General Manager

About the Organisation

Organisation Context

The client is an impact-driven, vertically integrated livestock and beef company operating across the full value chain, from ethical livestock sourcing and climate-smart feedlot finishing to processing, retail and planned export growth. The business is transitioning from a founder-led enterprise into a professionalised, data-driven and investor-ready institution.

Why This Appointment Matters

• The organisation seeks a transformational leader to professionalise operations and scale towards 34,000 heads annually over 10 years.
• The role sits at the centre of a blended-finance growth strategy involving grants, DFIs, catalytic capital, and commercial lenders.
• The General Manager will embed ERP-driven decision making, performance management, and governance across the business.
• The role provides a rare opportunity to build an institutional-grade agribusiness platform while delivering commercial and impact outcomes.

Job Summary

The General Manager is responsible for translating the Board’s strategic vision into operational execution and leading the transition from a founder-led company to a professionalised, investor-ready enterprise. The postholder leads the senior leadership team, owns the consolidated P&L, drives capital raising and investor engagement, and ensures operational excellence, compliance and ESG performance.

Attraction of the Role

This is an opportunity to lead the transformation of a high-potential agribusiness into an institutional-grade enterprise, combining commercial growth, impact investing, ESG leadership and value-chain development across Kenya and regional export markets.

P&L Ownership & Strategic Leadership

• Own the consolidated P&L across all value chain segments. Set and enforce company-wide KPIs cascading from Board-approved strategy to Head-level targets to Manager-level objectives to individual performance.
• Chair the weekly Executive Committee with the three Heads. Review dashboards, resolve cross-functional issues, and make resource allocation decisions. Monthly extended ExCo including all 5 Operations Managers.
• Lead the transition from founder-dependent decision-making to professional management: clear delegation of authority, documented processes, institutional knowledge capture. The GM should be making fewer operational decisions over time as the Heads and Managers build capability.
• Drive a culture of data-driven decision-making: every operational and commercial decision supported by ERP data, financial analysis, and scenario modelling. ‘If it’s not in the system, it didn’t happen.’

Value Chain Oversight (via Head of Operations)

• Hold the Head of Operations accountable for: sourcing volumes and pricing (via Sourcing Manager), feedlot performance — ADG, FCR, mortality (via Feedlot Manager), fodder production cost and feed security (via Fodder Manager), processing efficiency — kill-out %, carcass utilisation, HACCP (via Processing Manager), and commercial revenue — retail, wholesale (via Commercial Manager).
• Review weekly operations dashboard with Head of Ops: sourcing pipeline, feedlot occupancy, processing throughput, cold chain compliance, commercial sales vs. target. Intervene only when cross-functional issues require GM authority or when performance is materially off-track.
• Approve strategic operational decisions: new sourcing regions, feedlot expansion triggers, processing capacity upgrades, new butchery locations, pricing strategy changes. Day-to-day operational decisions are delegated to the Head of Operations.

Financial & Institutional Oversight (via Head of Finance)

• Hold the Head of Finance accountable for: monthly management accounts within 15 days (segment-level P&L), IFRS/IAS 41 compliance, audit readiness, internal controls, ERP financial integrity, working capital management, tax compliance, HR systems, and IT infrastructure.
• Review monthly financials with Head of Finance: revenue vs. budget by channel, COGS per head/per kg, margin by segment, cash flow forecast, working capital position, variance analysis with ground-level explanation.
• Lead investor engagement: present the business to DFIs, impact investors, grant providers, and commercial lenders alongside the Board. The GM is the primary face of the business to institutional capital.
• Collaborate with financial modelling team on scenario stress-testing: sourcing price sensitivity, feed cost changes, processing volume variations, FX movements, capex decisions.

Quality & Food Safety Oversight (via CVO)

• Ensure the CVO has resources, access, and authority to enforce standards across ALL segments without operational pushback. Back the CVO when food safety requirements create friction with operational targets.
• Review monthly food safety report: HACCP compliance, microbiological results, mortality/morbidity trends, condemnation rates, cold chain performance, vet gap analysis, closure progress. Escalate systemic issues to the Board.
• Ensure the business maintains a ‘perpetually DD-ready’ posture on food safety and animal health — any DFI should be able to walk in unannounced and find compliant operations.

Governance, Compliance & ESG

• Ensure full regulatory compliance across all segments: DVS, KEBS, NEMA, KRA, county permits, employment law. Report quarterly to the Board.
• Champion ESG implementation: ESMS aligned with IFC Performance Standards, impact measurement (IRIS+), gender strategy (2X Challenge), and climate strategy. ESG is not a side project — it is embedded in the capital structure.

Team Building & Phase 2 Preparation

• Build and develop the three Heads and five Managers. Quarterly performance reviews. Succession planning for all critical roles.
• Plan the Phase 2 organisational transition: identify triggers for when Sourcing, Processing, and Commercial should elevate from Manager (under Head of Ops) to Head (GM-direct). Triggers include: sourcing >4 ASAL regions, processing >60 head/day, retail >6 butcheries plus wholesale plus export.

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, agriculture, food science, engineering, or economics. MBA is strongly preferred.
• 12-15+ years progressive leadership in agribusiness, food processing, or FMCG, with 5+ years as GM/CEO/MD with full P&L responsibility.
• Proven experience scaling a startup to institutional scale — building teams, systems, and governance from limited foundations.
• Deep understanding of livestock/meat value chains: feedlot economics, processing yield, cold chain, multi-channel commercial strategy.
• ERP implementation experience (Odoo/SAP) as an operational transformation tool. Personally fluent in dashboard-driven management.
• Strong financial acumen: IFRS, financial modelling, working capital management, investor presentations.
• DFI/institutional investor experience: due diligence, reporting requirements, covenant management.
• Emerging markets experience, ideally East Africa. Understanding of ASAL pastoral communities and Kenyan regulatory environment.

Leadership Profile

• Builder and systems creator rather than caretaker.
• Ground-level leader comfortable operating in field environments.
• Highly data-driven and KPI-focused.
• Commercially ambitious while committed to ethical and impact objectives.
• Credible with boards, investors, DFIs and lenders.

Key Performance Indicators

• Execution of growth strategy and achievement of throughput targets.
• Delivery of profitability, EBITDA and margin improvement objectives.
• Successful capital raising and investor readiness milestones.
• ERP adoption and KPI compliance across the organisation.
• Regulatory, ESG and food-safety compliance maintained.

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