Business Manager, Business Assurance – East Africa at SGS

Job Description

The incumbent shall be responsible for: Accountability for the growth, profitability and transformation of the Business Assurance business across East Africa. The role strengthens the existing business while identifying and developing new markets, building commercial capability, improving operational performance and expanding SGS’s position across the region.

Scope: Kenya serves as a key operating hub, while the mandate extends across East Africa according to market potential and SGS priorities. The role develops and executes regional and country growth plans to achieve revenue, margin, customer satisfaction and market expansion objectives while ensuring operational efficiency, quality, compliance, integrity and technical excellence.

Key Focus: This role requires an entrepreneurial business leader who can build markets, develop high-performing teams, strengthen leadership capability and make the organisational decisions required to support

Main Duties and responsibilities:

Own the East Africa Business Assurance growth agenda, with accountability for revenue, profitability, market development and business performance across the region.

Develop and execute a three-year East Africa growth plan, identifying priority countries, sectors, services, customer segments and investment requirements.

Identify and penetrate new geographic markets across East Africa, developing the appropriate direct, partnership, affiliate or other operating model in line with SGS governance.

Translate regional and global business priorities into actionable country plans with clear commercial, operational and financial targets.

Transform the commercial organisation towards active market development, disciplined prospecting, key account growth and stronger sales conversion.

Establish a rigorous commercial operating cadence covering pipeline, forecast accuracy, major opportunities, key accounts, tenders, pricing, win/loss analysis and sales conversion.

Identify underpenetrated sectors and accelerate relevant Business Assurance services, including QHSE, Food, Sustainability, Digital Trust, Forestry, Supply Chain Assurance, Medical Devices and Academy, according to local market potential and technical capability.

Develop strategic regional and multinational accounts and expand cross-selling opportunities across SGS businesses.

Personally lead selected major opportunities, tenders, customer relationships and market-entry initiatives.

Develop and implement competitive positioning and pricing approaches in collaboration with sales, marketing, technical and finance teams.

Assess the existing organisation, leadership capability and operating model, and implement the changes required to support growth, accountability and execution.

Lead, coach and develop country leadership, sales and operational teams; identify future leaders and strengthen succession pipelines; and build technical and auditor capacity ahead of demand while maintaining effective utilisation, competence, service quality and delivery performance.

Ensure consistent service delivery, operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction, quality, accreditation compliance and technical excellence across the region.

Build strong relationships with customers, accreditation bodies, regulators, government entities, industry associations, partners and other key stakeholders across East Africa.

Monitor market trends, competitor activity, regulation and customer needs to identify new services, partnerships and growth opportunities.

Identify potential alliances, partnerships and, where appropriate, bolt-on acquisition opportunities that could accelerate market entry, capability development or growth.

Ensure effective management of client claims, complaints and commercial issues in accordance with SGS procedures.

Promote and uphold SGS values, integrity standards, quality requirements and operational excellence across all assigned markets.

Ensure compliance with all Health, Safety, Environment, Quality and Integrity requirements and actively promote a strong safety culture throughout the business.

Build deep market knowledge across East Africa, including country economics, sector priorities, competitive dynamics, regulatory developments, procurement models and customer buying behavior, and translate these insights into clear growth actions.

Develop and grow a balanced client portfolio across the private sector, government and public-sector entities, development organisations, NGOs and international institutions.

Build senior relationships and pursue opportunities with international and development organisations active in the region, such as UN agencies and programmes, UNOPS, WHO, the Gates Foundation, development banks and other donor-funded organisations, where relevant to the SGS Business Assurance portfolio.

Develop a strong understanding of government and donor-funded procurement, tenders, framework agreements and partnership models, and position SGS early for major regional programmes and projects.

Carry out any other assignment as may be advised from time to time.

Qualifications

Required Profile & Skill Sets

University degree in Business Management, Engineering or a related discipline; an advanced business qualification is an advantage.

Minimum 12–15 years of progressive commercial and business leadership experience, including responsibility for a P&L or substantial business unit.

Proven record of growing and transforming a B2B services business across multiple African markets.

Demonstrated experience entering new markets, developing new revenue streams, building commercial capability and winning major customers.

Strong preference for experience in TIC, certification, professional services, industrial services, sustainability, risk, compliance, laboratories or comparable technical B2B services.

Demonstrated success in delivering profitable growth through both commercial expansion and operational improvement.

Experience leading organisational change, upgrading capabilities, developing leaders and making difficult people decisions where required.

Strong understanding of East African markets and regional business practices; an established regional business network is highly desirable.

Experience managing diverse stakeholders and cross-functional teams across multiple countries and cultures.

Excellent communication, negotiation and relationship management skills.

Fluent in English; additional regional languages are an advantage.

Strong knowledge of East African markets, including private-sector, government and development/international organisation ecosystems; an established regional network is highly desirable.

Experience developing business with a mix of private companies, government entities, international organisations, NGOs, development agencies or donor-funded programmes is highly desirable.

Key Skills

Entrepreneurial leadership and business-building mindset.

P&L leadership and strong commercial acumen.

Market-entry, go-to-market and business development capability.

Leadership of transformation and organisational change.

Sales leadership, pipeline management and negotiation skills.

Strategic thinking with a strong bias for execution and accountability.

People leadership, coaching, succession development and performance management.

Customer focus and senior stakeholder management.

Financial planning, pricing and performance management.

Analytical problem-solving and sound decision-making.

Ability to influence and execute across multiple countries and cultures.

Strong organisational and project management skills.

Effective collaboration across global, regional and local teams to deliver superior results.

Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a complex environment.

Identifies and develops new growth opportunities.

Translates strategy into action.

Collaborates effectively and delivers superior results.

Strong East Africa market intelligence and ability to convert market insight into commercial action.

Executive-level stakeholder management across private-sector, government and international/development organisations.

Key Performance Indicators

Achievement of revenue, profitability and local contribution targets.

Revenue growth above market and expansion of market share in priority segments.

Revenue contribution from new markets, new services and new customers.

Growth of qualified sales pipeline, pipeline coverage and conversion of commercial opportunities.

Forecast accuracy and disciplined commercial execution.

Strategic and key account growth, retention and cross-selling.

Growth of revenue outside the existing core Kenyan business.

Effective auditor and technical resource utilisation and capacity planning.

Timely, high-quality service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Control of operational costs, business expenses and working-capital performance.

Development and deployment of new services and market opportunities.

Employee engagement, leadership capability, succession readiness and organisational effectiveness.

Safety, quality, integrity, accreditation and compliance performance.

Growth and diversification of the client portfolio across private, government and international/development sectors.

New revenue generated from government, institutional, donor-funded and international organisation opportunities.