Job Description
Wasoko (“people of the market” in Swahili) is transforming communities across Africa by revolutionizing access to essential goods and services. We are East Africa’s biggest digitized retail distribution platform powered by our own in-house logistics network. Tens of thousands of informal retailers across six countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Senegal) use Wasoko to order everyday essential goods and receive working capital financing.
The informal retailers of Africa today are the primary if not the only channel used by consumers to purchase essential goods worth over $600 billion per year. The fragmented infrastructure across large land mass, distributed but diverse population and rather a smaller basket size spend does not yet lend themselves to big basket retail or mass consumer ecommerce. Instead, the informal retail ecosystem is THE channel for building the plumbing for digital and consumer commerce across Africa.
This is Wasoko’s opportunity. Wasoko with its brand, scale and logistics network is best positioned to build the technology-leveraged rails to serve the 1+ billion African consumers through informal retailers. We are building a digital-first operating system for informal retailers, focusing initially on B2B distribution but quickly incorporating a host of other tools and services to help communities across Africa get more for less.
About The Role
Lead a team of replenishment experts both for commodities and non-commodities to provide required inputs to the Procurement Head and support in developing and deploying replenishment strategies and tactics across all hubs to support the business achieve the targets
It is a key role within the Procurement department where you will partner with internal stakeholders to understand the business requirements in terms of inventory planning and work closely with the Head of procurement to set key metrics to closely monitor and optimize the inventory.
About You
You are someone who has Prior experience in inventory management and DRP (Distribution Requirements Planning), ideally in an E-commerce environment or adjacent industry like FMCG.To perform well in this role you need to have advanced planning and communication skills and previous and must be well versed with software packages including Microsoft Office, and specifically MS Excel and ERP systems. You need to demonstrate abilities to effectively coach and lead team members in an international environment.
Responsibilities:
- Managing sales forecasts, market trends for all categories and align them with the supply in different geographies
- Understand business requirement and highlights potential risks in terms of supply, stock aging and identify opportunities through continuous follow up with the market
- Manage replenishment tool and work with operation manager to adjust stock level at hub level
- Continuously implement & review stock policies in hubs including adjustment of safety stock and stock positioning to optimize inventory and achieve maximum efficiency
- Continuously monitor and report stock metrics
- Managing introduction of new SKUs providing insights for impact at category level and highlights any potential consequences in terms of aging risks
- Integrate key variables into replenishment processes to optimize margins (Supplier performance, promotional agreements with suppliers….etc)
Role Location: Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania
Requirements:
- 5 – 8 Years experience in Inventory Management and DRP (Distribution Requirements Planning) in E-Commerce/FMCG
- Previous experience in team management experience within Supply Chain related function
- Experience with software packages including Microsoft Office, and specifically MS Excel and Access programs
- 5 Years experience working with SAP and/or other ERP systems
