About Pula
Pula is an insurtech firm that provides agricultural insurance design and execution services, specializing in index-based insurance, and is backed by top-tier VC investors. Since 2015, we have provided climate insurance to 11M+ smallholder farmers, 31% of whom are women across 19 markets in Africa and Asia. So far we've protected agricultural investments over $1.7B from climate risks.
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
The Manger - Commercial Sales (B2B/B2G) at Pula is far from the typical sales leader. You must be passionate about having meaning in your work. Willing to go the extra mile to evangelize the importance of agriculture insurance in transforming the lives of millions of smallholder farmers across multiple stakeholders from the political elites to the Government systems, and development agencies all the way down to the farmer. For you to be successful at the role, one must consider it their mission - “how you will be remembered”. You will be rewarded very well at it as we believe in “doing good and doing well”. Whilst impacting hundreds of millions of farmers, our mantra is that those who are successful in the mission must be dollar millionaires in the end. At Pula, good deeds are rewarded.
In this role, you'll;
Expanding your networks, influencing and Pula’s positioning in the region
- Constantly building deeply entrenched relationships that will enable one to understand client needs, gather market intelligence, and build a credible pipeline of opportunities. To succeed in therole, one must incredibly enjoy building new relationships and leveraging on relationships to achieve your goals.
- Effectively communicate value propositions through presentations and proposals
- Act as the Pula spokesperson in the region.
- Using knowledge of the market and competitors in the regions, identify and develop the company’s unique selling propositions and differentiators.
Business Development
- Defining Commercial objective key results in your region and ownership of the results.
- Research, prepare, and execute a sales plan focused on delivering new and recurring revenues through partnerships with agro-input companies and the public sector.
- Develop pipeline and continuously mature & and qualify opportunities in order to increase Pula’s market share and to enable achievement of sales target.
- Generating and qualifying new leads and using different approaches to penetrate prospective clients in your region. You are expected to qualify for opportunities and know which deals to work on,and which ones to pass on.
- Progress prospects through a defined sales process to eventual contracting and implementation.
Customer Relationship Management
- Manage and nurture existing client relationships across a wide range of stakeholders including commodity associations, farmers’ aggregators, insurers, and government and private companies.
- Manage the handover of new customers to the operations team for the implementation of the solution.
What you need to be successful
Must haves
- Minimum of 3 years experience selling to the public sector: You must have a proven track record of at least 3 years of selling ideas, products or services to public sector organizations.
- Robust list of networks and relationships with key decision-makers and champions in the public sector: You should have an influential network of relationships with key decision-makers and champions in the public sector.
- Experience motivating a government budget: You should have experience in influencing and motivating government budgets to support your initiatives.
- A driven go-getter who never gives up: We are seeking a highly motivated individual who relentlessly pursues opportunities and is not deterred by challenges. You must be willing to knock on any door to achieve your objectives.
- Series of successes closing high-value government deals: You should have a track record of successfully closing high-value government deals.
- Gravitas: Charming. Has a confident, comfortable presence. Can sit across from a PS or minister and hold his own and pitch without assistance.
- Street Smart: Can understand and map the stakeholders, identify and test champions, structure the deal, problem solve, and find another way when the deal gets stuck
- Communication: Can confidently convert information internally and externally adjusting quickly between written and verbal communication as situations call for it. Follows through on action points from conversations and can succinctly summarize the progress required to progress a sale.
- Intensity: Hungry to close deals, has a point to prove and looks to prove that point at Pula. Builds their profile and therefore reputation around Pula and the Pula products. They do not want to fail therefore will do what it takes for Pula to succeed.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience selling a new solution: It would be advantageous if you have experience selling innovative solutions.
- Someone who has tried to start their own business venture: Having entrepreneurial experience and understanding the challenges of starting a business venture is a plus.
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, our new staffers have 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 11m farmers insured as of 2023.
- 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 the 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.
To learn more about Pula you can visit
- TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
- New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
- The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.
Cover letters are optional. You can add one if there is any additional information you would like to share about your interest in Pula, the role or your experience. We review applications on a rolling basis.
Pula’s mission is to provide farmer resilience. To achieve this, we put our small holder farmers that use our services and the employees that provide them at the heart of everything we do. For that purpose, Pula was created to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
