Commercial Officer – Sanitary Pads Distribution

About the role

Mapalo Pads, a sanitary pads distributor in Uganda, is hiring a Commercial Officer for a 6-month, full-time assignment in Kampala, reporting to the CEO. The role is hands-on and runs alongside the sales, finance, merchandising and warehouse teams to rebuild the commercial operating system and leave behind documented processes. It includes regular field work and upcountry travel.

The purpose is to build and run the commercial system for 6 months, delivering at least UGX 350 million in sales and UGX 200 million in collections each quarter, while handing over data, procedures and trained staff so the team can continue after the contract ends.

Key responsibilities

• Audit and enrich the customer master in ERPNext with geography, channel, visit frequency and credit line, and analyse purchasing trends to segment customers.
• Design fixed journey plans for sales reps, set daily activity standards and run daily and weekly reporting.
• Set monthly targets and design an incentive scheme paid on value, collections, coverage and new outlets, conditional on collection performance.
• Develop 4 to 5 wholesale or sub-distribution accounts with written trading agreements, phased credit and weekly ageing monitoring.
• Control collections and credit: ageing analysis, recovery plans, monthly collection targets and segregation of duties between selling, collecting and posting.
• Review modern trade contracts, set planogram standards and apply ROI tests to displays, shelf rentals and rebates.
• Build a sales academy covering the selling call, product knowledge, journey plan discipline, upselling, merchandising, credit terms and objection handling, with pre- and post-training assessments.
• Write policies for sales, credit, finance, merchandising, inventory and supply chain, including a delegation of authority matrix signed off by the CEO.
• Pilot a cash van or lower-cost last-mile option on 1 to 3 routes for at least 4 weeks.

Required profile

• Degree in business administration, marketing, commerce, economics or a related field.
• At least 8 years in FMCG sales and distribution, including 4 to 6 years in a commercial, sales management or distribution management role.

Performance targets

• Sales of at least UGX 350 million per quarter (net invoiced sales).
• Collections of at least UGX 200 million per quarter (cash banked and posted).
• 4 to 5 wholesale or sub-distribution accounts opened.
• Journey plan adherence of at least 90% of planned calls per rep per week.
• All sales and merchandising staff trained through the academy.