Chris Ohwo

Ohwo, Chris Akpobarho Sales & Marketing, Trade Marketing, KAM & CRM Address Lagos, NIGERIA, 100001 LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-ohwo- Phone-,- -b E-mail- Career Summary                         Cognate experience in commercial sales & distribution, trade marketing, key account, customer relationship, supply chain management by defining strategies to market the company’s solutions and services Define objectives, strategies, and action plans for sales; with a view to improving sales and earnings for the organization Lead organizational change to transform performance and manage client relationships through all phases of the sales cycle. Experience in business start-ups/re-engineering creating meaningful sales operation structures and building & empowering sales teams for success Define, drive, manage the realization of quarterly/annual revenue targets and budgets Forecasts annual, quarterly, and monthly revenue streams with minimal deviations Present sales/marketing revenue and expenses reports with realistic forecasts to the management team Market Intelligence Gather market intelligence and customer information from the field and interpret in sales and strategic planning functions Identify emerging markets and market shifts while staying fully abreast of new entrants, products, and competition status Create frameworks and platforms to constantly engage customers and build loyalty and sell the company’s services to potential customers in line with agreed procedures Champion the execution of new products developments (NPD), product launch, positioning, and sustainability. Supervise the Marketing team and align their activities to the strategic direction of the company and motivating the sales teams to achieve their goals while managing the sales team and its operations. Manage budget implementations, employee reviews, training, schedules and contract negotiations. Adept at business strategies, systems and SOP development and delivery to improve operations quality and team efficiency. Monitor customer buying trends, market conditions and competitor actions to adjust strategies to achieve sales turnover goals. Collaborate with other business units in the development of business models for use in the organization and develop measurement strategies to support ongoing strategy development and project optimization. Develop a sales and marketing strategy that will identify and open new channels Develop strong relationships with relevant trade groups, professional associations, non-governmental and governmental organizations on behalf of the company Represent the company at events and trade meetings to promote its solutions and services Penetrate, develop, and close prospective accounts in existing and new sectors Review customer activity, anticipate consumer needs and improve customer satisfaction Budget Outline and manage sales/marketing budgets Identifies marketing opportunities by analyzing and defining the total market, market share, competitor market share, and available market share by product market Articulate marketing activities and initiatives to create top of the mind awareness of the company and its products and services New Product Development Collaborates cross-functionally to drive the Customer to Concept process to bring new products to market People Development & Team Management Train the sales team by establishing programs or seminars in the areas of new services and growth, sales of emerging services in new sectors, competitive strategies Skills (soft & hard) Strategic Thinking Excellent interpersonal skills Analytical Skills Communication skills Execution & Delegation Skills Business Planning & Organizing Skills Creative Thinking - Thinking out of box Leadership Networking Excellent negotiation and selling skills Client account management Driving teamwork Effective leader Relationship building Staff training/development Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools (Excel,Word,Powerpoint, etc.) Proficiency in CRM software. Performance improvement Work History 2021-01 - Group Sales & Marketing Director Current Elkris Group Limited, Dopemu, LAGOS Description: Manage commercial business operation for Elkris subsidiaries – Elkris Bio Health Foods Limited & Elkris Agro Limited. Responsibilities:  Set in place a professional Sales & Marketing team to manage sales and marketing operation.  Restructured the Sales & Marketing team and developed an organogram for the Group sales function.  Managed personnel, develop sales administration team for efficient and effective role and function execution for improved customer experience / satisfaction.  Set up and Participated in the Elkris Excellence Academy to train and empower the Front line Sales Leadership team.  Maximized efficiency by coaching and mentoring personnel on Leadership, work principles, industry practices, company SoPs and sales order management system.  Improved brand awareness by working with media agency in the production of marketing communication materials, monitoring all marketing campaigns and fostering trade members engagement and business development. 