View Vacancy - Trade Services Manager (18/16 ACCRA)

West Africa is a growing and diverse region with opportunities across a range of sectors that the UK has expertise in. It has significant long-term economic potential with vast natural resources and a young and growing population. As a result West Africa offers a wide array of business opportunities, especially in the oil and gas sector but also increasingly in areas such as renewable energy, infrastructure and agriculture. Current trade figures are good but we want to do better. 

As part of the British Government’s commitment to increasing UK exports worldwide to £1 trillion by 2020, the UK’s trade team in West Africa, with offices in Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Senegal is developing a trade strategy to identify and better tap into this vast potential and increase trade between the UK and West Africa.  The Ghana team is also shifting to a regional approach, working with trade colleagues in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Senegal to maximise the trading relationship with the UK across West Africa.

We are looking for a highly organised person with a strong attention to detail, ability to take the initiative, work accurately within deadlines and with limited supervision, and be a strong team member who works collaboratively.

Main Purpose:

To oversee the delivery of DIT services to UK companies in exporting their goods and services to Ghana by the DIT delivery partner UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), and DIT teams in other parts of West Africa in line with agreed standards and timescales; monitoring and assessment of these services to UK companies, ensuring a high quality and efficient support to UK companies; delivery of targets; analysis of past, present and future statistics through reporting to show how DIT/UKGCC are performing against targets; training and best practice for teams. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Leading the management of trade services work to be delivered by UKGCC Ghana, and DIT teams in West Africa.
• To manage, co-ordinate, provide statistical analysis and support delivery of all trade services orders of the UKGCC delivery partner in Ghana, DIT colleagues across the West Africa region, including Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS), export wins and significant assists.
• Work with the West Africa Trade Director and Marketing Manager based in Lagos to assist teams to develop and deliver a coherent and targeted plan for encouraging more British companies to export to West Africa;
• Work with the trade teams across the region to provide best practice on identifying genuine opportunities for British companies to pursue, ensuring these are uploaded onto the UK Department for International Trade’s customised database, and support teams to ensure that export opportunity targets are met throughout the year;
• Ensure teams have been given the necessary training to deliver services and implement any required training;
• To co-ordinate DIT services policy, all reporting, budget and statistics between DIT HQ and UKGCC and ensure this is implemented and assessed and reported on. 

Roles and responsibilities:

• Advise UKGCC and DIT teams on working with partners in the UK regions to both sell and create demand for our paid services;  
• Oversee and coordinate DIT services work for UKGCC and DIT teams in West Africa, UK customers and businesses in market to ensure delivery of the best possible service.  Close working  with  DIT colleagues in Sub Saharan Africa, including the Events & Marketing Officer based in Nigeria;
• Produce DATA that will be used to plan and develop service delivery across the network;
• Compare local information with HQ statistics and investigate any discrepancies;
• Oversee the quality of company reports produced, and all other services provided to UK companies;
• Oversee the management of the Ghana Trade mailbox enquiries National Service Interns;
• Manage and delegate enquiries for trade services and commissioned work to teams and ensure that volume services, future opportunities and high value opportunities are assigned to the correct teams;
• Champion for DIT’s Customer Data Management System (CDMS), (DIT’s Client Management and reporting system) and to be the main point of contact for any developmental and training needs relating to CDMS;
• To design and project manage delivery of DIT services by the UKGCC, providing training, quality control, customer service level standards, statistical guidance, and support for trade missions;
• Responsibility for overseeing the smooth running of trade missions comprising British businesses by teams in West Africa from arrival to departure via our paid for services 
• Using the various DIT databases, ensure that all teams keep UK companies fully up to speed on Export Opportunities to the region
• Full participation in ensuring that teams meet the challenging annual DIT targets, such as the increase in 
• the number of companies across the region exporting to meet the national ambition of getting 100,000 more companies exporting by 2020.
• Prepare trade briefings, trade statistics, and reports on volume work.
• Assisting with VIP visits including responsibility for programme and logistics;  
• Engagement with a multitude of  regional  Government Departments, agencies, companies and other organisations, at all levels, in support of DIT services to ensure maximum co-operation and understanding of their current needs and aspirations engaging credibly to build strong and meaningful relationships with stakeholders and clients;
• Attending various out of hours events, such as receptions at which many senior contacts will be present; 
• Ensure DIT HQ policy on delivery partners (UKGCC) is communicated and implemented, and that UKGCC comply with standards of service, finance/procurement and reporting on any DIT funding.
• Manage the resources available to teams to conduct research and provide sector information.
• Sourcing of cost effective information materials for future research use. 

• University degree or equivalent;
• Previous work in service delivery role;
• Strong oral and written English communication skills;
• Excellent IT skills with ability in MS Office suite applications e.g. Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint;
• Ability to effectively work under tight deadlines;
•  Resourcefulness in solving problems;
•  Good interpersonal skills and comfortable dealing with high level officials;
•  Flexible;
•  Strong organizational skills and keen attention to detail;
•  Superior professionalism and judgment;
•  Strong work ethic.