About BRAC International

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Stichting BRAC International (BRAC International) is a leading nonprofit organisation with a mission to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice, and currently operates in 10 countries across Africa and Asia.

Our Approach

We function as a solution ecosystem using an integrated model of social and economic development, social enterprise, and humanitarian response, in partnership with communities and other local stakeholders. In Liberia, BRAC International implements these solutions through three separate but complementary entities: 1) social enterprise activities through BRAC Enterprises Liberia Ltd., 2) social development programs through our NGO, BRAC Liberia, and 3) microfinance and inclusive financial services through BRAC Liberia Microfinance Company Ltd.

BRAC Enterprises Liberia Limited (BELL)

The advertised role of Finance and Operations Manager will be specifically supporting BRAC International’s social enterprise in Liberia, BRAC Enterprises Liberia Ltd.

BRAC Enterprises Liberia Ltd. (BELL) operates a Poultry Hatchery and Feed Mill (collectively “BRAC Poultry Enterprise”), established in 2013 as the country’s first and only commercial producer of high-quality day-old chicks and poultry feed. BRAC Poultry Enterprise produces high quality day-old-chicks (DOCs) with improved capacity for egg production relative to local breeds. Leveraging a network of Village Ambassadors and District Sales Representatives, BELL sells DOCs and high quality poultry feed to small poultry farmers and commercial layer farms. BRAC Poultry Enterprise also works with BRAC’s NGO in Liberia to enhance nutrition outcomes and income generating activities for local communities in Liberia by providing DOCs and feed as part of an input package for smallholder farmers serving as “Chick Rearing Units” (CRUs). The CRUs raise the DOCs until they are about 6 weeks of age, and then sell the pullets in local markets or directly to other smallholder farmers.

Until very recently, BRAC Poultry Enterprise operated as an extension of BRAC’s NGO entity in Liberia (BRAC Liberia). In 2023, it was registered as a separate for-profit company in Liberia to support its transition from NGO-management to a separate, commercially managed company. As a social enterprise, BELL’s mission is to support BRAC International’s social development objectives while simultaneously generating profits that further support scale and impact of the organisation.

No. of Vacancies: 1

Job Title : Finance and Operations Manager

Staff Category : National

Tenure : 1 year

Salary : Negotiable

Reports to : General Manager, BELL

Duty Station : Country Officer, Monrovia or Poultry Farm, Buchanan, Grand Bassa

Job Summary

As the Finance and Operations Manager, you will be responsible for leading BELL’s key functional areas of finance, procurement, administration, logistics and human resource management, ensuring the smooth and efficient functioning of related processes and daily operations for BELL’s Poultry Hatchery and Feed Mill in Buchanan.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

As a relatively small social enterprise, the bulk of the day-to-day responsibilities will involve financial management, procurement and logistics support. We anticipate human resource management will be more adhoc until the business and team expand further. Considering this prioritisation, we are targeting a manager with very strong financial management competency. Experience with procurement, logistics, administration and human resource management is ideal and preferred, but we are also prepared to train a candidate with lesser experience in these other functional areas, provided they have a strong foundation to take the lead quickly and competently. This role is ideal for a strong financial manager who is

entrepreneurial, comfortable working in a start-up environment where senior team members are required to work in multiple capacities, and interested in broadening their functional management experience.

Specifically, the Finance and Operations Manager shall be responsible for but not limited to the following:

Finance & Accounts:

• Oversee the financial operations of BELL, ensuring accurate and timely financial reports and practices.
• Enter financial information and maintain all financial records for BELL in both online and offline systems.
• Prepare monthly sales report, credit report, staff payroll, tax report and bank reconciliation. ● Promptly remit statutory deductions (e.g. Withholding Tax, NASSCORP) to relevant authorities. ● Cross check the bank/branch level deposits by farmers/staff for booking DOCs, feed, eggs,

manure, etc. and prepare distribution plans accordingly. Collect all relevant deposit slips/documents from the customer and preserve for future use.

• Monitor balances in account receivables and payables
• Manage the petty cash fund at the farm, prepare voucher payments and check bills. ● Update BELL asset registry.
• Manage financial controls, prepare and analyse budgets, develop financial reports, and make recommendations to management on budget expenditures.
• Oversee the financial audits, assist with preparation, reviews and implementation of audit recommendations.
• Participate in the development and review of BELL’s business plan, organisational policies, manuals etc.
• Participate in conducting market assessments for BELL business areas, and support with business case analysis and reporting.

