Dairy Business Advisor at TechnoServe

Job Summary:

• The Dairy Business Advisor will work under the supervision of the Senior Dairy Business Advisor. S/he will oversee mini-farms, ensuring they operate at optimal capacity and supply high-quality and quantities of fresh milk to Danone with good returns.

Program Overview:

• TechnoServe’s Building Precision Dairy Models in Nigeria (BuPreDMiN) aims to build a precision, sustainable, and productive local dairy value chain in Nigeria within 4 years in a way that increases the incomes, resilience, and carbon footprint of dairy farmers in Nigeria.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

Project Inception Phase

• Lead the community entry, sensitization, mobilization, and enrolment of mini-farms owners into the Danone backward integration in the dairy value chain.
• Ensure gender targets for the identified and enrolled mini-farmers are met.
• Conduct mapping and profiling of mini-farms in the assigned territory.

Project Implementation Phase

• Execute every assigned task with the understanding, compliance to, and promotion of TechnoServe’s values, vision, and strategy.
• Lead in expanding the mini-farms enrolment for the Danone backward integration in the dairy value chain through community entry, sensitization, and mobilization of stakeholders.
• Ensure gender targets for the identified and enrolled mini-farms in the expansion program are met.
• Work with the Senior Dairy Business Advisor to develop training schedules and content to address quality and quantity gaps identified at the Milk Collection Center (MCC).
• Provide business advisory and training to mini-farm on best practices for profitability.
• Support the MCC Operator in mobilizing mini-farms to supply Danone with high-quality and quantities of milk at designated collection points.
• Support mini-farm owners in resolving financial inclusion gaps for seamless business transactions with Danone.
• Maintain a healthy communication of vital information and resolve occasional discrepancies that may evolve between mini-farm owners and Danone for an efficient supply chain.
• Facilitate the linkage of mini-farms to high-quality and cost-effective sources of inputs to drive profitability.
• Support all monitoring and evaluation activities, surveys, reporting, and develop success stories and lessons learned.
• Support the mini-farms in maintaining records of activities, and data collection of information required for monthly reports and analysis.
• Perform other duties in line with the evolving needs of the program.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or HND in Agriculture, Vet. Medicine, Agribusiness, Animal Science, or other relevant fields with at least 2 years experience in capacities related to agribusiness, training, or Marketing, within the livestock value chain (cattle, goats, sheep) in western Nigeria. Alternatively, 4 years experience with a Masters' degree in similar field.
• Demonstrated understanding of the Dairy Value Chain in Nigeria.

Preferred Experience

• At least 4 years of experience in capacities related to agribusiness, training, or Marketing, with at least two years of experience in the livestock value chain (cattle, goats, sheep) within western Nigeria.

Required Knowledge and Skills:

• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Strong communication and knowledge transfer skills
• Ability to constructively engage a broad range of stakeholders, especially community leaders and influential persons
• Good negotiation and persuasion skills
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Knowledge of the use of Appsheet or similar application will be an advantage.