General Manager at African Naturalistas

Role Overview

• African Naturalistas is into the manufacture and sales of Hair Products.
• We are looking for an GM Operations to take full ownership of day‑to‑day running of African Naturalistas.
• The GM Operations turns strategy into clear plans, keeps the business profitable and compliant, and ensures all departments work together smoothly.

What You Will Own

• Run the company day‑to‑day across production, sales, finance, logistics, customer service. Keep work flowing and issues unblocked fast.
• Operations reliability: Make sure production planning is accurate, capacity is balanced, inventory is right‑sized, and orders ship on time with minimal stockouts.
• Planning & approvals: Build simple quarterly/monthly operating plans and budgets. Lead weekly leadership meetings. Get CEO sign‑off on the few big items; own the rest.
• Profit & cash: Hit revenue and margin goals. Control COGS and overhead. Enforce daily invoicing and daily bank reconciliation. Close the books by Day +5 each month.
• Cross‑functional alignment: Ensure Operations, Sales, and Finance move in lockstep for campaigns, launches, and seasonality.
• Compliance & quality: Maintain NAFDAC registrations, GMP/ISO‑aligned practices, safe factory, and correct labelling.
• Growth & product launches: Co‑create growth and launch plans with the CEO, turn them into timelines, budgets, and KPIs, and deliver on time.
• Brand & reputation: Keep service levels high, handle escalations, reduce complaints/returns, and protect the brand in the market.
• People & culture: Set clear goals for managers, coach them, hold them accountable, and upgrade talent when needed.
• Policies, SOPs & systems: Keep simple SOPs current. Ensure an ERP/MRP and basic dashboards exist so everyone runs on facts, not guesswork.
• Lead and manage production planning, ensuring timely, cost-effective, and high-quality output to meet market and customer demands.
• S&OP / Demand–Supply Integration: “Chairs monthly S&OP aligning sales plans, production, and procurement; accountable for forecast accuracy %, OTIF %, and stockout rate %.”
• Financial Controls & Cash Discipline: Enforces daily invoicing and daily bank reconciliation; month-end close by Day +5; capex stage-gates; 3-quote procurement for spends > ₦__; discounting within guardrails; owner of Cash Conversion Cycle improvements.
• Monitor, supervise, and drive the sales team, ensuring targets are consistently met, and implementing strategies to boost sales performance.
• HSE & Security: Responsible for facility safety, incident reduction, and periodic safety audits; oversees physical security and loss-prevention controls.
• Vendor Strategy & SLAs: Sets sourcing strategy, dual-sourcing for critical inputs, supplier scorecards, and SLAs; negotiates terms; conducts quarterly supplier reviews.
• Customer Experience & Brand Protection: Accountable for complaint rate, returns %, response/resolution times, and NPS/CSAT; implements corrective action loops; manages marketplace policy compliance.
• Ethics & Compliance: Enforces code of conduct, anti-bribery/anti-corruption, gifts & entertainment policy, conflict-of-interest disclosures, whistleblowing channel; annual attestations.
• Governance & Stakeholder Management: Primary interface with auditors, regulators, insurers, major customers, and strategic partners.

Candidate Profile

• Must live within the Lekki-Ajah-Sangotedo axis of Lagos State
• 5+ years in FMCG / beauty / personal care / pharma‑adjacent or other process manufacturing; 5+ years leading multi‑department teams.
• Has improved margins or run a P&L; strong grasp of unit economics and cash.
• Hands‑on with ERP/MRP and demand planning; comfortable building SOPs.
• Knows GMP/ISO 22716, NAFDAC standards.
• Clear communicator, decisive people leader, comfortable in a fast‑moving, entrepreneurial environment.
• Resides within the Lekki-Ajah-Sangotedo axis
• Excellent communication skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Word
• Good people skills and friendly disposition
• Proficiency in Enterprise Resource Planning software
• Excellent leadership skills
• Extensive experience in an operations management position, or similar.
• In-depth knowledge of project management and strategic planning.
• Ability to promote efficiency toward achieving business objectives and profitability.
• Advanced knowledge of best business practices.
• Experience with budgets and financial reports, and monitoring expenses.
• Developing human resources policies, and monitoring compliance and performance.

This Role Is For You If:

• You thrive in manufacturing or FMCG environments and understand how production, sales, finance, and supply chain all tie together.
• You love building systems and processes (SOPs, dashboards, reports) that make a company run smoothly without daily firefighting.
• You’re data-driven: you look at KPIs, margins, and forecasts before making decisions.
• You’re comfortable leading managers (Ops, Sales, Finance) and holding them accountable to clear KPIs.
• You want to take full ownership of running the business day-to-day, freeing the CEO to focus on strategy.
• You balance execution with leadership: you can roll up your sleeves when needed, but your default is to build systems and empower others.
• You’re motivated by growth and enjoy scaling brands while keeping operations healthy and compliant.
• You have a genuine love for small businesses — you understand their scrappiness, creativity, and constraints, and you get excited about helping them grow into something bigger.

This Role Is Not For You If:

• You’ve only worked in support roles and haven’t directly managed multiple departments.
• You prefer to be a specialist (e.g., just finance, just operations, or just sales) rather than managing the whole business engine.
• You struggle with numbers, budgets, and margins, or you don’t enjoy financial accountability.
• You avoid difficult conversations — this role requires holding managers accountable and making tough calls.
• You’re more comfortable in a highly corporate, slow-moving environment where resources are unlimited and bureaucracy shields you from hands-on work.
• You’re looking for a role where the CEO micromanages — in this position, you’ll be expected to make independent decisions and own results.
• You see yourself more as a consultant/advisor than an operator/driver.
• You don’t enjoy the energy of small business life — if you’d rather sit inside a big company machine with endless support staff and predefined systems, this role isn’t for you.
• You live on the mainland in Lagos, Nigeria.