Business Development Lead at Ikore International Development Limited

Project Overview and Role: 

At Ikore, we offer innovative products that meet the needs and wants of our partners across the trade tech, mechanisation, livestock, Crop Production, and social enterprise space. We seek a business development and communication lead who will oversee two major departments (Business development and Communications). The Lead will support business growth by conducting market research, developing business strategies, building client relationships, and identifying new business opportunities.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

The Business Development Lead will be responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities, building and maintaining relationships with key clients, and achieving revenue targets. He/she will be responsible for guiding and managing the entire process of identifying, developing and submitting business opportunities. He/she will lead the planning, writing and coordination of select proposal/pre-proposal pieces, working closely with internal teams and partners to ensure that all bid efforts are completed successfully. Additionally, He/she will assist in the broader aspects of bid preparation and production, ensuring that all aspects of the process are executed effectively.

Responsibilities

Business Development

• Identify and develop growth strategies, plans and new business opportunities.
• Conduct market research to identify new business opportunities; support the expansion of Ikore’s institutional donor pipeline. Identify and pre-qualify new bid opportunities via online and offline searches;
• Achieve revenue targets through resource mobilisation strategies.
• Manage proposal processes and pipelines, from capture through technical development, drafting, narrative reviews, and finalisation;
• Coordinate proposal calendars, holding teams accountable to ensure the development of competitive proposal packages;
• Serve as technical lead (writer) for select bids and ToRs;
• Tracking and assessing new project opportunities and proactively contributing to marketing efforts to build a pipeline of high-quality business opportunities;
• Monitor and ensure responsiveness and compliance of proposals to the solicitation and ToRs;
• Be responsible for building and maintaining a deep understanding of the proposal development process and will assist in ensuring compliance with client solicitations.

Communication:

• Direct oversight of the communications team.
• Lead the development and implementation of strategic communications plans to support the organisation’s business development efforts.
• Ensure all outgoing proposals and bids align with the organisation’s strategic goals and are on brand.
• Coordinating communications efforts to meet business development targets.

Management

• Manage teams within the departments under this purview.
• Attend industry events to network and identify new business opportunities.
• Build and maintain relationships with key clients through regular communication, meetings, and follow-up.
• Responsible for collaborating with other department leads, such as MERL, and product development to ensure that the company’s products and services are aligned with market needs.
• Be responsible for overseeing and managing the assigned proposals, ensuring that they adhere to the standardized bid management process and all standard operating procedures and timelines the organisation sets.
• Will work with other departments within the company to create desired collaborative efforts when working on assigned proposals.
• Contribute to continuous learning and strengthening business development systems, procedures, and capacities around proposal writing

Qualifications

• BSc or Master’s degree in international relations, international development, business, or related field and or a Bachelor’s degree and at least four years of relevant experience;
• At least three years of project management, institutional funding, and proposal management experience.
• Strong technical writing, editing, capture, and design.
• Ability to synthesise large amounts of information into a concise narrative
• Knowledge of competitive proposal processes and the role of a proposal writer in those processes.
• Strong organisational management skills, including the ability to prioritise tasks, adhere to tight deadlines and respond with flexibility in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong knowledge in the international development field and competitive market in economic growth and other relevant technical focus areas.
• Proactive problem-solving skills and the ability to draw insights from data and develop recommendations.
• Strong research and writing skills, comfort engaging in program design.
• Proven ability to win grants and contracts.
• To excel in this role, you will actively stay updated with the latest developments, innovations, and best practices in the international development industry and proposal management profession.

Mode of work:

Onsite