2015-09 – 2020-12 General Manager Belanova Industries Limited, Victoria Island, LAGOS Description: Managed personnel, develop sales and administrative teams for efficient and effective role/function execution for improved sales, customer acquisition, experience / satisfaction. Responsibilities:  Managed business operation nationwide that has delivered and exceeded Company budget Profit and ensured consistent revenue growth of all company's key products lines.  Developed the business development strategies that improved company market share  Established budgets / expenses control that dropped company operating expenses by 40% in FY2016; 20% in FY2017, 10% in FY2018 & 12% in FY2019.  Establish and manage effective programs to forecast monthly, quarterly and annual revenue streams and viable staff compensation plans.  Executed coaching, training & development platforms via programs/seminars to train, grow staff capacity and capability utilization.  Increased monthly staff retention rate by 20% after implementing new training programs.  Maximized efficiency by coaching and mentoring personnel on work principles, industry practices, company procedures and sales order system.  Devised and deployed successful marketing strategies, dramatically boosting store ranking.  Improved brand trade awareness by executing & monitoring all marketing campaigns to improve customers acquisition, business growth and development.  Created, managed and executed business plan and communicated company vision and objectives to motivate teams. 2011-02 - National Sales Manager (Divisional Head, B2B Flour Sales) 2014-09 Flour Mills Of Nigeria Plc, Apapa, Lagos Description: Worked in the team that launched and successfully introduced and managed the distribution of Golden Penny Confectionery Flour (GPCF) & Golden Penny Sugar (GPS) into the Nigerian and Cotonou markets in October 2011 & March 2013 respectively. Responsibilities:  Championed the restructuring & re-engineering of the flour B2B sales operation for more effective sales service delivery.  Participated in the company-wide competency assessment & capacity building programmed to right-size, develop & grow human capital across all roles/functions.  Re-drafted the department's sales operations manual to deliver quality customer satisfaction via relevant customer relation management programs and relevant templates for sales call, performance measurement, and variance analysis, supervision levels, monitoring and reporting.  Established and maintained budgets, quotas and regional territories for team members to drive consistent performance growth.  Monitored customer buying trends, market conditions and competitor actions to adjust strategies and achieve sales goals.  Empowered and led driven sales team to build product awareness and exceeded revenue targets.  Directed effective hiring, orientation, training, development, and retention of team members to maximize team performance. 2005-12 - National Trade Marketing Manager 2011-01 Honeywell Foods Plc, Ikeja, LAGOS Description: Amongst the top 5 managers engaged with the responsible for the set-up of the Honeywell Superfine Foods Company at Alausa, Ikeja (now Honeywell Flour Mills Plc). Responsibilities:  Managed the B2C sales distribution and trade / market development that grew sales turnover from zero to excess of Five billion Naira (N5B+, 2009) within 36 months. of O! Noodles launch  Executed national product distribution/roll-out in 9 months via the key business partnership (KBP) scheme (Creeper Project) and trade channel engagement activities.  Created effective sales plans utilizing customer needs forecast to increase market share, launch of new product line and strategic advertising projects, marketing tactics and social media alliances.  Worked directly with NPD and SCM to create and birth new products and optimize effective sales campaigns’ materials for new product development, presentations and trade meetings.  Involved in company-wide staff training, development and mentor-ship program via the Honeywell Excellence Program (HEP) 2002-01 - National Sales & Marketing Manager 2005-10 Danico (W.A) Ltd. , Sango Ota, OGUN Description: Set up Marketing Support Team to give adequate marketing support to sales as the business grew and new products were developed and introduced into the market. Responsibilities:  Managed nation-wide the sales and distribution of FMCG products - Suntop fruit drinks, Fruit Squeeze juice and Maja (UHT) milk products (liquid & powder) brands.  Established and maintained budgets, quotas and regional territories for team members to drive consistent growth.  Empowered and led driven sales team to build product awareness and exceeded assigned revenue targets.  Monitored customer buying trends, market conditions and competitor actions to adjust strategies and achieve sales goals.  Remained responsive to market dynamics by preparing monthly, quarterly and annual sales reports and forecasts.  Managed national sales programs, supervised 50 (direct & indirect) sales representatives and evaluated KPIs for promotional opportunities.  