Local Sales – Retail & Market Development Lead

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

Our Kenya program, founded in 2006, operates under the local brand Tupande. Close to 500 staff in our Kakamega headquarters support 1,747 field staff and serve more than 1 million farmers. In Nairobi, around 50 staff support global functions like procurement, recruitment, government relations, and communications.

About the Role

Seeking a commercial professional with 2+ years of FMCG experience to drive Tupande's market expansion in Kenya, get products onto major supermarket shelves, launch Animal Feed and BioChar, and secure high-value B2B sales for excess produce.

Responsibilities

Business Development & Market Expansion: 

• Identify, evaluate, and pursue new market opportunities and distribution networks for Tupande’s retail products (roasted macadamia and dried fruit), and animal feed products. 
• Place products in major supermarkets, wholesale distributors, and key retail avenues
• Map local demand for excess produce and processing byproducts generated by export value chains.
• Develop direct-to-business (B2B) or alternative local sales channels to sell Biochar, Animal Feed, excess produce and processing byproducts from across Tupdande’s value chains. 

Sales Management: 

• Build, negotiate, and maintain strategic partnerships with B2B customers, retail buyers, distributors, and store managers
• Take full ownership of current customer relationships, ensuring consistent engagement, satisfaction, and retention. 
• Drive the sales pipeline and close deals to achieve or exceed targets.
• Provide accurate revenue forecasting to department leadership.

Account Management: 

• Maintain and grow strategic accounts by providing excellent service, understanding client needs, and offering tailored solutions. 
• Ensure a high standard of customer experience at all times.

Strategy design and execution 

• Design and execute the go-to-market strategies for Tupande Retail products, Animal Feed and Bio Char

Performance Monitoring: 

• Track and analyze sales performance, provide regular updates, and implement corrective actions to meet objectives.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• 2+ years of experience in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), or retail distribution (experience getting products onto major supermarket shelves is strongly preferred)
• Experience in selling at scale: managing a minimum recurring revenue of $5m personally, structuring commercial agreements, negotiating trade terms, managing credit risks, and international import/export regulations
• Experience in building new accounts.
• Proven track record of taking new products—ideally in food, agriculture, or animal nutrition—from concept to market launch.
• You can bridge market opportunities with on-the-ground operational capacities
• Strong ability to negotiate listing fees, payment terms, and margins with retail giants and commercial distributors.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Application Deadline

14 January 2027. Please note that we hire on a rolling basis which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.