Logistics & Distribution Lead

Apollo Agriculture is a leading agri-fintech platform empowering small-scale farmers across Africa to increase their profits and farm more sustainably. Apollo uses artificial intelligence and automated operations to unlock the massive, untapped small-scale farming market. Apollo enables farmers to access the optimized financing, high-quality farm products, expert digital advice, and risk management solutions they need to invest and scale their businesses. Apollo grew paying customers over 2.5x in 2023 to over 200K small-scale farmers in Kenya and Zambia, increasing revenue to nearly $30M with robust unit economics. Apollo partners with key global agriculture companies like Bayer, OCP and Yara, and is backed by Anthemis, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Flourish Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, and Softbank Vision Fund. Apollo’s team brings together technology, credit and operations experience from The Climate Corporation, Google, Capital One, Revolut, and One Acre Fund.

About the Role:

Apollo is seeking an experienced Logistics and Distribution Lead to manage Apollo’s growing logistics and distribution operations in Zambia. You will be responsible for the on-time, cost effective delivery of goods to our customers, via our network of distribution partners. You will work with and develop your own local team of L&D staff and collaborate with our Logistics experts from Kenya to adapt best-practices to the Zambian market. Your work includes the development of strategy for the L&D function as the operation expands.

Reporting Lines: This role reports to the Country Manager

Contract Type: Permanent

Work Arrangement: Office-based with 40% field travel.

Responsibilities:

• Develop Partnerships with Key Suppliers and Distributors: Develop strong relationships with Apollo’s distribution and logistics partners. Work to maintain an efficient budget through vendor price negotiations, with support from your supervisor
• Ensure the Efficient Movement of Goods: Collaborate with your team to plan and execute the movement of goods from suppliers to destinations (Apollo warehouse, agro-dealers, or farmers), using sales projections and lead times. You’ll build processes, tools, and technology to manage deliveries and maintain stock levels with quality products, while minimizing inventory loss
• Agro-Dealer Recruitment and Management: Identify and recruit key agro-dealer partners, providing training on Apollo’s systems and tools. Oversee the recruitment, training, and management of agro-dealers, building processes to manage risks and strategies to retain strong partners
• Build and Grow A Robust, Highly Skilled Logistics Team: You will be responsible for recruiting, managing, and motivating a team of logistics professionals. This includes identifying training and development needs, hiring required staff, and providing effective training and mentoring. You will set clear KPIs, offer regular feedback, and manage overall team performance
• Propose innovations to the L&D function: Leverage your expertise in Logistics and Distribution to propose new ideas, formulate process improvements, or bring other innovations to the function in collaboration with your supervisor

Requirements:

• 5+ years in distribution/channel management; supply chain experience is a plus
• Proven success in fast-paced, startup environments
• Strong interpersonal, networking, and influencing skills; able to build relationships internally and externally with customers and partners
• Experience building and maintaining effective supplier relationships and managing supplier performance
• Skilled in data analysis to enhance customer experience and solve problems
• Ability to align team goals with business objectives
• Strong leadership in building and managing a growing team that reflects Apollo’s values
• Proactive and self-driven to ensure smooth daily operations and consistent customer experience
• Knowledgeable in market trends and supply chain regulations, with the ability to update practices accordingly
• Tech-savvy with an ability to improve tools and technologies for better customer experience
• Expertise in minimizing inventory loss through best practices
• Proven ability to deliver a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints, driving efficiency, customer satisfaction, and retention

We:

• Are a collaborative team of smart and ambitious people who are dedicated to serving our customers.
• Make magic happen to solve hard problems and always come with solutions when challenges arise.
• Are comfortable taking risks that can result in radical scale, and understand that failures are opportunities to learn and improve.
• Are considerate listeners and take the time to deeply understand and seek out ideas from the people around us, even when we disagree.
• Offer a dynamic environment that fosters talent, collaboration and growth.
• Take pride in our work and share the responsibility to see it through from conception to deployment.
• Back up our talk with a competitive compensation and benefits package and challenging projects.
• Value autonomy, honesty, transparency, and respect.
• Are excited to hear from you!

At Apollo Agriculture, we are building an inclusive and supportive work environment where every individual has the opportunity to thrive. We encourage female candidates to apply to this position.