Assistant Field Coordinator PULA

About Pula
At Pula, we are radically restructuring agricultural insurance, using technology to insure the previously unbanked, uninsured, untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide.

We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, we have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 5.3 million farmers across Kenya, India, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Malawi. Since raising our Series A our operations have expanded globally including now Asia and Latin America.

Pula is a fast-paced space, constantly adapting to new opportunities and challenges and we are made up of a high-performance, multi-cultural team. We expect our team to value performance, results and professionalism.

At Pula, our values are:

Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
Connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
Have a Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

What you will be doing
Project Description
Every year, Pula runs a series of operational activities including farmer sensitization campaigns, training of clients and crop cut experiments (a survey designed to measure the yield of different crops).

What you will be doing
Under the direct supervision of the Field Associate Manager, the Field Coordinator shall provide full support to the field team with all necessary project activities to ensure maximum efficiency on the ground. The ideal candidate learns quickly, is resourceful and has experience managing teams and running a field project.

Locations
North-Western, Western, Northern, Copperbelt, Lusaka, Luapula, Muchinga, Eastern, Central, Southern.

Job Description
The Assistant Field Coordinator shall provide the services detailed below. Pula expects the Field Coordinator to conduct following tasks including and beyond:

Conducting Field Agent Training
Help set project budgets, record keeping for expenses and reconciliation against the budget for each project
Farmer sensitization –
set work plan with FAM and conduct farmer trainings
Organize and conduct Training-of-trainer sessions with local counterparts and/or client staff
Submit reports within 5 working days on training outcomes, including photos and participant feedback
Manage training budget and provide proof of activities and expenditures
Collect participant data which is accurate and complete
Evaluate end of season performance of field agents
Field management support for crop cut exercise.
Field Agent audits: 4x per week visit and audit report.
Review submitted data on Mavuno web app daily to check received reports performance and verify correct data is submitted (no missing data, incorrect photos, misreported yields).
Lead weekly data review and work planning meetings with field agents
Weekly performance review against work plans and review data collected by field agents for quality; audit and retrain field agents with flagged data or missed work plans.
Investigate any anomalies in inconsistencies in Field Agent data.
Handling and resolving customer complaints from farmers and stakeholders as needed
Report to supervisor (Field [associate] Manager) weekly on progress, wins and blockers
Coordination with client field staff and insurance auditors to facilitate visits
Report all incidents (localized risk ex. Fire, flooding, pests; client or farmer coordination issues; etc) using the appropriate form with supporting information in 5 working days or less.
Conduct refresher training when needed on topics identified as unclear to s and for Field Agents who are struggling
Support Pula mobile app installation and troubleshooting.
Resolve any queries from the data or payout team on data points within 48 hours.
Evaluate end of season performance of Field Agents
Clear and consistent communication up and down the reporting lines.
Be available during working hours to respond to queries by whatsapp
Other
Assist organization and attend local payout events on request
Assisting in product launches when required
Help with internal data audits when required
Any other duties as requested by management
What you will need to be successful
Located in one of the one of the provinces listed in the location section above
A diploma in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Business/project management or related field.
Be a member of the Agricultural Institute of Zambia (AIZ) and possess a practicing license as per mandatory requirement.
Experience with (2 years) and proven skills in working with clients, project teams, farmers, field teams and agro dealers.
Experience in data collection and data management.
Skills to interact with clients, farmers, field teams and agro dealers.
Ability to work independently in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and multicultural environment
Excellent communication and organizational skills
Intermediate Excel skills is an added advantage
Additional expectations.:

Our team is deeply field based. We hire from the areas that we are working, rather than focusing on hiring only from capital cities or major metropolitan areas.

Everyone needs to be able to work “on the go”: staff are expected to call into conference calls multiple times a week, and to submit communications on email and other mediums throughout the week. While it is difficult to keep a phone and other devices charged while working in rural areas, the best employees plan their movements well enough to ensure being in contact at the right times.

What Pula will bring to the table
Growth potential: With an untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide, on track to doubling the number of farmers insured in 2021 and Pula’s global leadership in Agriculture Insurance, the Commercial Director has a tremendous upside growth potential.
Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in it’s category with 5.3m farmers insured as at the end of 2021.
Solid: Pula has been funded by leading venture capital investors (Omidyar Network, ACCION, MercyCorps) and global philanthropic institutions (MasterCard Foundation, CGAP/World Bank as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Pula closed a $6m series A funding in December 2020 in the right in middle of the pandemic a clear testimony of the opportunity that Pula is going after.
Respected: Winner of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2019, Winner of The InsureTech of the Award, Africa. Featured on TED talks, The New York Times, The Economist.
Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, reporting to the CEO and Co-Founder, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
Leadership: The founders & CEO foster a culture of transparency, respect, high performance, pragmatism, execution and personal development.
Purpose: It is rare to find a professional opportunity that offers accelerated professional development and a life purpose. Pula is going through a second phase of accelerated growth that will naturally provide professional development, whilst contributing to the financial stability of small farmers in the emerging markets.
Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed sales and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.