We are currently seeking a New Business Associate Director - CMI for East and West Africa who will be a part of the SSA CMI team.

This role combines business development, sales and marketing on the one hand (business development), with the creation of bespoke market research solutions for target clients (solution development), including pitching.

Essentially, the New Business Associate Director – CMI will own a revenue target for totally new clients i.e. clients we do not currently work with in east and West Africa, the sales process we have developed to unlock growth among new clients, and the successful development of winning research solutions for them.

Candidates will have accomplished skills ideally on both the business development and solutions development sides of the role. Whilst we have grown this area of our business, we see further huge potential to grow further.

This role will be the driving force in achieving our ambitions, by targeting, qualifying, and nurturing new client relationships, landing small initial wins to pave the way to much bigger game-changing wins.

As such, this is a crucial hire for us to realise our ambitions. You won’t be alone or without support: we have already a prioritized list of new clients we seek to target in various industries (FMCG, Retail, Banking), advanced capabilities in several areas (brand tracking, segmentation, ad pre-testing, customer satisfaction, qualitative research, etc). Whilst ambitious, the targets are realistic.

This is an extremely exciting role at the very forefront of our plans, which is why you will be reporting directly into the CMI lead for NIQ GfK SSA

As New Business Associate Director - CMI you will have the following responsibilities:

• Own the target list of clients we want to start working with in East and West Africa

• Qualify and own the qualification criteria for this target list, to zero in on the clients who will be our game-changers

• Hunt as many qualified clients as possible: initiate the relationship, nurture, land the first piece, then expand into much bigger pieces of work that will accelerate our growth

• Connect client needs, to our clearly defined market research specialisms of brand tracking, segmentations, ad pre-testing, customer satisfaction, qualitative research, etc.

• Own sales and marketing materials used to open and nurture relationships with new clients

• Leverage local, regional and global account manager relationships (within CI and RMS/MI) to create inroads into new clients

• Create bespoke proposals for new client pitches that connect their explicit and implicit needs, to uniquely contrived research solutions, that leverage the unique selling points of our chosen specialisations

• Lead pitching to new clients, and support the pitch process for other clients

• An ambitious but realistic sales target

• This role will not however be responsible for delivering the work sold

Now that we've introduced you to the position as New Business Associate Director – CMI EWA, what skills, qualifications and experience are we looking for?

• Ideally, you have min Bachelor’s / Master’s degree, or equivalent experience

• Experienced Consultant +10 years of relevant experience at agencies (some client side OK but needs competitive pitching experience), giving you the gravitas, sophistication, and problem-solving skills that only experience buys

• You have experience of conducting business development in Sub-Saharan Africa, for local and international clients

• You have deep experience in business development or sales, or at least a strong inclination towards commercial sense, structure, and discipline

• Black book of client contacts in FMCG, FS, Media etc. a plus

• You are an active listener, probing for implicit and not just explicit needs

• Credible, confident, able to talk meaningfully with Senior Leadership Teams in Insights, Marketing, and Sales functions, and able to pitch to ELT where necessary

• Willing and able to go hunting new clients

• You bring a spirit of the entrepreneur, who galvanises support for themselves and their initiatives, from internal teams and clients

About NIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™.

NIQ, is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit NIQ.com.

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NIQ is committed to reflecting the diversity of the clients, communities, and markets we measure within our own workforce. We exist to count everyone and are on a mission to systematically embed inclusion and diversity into all aspects of our workforce, measurement, and products. We enthusiastically invite candidates who share that mission to join us.

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