing and executing route-to-market strategies, channel strategies, and field sales execution strategies. They will set sales objectives and ensure that these goals are met by delivering expected sales volumes. Cultural sensitivity is key to achieve this. To measure their progress, they will be developing data-driven sales reports. In collaboration with the Finance Director, they will also improve the order-to-cash processes. Additionally, they will implement Sales Force Automation Software and lead the digitalization of commerce-related business and IT processes.

“The days are unpredictable but it’s a wonderful adventure. You will tell your grandchildren about this later!” – Merijn Goris, CEO of Holland Dairy

This vacancy is unique opportunity for an experienced sales professional or strategy consultant who wants to live as an expat in a bustling metropolis in Africa, leveraging their skills and knowledge at a venture-backed scale-up. By combining a hands-on approach with an entrepreneurial mindset, this role gives the opportunity to improve crucial processes and professionalize the way of working within a fast-growing company. In order to develop and sharpen sales strategies, the Sales & Operations Director has a strong data driven sales approach and profound knowledge of Excel and PowerBI. By seizing this opportunity, it is possible to make a major career move by becoming a Sales Director and be a part of the Management Team, and at the same time play a significant role in an emerging market.  

Interested? 

Holland Dairy is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Ole Cohen at ole.cohen@topofminds.com.