Directed effective hiring, orientation, training, development, and retention of sales staff to maximize team performance. 2000-01 - Regional Sales Manager 2002-01 Danico (W.A) Ltd, Sango Ota, OGUN Description: Manage a motivated Sales Team to engage the trade to sell and position the company products as the preferred refreshing fruit drink in the market, office and homes. Responsibilities:  Led the team in the implementation of the “one pack per day fruit drink” consumer promo to drive end-user consumption, thereby growing sales by 40% in 3 months in 2001.  Initiated and implemented the “one carton per day sales canvassers” experiential scheme regionally to stimulate sales in the trade in 2001.  Positioned Suntop fruit drinks as the preferred refreshment for airlines and major buslines pan Nigeria in March 2000.  Called on key accounts regularly and achieved high satisfaction scores by routinely reassessing needs and resolving conflicts.  Collaborated with stakeholders to evaluate performance in the South coverage region and developed strategies to expand revenue generation and maintained consistently long-term customer relationships. 1998-01 - Area Sales Manager 2000-01 Danico (W.A) Ltd. , Sango Ota, OGUN Description: Engaged and trained a new sales team to begin fresh operations at the buyover of Sona Dairy company by Danish investors (Maja Foods). Responsibilities:  Developed a new sales plan and manual of procedure (MOP) and deployed this in the delivery of company sales volume and revenue objectives in line with the company business plan.  Organized the successful launch of Maja milk and milk-based products in December 1998 and subsequent distribution within the area and other parts of Nigeria.  Coordinated and conducted well-organized product presentations and demonstrations to potential customers at seminars and trade shows.  Developed and implemented key account strategies and programs to optimize revenue contribution and return on investment.  Monitored their sales calls and sales performance daily/weekly/monthly via sales accompaniments and periodic reports.  Supervised the sales team and other sales support (office) staff. Education 2022-12 - 2023-02 Project Management Digital Regenesys Academy, South Africa.  2022-11 - 2022-12 Awarded certificate in Project Management (On-line) Business Analysis Piston & Fusion Business Academy, Lagos.  2022-09 Awarded certificate in Business Analysis (On-site/On-line) Digital Marketing LinkedIn Learning, Sunnyvale, CA  2013-08 - 2014-04 Awarded certificate of completion in Digital Marketing Foundation (2021) Senior Management Program: Business Administration And Management Pan Atlantic University (Lagos Bus. School) - Lagos  Elected Captain of Syndicate Discussion Team 1  Member of LBS Alumni Association 1999-12 - 2001-01 Master of Business Administration: Marketing Ambrose Alli University - Edo State, Nigeria  Graduated in Top 10% of Class 2000-01 - 2001-01 Advanced Diploma : Marketing Nigerian Institute Of Marketing - Lagos, Nigeria 1994-06 - 1997-01 Higher National Diploma (HND): Marketing Auchi Polytechnic - Auchi, Edo State  Graduated in Top of the Class  Awarded Rector's Best Graduating Student 1990-12 - 1993-08 National Diploma(OND): Business Administration Auchi Polytechnic - Auchi, Edo State  Awarded Rector's Award for Best graduating student  Graduated in Top of Class  Graduated with 4.0 GPA Hobbies: Travelling, Networking & Reading Deep penchant for meeting people, exploring new places and acquiring knowledge. Affiliations Fellow, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN, 2009) Member, National Institute of Management (NIM, 2006) Software Microsoft Office, Salesforce CRM, ERP Navison, Sage Languages English, Ibo, Urhobo, Edo & Yoruba Training & Certification 2009-03 Marketing Fellow by National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) 2019-11 Salesforce by Senri SFA 2022-09 Digital Marketing Foundations (2021) by LinkedIn Learning 2022-12 Business Analysis by Piston & Fusion. 2022-12 Project Management by Digital Regenesys. In closing: I am…  An accomplished and creative manager possessing multifaceted experience and proven ability to re-energize and restructure organizations by developing strategic initiatives to capture emerging business opportunities.  A results-oriented, decisive leader adept at forging lucrative relationships with key partners, vendors and clients.  Acknowledged & Recognized for turning around struggling company operations to achieve sustained growth.  Adept Sales, Trade marketing & Customer service professional with over 25 years of successful experience in Sales, Trade Marketing, Key Account Management and Business development/growth.  Recognized consistently for performance excellence and contributions to successes in FMCG (B2B, B2C) industry with strengths in business analysis, project start ups and re-engineering backed by training in Business Administration/Management, Sales and Marketing, Business Analysis & Project Management. Chris Ohwo MBA, FNIMN, MNIM