GRACE KIMANI

Leading the Kellogg’s business in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda). Responsibilities include developing and implementing country plans to deliver growth, Distributor operations management, new markets expansion, developing and implementation of trade and marketing plans and cluster P&L management.

• Developed and deployed a route to market blue print in Kenya that has been successfully being rolled out to the rest of the markets
• Increased Kellogg’s products distribution by 300% in 9 months. Achieved through this through distributor change, clear communication of priorities, implementation of a clear pricing strategy and rigorous tracking via monthly scorecards.
• Activated marketing and trade plans for Kellogg’s for the first time in Kenya including a TV Copy, In store sampling, outdoor sampling and POSM deployment which led to increased brand awareness. This also led to an increase in Sales out by 137%
• Successful launch of Pringles in Kenya leading to a share gain of 3% in 10 months in a very fragmented and affordable category.

Leading the P&G Distributor Operations Multi-Functional Team to build the best capabilities within our Distributor Partners organisations. This includes owning and leading the Route to Market strategy, Executing the Global Distributor excellence program, leading the conversation with our Distributor partners to invest in breakthrough capabilities and execute cost saving plans.

• Delivered successful Implementation of a coverage plan which resulted in increase in the number of stores distributing P&G Brands by 21% in the past one year
• Transformed our distributor partners from entrepreneurial family run business model to a corporation model
• Designed and deployed a Wholesale Channel Loyalty Program which has successfully reversed the decline of our Wholesale Channel business which is 40% of the market and moved it back to a growth trend
• Led the implementation of Paperless Selling (Sales Force Automation) for our two top distributors to drive optimization of their Go to Market by pointing out existing opportunity areas within their current structure and training their staff in adopting best practices within FMCG industry
• Part of the Distributor Operations Team that has delivered $2.5Million cost savings in the last one year through various cost saving measures.

A central role that connects supply chain, Demand Planning, Sales and Marketing to bring our plans together in a way that leverages P&G scale in the market. Responsibilities include Corporate Initiative Master plan ownership, Sales KPIs tracking, owning the Sales targets and initiatives deployment process, Execution of Shopper Based design standards and competitive intelligence tracking.

• Designed a Multi-Brand High Frequency Stores Visibility tool that enabled the company deliver winning in and out of store visibility
• Launched quarterly Strategic Business Planning Meetings (SBPs) with our distributor partners to deploy to them quarterly and annual targets
• Initiated and executed a corporate distribution drive for our top 3 Brands which resulted in increase in distribution by 12 points and propelled Ariel to Market leadership shares after only 5 years after launch.

Lead strategy development and deployment for the top two Brands contributing 80% of the business unit business. This includes category plans development by trade channels, Trade budgets ownership, delivering sales, distribution and share growth, Selling Tools development and competitive reaction strategy.

• Delivered double digit net sales growth for both Brands for two consecutive years with Pampers being the fastest growing category in the Business Unit in the FY 2010/2011
• Led the execution of Fem Care Shopper Based Design Shelving strategies in Modern Trade which was voted the best execution in the region.
• Delivered best scores in demand forecasting for the two categories on a 3-month rolling basis as measured by the business planning team.
• Designed High Frequency Stores selling and Visibility tools for that enabled Sales Teams to drive Full Size Distribution into 15,000 new stores. These breakthrough results were shared in the regional X-Channel summit, as well as the tools being displayed in the company’s High Frequency Stores lab in Geneva, so that they can be reapplied by other markets.

Responsible for leading Distributor Operations in the biggest market in the BU. Responsible for Sales target delivery, coverage growth, promotions execution, JBP deployment, and Distributor Sales Force coaching and development

• Deployed Joint Business Plans for the first time with all Key Account Customers which enabled us deliver winning shares with the top 4 customers in our top 3 categories.
• Prior to the Ariel detergent launch, I designed and executed a new Route to Market that enabled us deliver fastest distribution ever during week one of launch. This included moving from fortnight to weekly coverage and the distributor doubling his distribution vans in the country.
• Kenya was the fastest growing country in the cluster delivering 20% growth year on year.

Managing the Distributor day to day relationship which includes, Developing distributor team sales competencies through on and off field training and coaching.Deliver annual sales targets and sales fundamentals, Executing trade initiatives in market & selling initiatives to key customers and Delivering coverage expansion into new cities.

• Established coverage into 10 new cities using sub distributors therefore increasing Company’s brand presence in the market.
• Launched the first ever Joint Business Plan with Shoprite which enabled the company to win in their stores.
• Delivered highest ever sales in the market for the first time in the 12 years the company had been operating in Tanzania.
• Restructured the Distributor teams to have Field Section Managers across channels and regions which enabled faster expansion and execution of trade programs.