Background
Business development and Strategy department is a newly created department and has a staff capacity of nine; five Marketing Assistants paid on a commission basis, one person each for positions of Assistant Marketing Officer, Marketing officer, Public Relations Officer and Business Development Manager.
Mission
The mission of Business Development and Strategy Department is to steer the Society’s business growth through development and continuous review of business strategies, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The department fosters development and review of the Society’s business and drives marketing activities in promotion of the Society’s of products and services to its existing and potential clients. The department is also involved in directing public relations and customer service activities, to ensure projection of positive image of the Society and provision of quality customer service.
Reporting
The staff in the department report to the Business Development Manager who in turn reports to the Chief Executive Officer of the Society. The activities of the department are also monitored by the Business, Strategy and Technology Committee of the Society’s Board of Directors. The Committee meets not less than four times in a year to review the progress of the department in execution of its mandate in the fulfillment of the overall objectives of the Society, and to henceforth report to the Board of Directors.
Scope of Work and Responsibilities
To fulfill its mandate the Business Development and Strategy department has the following responsibilities:-
1. To maintain a close working relationship and on all matters pertaining to Society’s business development in the existing and potential markets in pursuit of business growth through methodical and focused business approaches.
2. To monitor and ensure effective implementation and review of the Society’s strategic plan, policies, procedure manuals and other projects.
3. To develop new and maintain long term business relationships with a view of retaining customers through quality customer service and provision of new products and services that suit their changing needs and preferences.
4. To design and develop a strong Society brand through consistent and appropriate communication and positioning of the Society to the target markets.
5. To continuously identify potential market segments and niches and to design appropriate marketing strategies to exploit them.
6. To develop and implement appropriate communication, public relations and customer service strategies.
7. To oversee the design, execution, and communication of primary and secondary marketing research studies when necessary.
8. To regularly evaluate performance of the Society and competitive positioning and customer profiling and to develop appropriate strategies to maintain them at the desired levels.
9. To closely monitor competitive forces and current marketing practices and to keep the management advised on ways to counter them.
10. To design and develop products and services that will satisfy various market segments based on market research findings.
11. To market the Society’s products and services to the target markets.
12. To guide the operations departments on the business policies of the Society.
13. Perform any other duties as may be assigned to the department from time to time.
Operational Guidelines
The activities of the department are guided by the following policies and procedures.
· The Sacco Act, Co-operative Act, Co-operative rules and Sacco Regulations
· The Society’s by-laws
· Membership Policy
· The Marketing Plans
· Communication and Public Relations Policy
· Corporate Social Responsibility Policy
· Society’s Annual and Departmental Budgets
· Other Society’s policies and Procedures