Sales & Operations Director

Holland Dairy is a dynamic scale-up based in Addis Ababa. In this capital city of Ethiopia, the company produces a variety of premium dairy products in their processing plant. The Sales and Operations Director will initiate and guide the next steps of their ongoing growth strategy, while working and living in Africa.

About Holland Dairy

Holland Dairy follows a simple philosophy: to buy raw milk directly from Ethiopian farmers for a fair price. They process the milk in their Debre Zeit factory into a variety of high-quality dairy products. And every 48 hours, they deliver the products to hundreds of shops across a highly-fragmented sales market.

Holland Dairy was founded in 2009 by Dutch entrepreneurs. It has the financial backing of Veris Investments, a Dutch food- and agri-business investor; and Friesland Campina, one of Europe’s largest dairy companies.

The company quickly grew from a start-up into scale-up. Today, Holland Dairy continues to experience high growth and has expanded its team to 300 FTEs. Now they are continuing to strengthen all their processes and develop as a mature organization.

Holland Dairy has gained a strong foothold in the Ethiopian dairy market by focusing on producing premium yogurt. After its rebrand in 2021, their dairy product has earned brand recognition and adoption throughout Ethiopia. By continuing to optimize their route-to-market strategy, Holland Dairy is poised for significant sales increases.

Vacancy: Sales & Operations Director

To support their sales growth strategy, Holland Dairy is hiring a Sales and Operations Director to further strengthen the commercial department. This role will lead an enthusiastic team of seven direct reports, join the Holland Dairy Management Team at the Addis Ababa headquarters, and report directly to the General Manager. The Sales and Operations Department is made up of four teams, with a total of 55 FTEs. The teams are Field Sales, Telesales, Distribution and Trade Marketing.

As a key member of the team, this role will design and execute strategies for route-to-market, channels, and field sales execution. They will set sales objectives and ensure the expected sales volume targets are met. Cultural sensitivity is also key to achieving this success.

To measure progress, the Sales and Operations Director will create data-driven sales reports. They will collaborate with the Finance Director as well as improve the order-to-cash processes. In addition, the role 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 role is unique opportunity for an experienced sales professional or strategy consultant who wants to live as an expat in a bustling metropolis in Africa. It’s an exciting way to leverage their skills and knowledge at a venture-backed scale-up. By combining a hands-on approach with an entrepreneurial mindset, they can improve crucial processes and professionalize the way of working within a fast-growing company.

To develop and sharpen sales strategies, the Sales and Operations Director has solid expertise providing a data driven sales approach and using Excel and PowerBI. It’s an exciting chance to make a major career move as a Sales Director and join the Management Team, while playing a pivotal role in scaling up 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 .