Sales Head – General Manager (FMCG) – Africa Markets - DR Congo

 

Sales Head – General Manager (FMCG) – Africa Markets

Location: D.R. Congo

Reporting To: COO
Industry: FMCG​

Role purpose

The Sales Head – General Manager will lead and scale FMCG sales operations across Central Africa, with a strong focus on distribution expansion, volume growth, and high-performance team leadership. The role demands deep understanding of African trade channels, strong execution orientation, and robust people management skills in challenging, low-infrastructure environments.​

Key responsibilities

• Define and execute region-wise sales strategies aligned with overall business growth and profitability plans.​

• Lead, coach, and manage downstream sales teams including area managers, supervisors, and field sales representatives.​

• Build, appoint, and manage distributors, sub-distributors, wholesalers, and key accounts to ensure numeric and weighted distribution growth.​

• Drive Route-to-Market (RTM) design and execution, including territory coverage, outlet classification, and optimization of van and secondary sales operations.​

• Implement trade marketing schemes, visibility programs, and in-market promotions in coordination with marketing.​

• Monitor market dynamics, including pricing, competitor activities, and consumer trends, and recommend timely tactical interventions.​

• Coordinate closely with supply chain, logistics, and warehousing to ensure product availability, optimal inventory, and on-time deliveries.​

• Develop annual sales budgets, volume and value forecasts, and territory-wise business plans; track and report variances with corrective action plans.​

• Strengthen collections, enforce credit policies, and drive disciplined credit control across all channels.​

• Ensure adherence to company policies, local regulations, and statutory requirements in all commercial activities.​

• Provide regular MIS, dashboards, and performance reviews to the COO and leadership team, including KPIs by region, channel, and distributor.​

Market exposure required

• Proven experience in African markets, preferably within Central or sub-Saharan Africa.​

• Strong understanding of traditional trade, informal retail, open markets, and wholesale ecosystems.​

• Ability to operate effectively in low-infrastructure and volatile business environments.​

• Experience managing multi-currency, cross-border trade, and related commercial and risk controls.​

Experience and qualification

• 10–15 years of progressive FMCG sales experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership/Head of Sales/GM role.​

• Demonstrated experience handling large, multi-level sales teams and distributor networks.​

• Mandatory proficiency in French or Swahili; working knowledge of English preferred.​

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field; MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification preferred.​

Key competencies

• Strong leadership, execution capability, and entrepreneurial mindset.​

• Deep distributor, channel, and RTM management expertise across traditional trade and wholesale.​

• Excellent negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills with internal and external partners.​

• High cultural adaptability, resilience, and ability to work independently in diverse African markets.​

• Strong analytical, planning, and MIS orientation with comfort in using sales and reporting tools/CRMs.​

Travel and work conditions

• Extensive travel across Katanga, Lualaba, and other African markets as business needs require.​

• Field-oriented, hands-on role with significant time spent in market, at distributor premises, and on trade visits.​

• Expatriate assignment with on-ground leadership responsibility for sales, distribution, and trade execution in the region.
  
  Intrested candidate forward resume dharmendra@karmaasolutions.com