Procurement:

• Ensure fair and transparent bidding processes, promoting effective competition and obtain the best price and value, per BRAC Procurement Guidelines and Policy.
• Facilitate the preparation and execution of annual procurement plans.
• Review, compare, analyse, and approve products and services to be purchased. ● Verify and submit invoices, along with supporting documents, for suppliers and vendors in a timely manner.
• Establish recording and reporting systems of all procurement activities, including inventory reports, monthly procurement status reports, and purchase and pricing records.
• Research and evaluate prospective suppliers and vendors, including facilitating pre-qualification processes.
• Maintain and update the vendor/supplier database with relevant information. ● Receive and inspect all supplies from vendors based on specifications provided in the purchase order.
• Involve technical personnel in advising on delivered products before accepting them.

Logistics & Administration:

• Ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of materials, parcels, equipment, and personal effects for field activities.
• Arrange logistics for conferences, workshops, and meetings, including venues, meals and transportation.
• Manage service and maintenance contracts.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly reports for visits and travel.
• Develop and implement vehicle movement plans to transport farm products efficiently without hampering the quality of the products.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly reports on fuel purchase and consumption.
• Monitor vehicle maintenance costs, ensuring timely repairs and maintenance.

Human Resource Management:

• Maintain close coordination with the country office HR team to provide day-to-day HR operational support to BELL staff.
• Coordinate and facilitate staff recruitment and selection, manage staff contracts, and oversee staff joining and induction in line with BRAC HR policies and local labour laws.
• Work with supervisors to ensure timely and well documented annual PMS (IOPs) objective setting and periodic reviews.
• Keep HR records, including personnel files, contracts and leave records, secure and up to date. ● Liaise with the Country HR team to manage work permits, residence permits, VISAs, and air tickets for expatriate staff.
• Support the Country and HQ HR teams by providing HR information and assisting in HR audits for BELL.

Additional responsibilities:

Any other duties that may be assigned by the General Manager.

• Safeguarding Responsibilities

○ Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment and exploitation to achieve the BRAC’s goals on safeguarding.

○ Act as a key source of support, guidance and expertise on safeguarding for establishing a safe working environment

MAJOR CHALLENGES:

• Need to work in a “start-up” environment that requires entrepreneurial initiative and multi-tasking. ● Need to prioritise competing time sensitive demands from different functional areas, taking into consideration the timeliness and importance of certain assigned responsibilities. ● Prioritise activities and manage time based on BELL’s needs
• Work with diverse and often geographically dispersed finance and sales staff ● Work with vendors, suppliers, and partners with varied characteristics, behaviours and temperaments.
• Work under pressure, while exercising patience, forging strong relationships, and being accommodating.
• Timely submission of financial reports, procurements, and supply of materials and payments. ● Remote working with senior leadership teams spread in various parts of the world.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs):

• Prepare sales reports, credit reports, stock reports, bank reconciliations, financial reports and requisitions in a timely manner.
• Reduce accounts and operations risks, and auditing queries.
• Identifying at least 5 suppliers for each of the main products (Vaccine, Medicine, feed raw materials, generator parts, feed mill mechanics, transport agency, etc.) to be procured for BELL and maintain supplier performance score.
• Cash flow forecast accuracy and working capital management.
• Ensure on time procurement, supply and payments.
• Prepare and submit an annual procurement plan in a timely manner.
• Inventory and stock management accuracy
• Cost control and cost savings by 20% to optimise the cost efficiency.
• On-time delivery, transportation cost efficiency, inventory accuracy and warehouse efficiency.

Experiences:

• Minimum five years of proven finance experience, including at least one senior level finance role. Specifically:

○ Experience with financial, statistical and comparative analysis, financial planning and forecasting, financial control and monitoring, developing budgets and preparing financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, etc.)

○ Experience in preparing business plans for for-profit businesses.

○ Ability to conduct market assessments and use data insights to inform business plans and budgets.

○ Proficiency in complex accounting systems and advanced level MS Excel skills. ● Experience with procurement, logistics, administration, human resource management, social enterprise and/or for-profit poultry manufacturing business preferred.

• Knowledge of applicable regulatory, contractual, legal and financial compliance requirements.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & COMPETENCIES:

• Strategic and critical thinker
• Analytical skills, including ability to assess problems and quickly develop realistic solutions ● Communication and Interpersonal skills
• Excellent negotiation skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written, in English
• High degree of integrity and honesty
• Leadership, organisation, management skills
• Computer literate with effective use of basic applications such as MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Time management.

SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION:

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Finance, Business Administration or similar concentration. Masters degree preferred.

All qualified and interested applicants can submit a cover letter with their CVs to three referees, one of which should be your current or most recent employer/line manager, along with a copy of your educational qualification applications should be submitted by email to: info.bell@brac.net, with the position title on the subject line.

DEADLINE: February 04, 2024

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED Preference will be given to qualified female candidates!