Business Development Leader Africa

Purpose of the Job/Key Objective

As a leader in our Business Development team, you will develop, implement and manage the strategy to grow our portfolio profitably and achieve significant market share across East and Southern Africa. This is both a challenging and exciting opportunity which requires you to develop a detailed understanding of every aspect of the local and international business, lead a diverse team and work with all functional areas. The successful candidate will report directly to the Head of Distribution Africa and will be responsible for establishing and managing a distribution network of brokers/consultants and strategic partners to ensure profitable growth.         

Main duties/Responsibilities

• Lead a Business Development team with members based across different countries in the region;
• Develop proactive strategy for the allocated region, with regular reviews, maximising specific business opportunities as they arise;
• Drive generation and follow up of new business leads to meet Business Development and profitability targets in line with overall strategy;
• Take the lead in converting large corporate opportunities;
• Build up and maintain distribution network of brokers/consultants and strategic partners;
• Keep abreast of all developments in the market both client and competitor-related, contributing to new product development/business initiatives accordingly;
• Liaise with other Cigna offices to develop opportunities;
• Liaise with internal departments in line with established procedures to generate growth opportunities whilst maintaining a high level of service;
• Participate in key projects as may be required
• Report out on results through strong data management and reporting.

Business Development Management Skills

• Minimum 5 years of experience of Business Development in the insurance or healthcare sector
• Experience working across Africa
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal
• Experience with People Management and strong coaching skills
• Ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear and concise fashion
• Effective relationship builder
• Excellent time management and project management skills
• Excellent presentation skills
• Experience in MS Office Suite
• Fast thinker/problem solver with the ability to work in fast-paced environments
• Team player, able to partner and collaborate with a large number of organizations and functions at all levels
• Numeracy and ability to analyse statistical information
• High level consultative Business Development/Negotiation/Influencing
• Highly Self-motivated, effective goal setting