Sales Manager - Nigeria & West Africa

About the role

Prestige HR is recruiting a Sales Manager based in Accra to develop and grow sales for Nigeria and the wider West African region. The role covers strategy, client and distributor relationships, team leadership and extensive field work, with bilingual representation in French and English.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and run the annual sales plan for Nigeria and the wider West African region, and find new customers, distributors and partners in Anglophone and Francophone markets.
• Set sales targets by territory, product and customer, track progress, and prepare forecasts, budgets and pricing proposals for management approval.
• Use in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian market to spot opportunities, risks and competitor activity, and feed market insights back to management.
• Build relationships with key accounts and distributors, negotiate and close contracts, resolve client issues and represent the company in French and English at client meetings, trade fairs and events.
• Recruit, lead, coach and motivate the sales team, set goals, review performance and promote a professional, ethical, customer-focused culture.
• Travel extensively within Nigeria and across West Africa, leading field visits, market surveys and product launches.
• Produce weekly and monthly sales reports and pipeline updates, keep customer records and the pipeline up to date in the company CRM, and ensure compliance with company policy and local laws.

Required profile

• Bilingual: fluent in French and English, spoken and written, able to negotiate and present in either language.
• At least 7 years of sales experience, including at least 3 years in a sales management or team leadership role.
• A track record of meeting or beating sales targets and growing market share.
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Economics or a related field; an MBA or professional sales/marketing qualification is an advantage.
• Valid international passport.
• Experience selling in Francophone West African markets (Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal) and an existing network of clients and distributors in Nigeria.
• Willingness to travel frequently, often at short notice, across Nigeria and West Africa.

Required skills

• Negotiation and deal closing.
• Leadership, communication in French and English, commercial judgement and relationship building.
• Planning and organisation, resilience and integrity.
• Experience using a CRM system to manage pipelines and report on performance.