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Green Way Farms PLC, the Ethiopian production company for GreenPath Food (www.greenpathfood.com) is currently seeking a professional, high-performance individual to serve as Head of Operations - Ethiopia.
This individual will have the unique opportunity to help shape the future of a young, environmentally and socially-conscious agribusiness in Ethiopia, one of Africa’s most promising economies. Ideal candidates have experience working in Ethiopia and the ability to successfully lead the company’s operations in Ethiopia as the company scales over the next 5 years, selling more than 15 times the current production annually with several hundred Partner Farmers.
GreenPath Food is a specialty food company that produces and sources premium food products through a large network of smallholder Partner Farms. The company exports its premium, organic products to specialty retailers and wholesalers in the Europe and the Middle East.
GreenPath currently operates one flagship Production Area with a team of 30+ staff and 120+ Partner Farmers in two hours southwest of Addis Ababa in the Southern Ethiopian Highlands. As a young, growing company, GreenPath is currently expanding to multiple new Production Areas, and also expects to grow into additional countries over the next 3-5 years, with an ultimate vision of becoming East Africa’s largest smallholder-grown food company.
The senior staff at the organization are a group of highly talented professionals with experience in Ethiopian export, horticulture, and agricultural development sectors, as well as direct experience in the Ethiopian startup context. Each member of the team has a passion for improving the lives of smallholder farmers and increasing access to organically and sustainably grown, high-nutrition foods, and is committed to seeing GreenPath realize its core objectives.
The company is also currently raising a significant round of investment which will provide the Head of Operations - Ethiopia with the resources that she/he will need to exponentially grow operations in Ethiopia over the next several years.
Mission of Role
Head of Operations - Ethiopia will be responsible for leading operations and quality of execution at GreenPath, ensuring the company is equipped with the personnel, equipment, and inventory to grow rapidly, produce high-quality agricultural products on schedule while meeting targets; while upholding the company’s social and environmental mission.
The ideal candidate has worked for at least 5 years in a large agribusiness in Sub-Saharan Africa, that both produces and exports perishable fruits, vegetables, and/or herbs. Ideally, she/he has exposure across several of the business’s work streams (Nursery Production, Farm Production, Packaging, Quality Assurance, HR, Logistics, Procurement, etc.) and has supported the agribusiness’ growth.
The ideal candidate is from Ethiopia or she/he has already established Ethiopia as her/his home. She/he is energetic and enthusiastic about taking a larger leadership role in a young, socially-oriented company in Ethiopia.
Responsibilities & Activities
GreenPath is a growing startup that requires flexibility and leadership from its team members, especially its senior leadership. In addition to other occasional responsibilities and special projects, the key activities and corresponding outcomes for this role include:
Day-to-Day Operations
Planning, Growth, and Company Strategy
Team Leadership, Recruitment, and Management
Required Skills/Experiences
Preferred Experience
Team
The position requires a commitment of a minimum of 36 months. A 48 month commitment is strongly preferred. Should performance of the individual prove to be strong, and there be mutual agreement that the individual is a good fit for the role, a longer-term position would be desired.
Reporting
The position reports to the Managing Director.
Location
This position will primarily be based in Butajira, SNNP, with frequent travel to GreenPath new Production Areas and Addis Ababa.