CFO (Chief Financial Officer)

The organisation

Located on the shores of Lake Victoria and active in Uganda and neighboring markets, Yalelo Uganda is dedicated to stabilizing food security in the region by producing a reliable and sustainable supply of fresh fish.

After the successful establishment of its sister company Yalelo Zambia, which is the largest aquaculture business in Sub-Saharan Africa founded in 2011, Yalelo Uganda started production in 2020 on its state-of-the-art tilapia fish farm located near Jinja and sales operations in Kampala. In just a few years, and despite starting in the middle of the heavy Ugandan Covid-restrictions, it has realized impressive growth and is by far Uganda’s largest tilapia fish farm. Currently, it employs 500 staff, with sales volumes amounting to 7,200 tonnes per year, projected to grow to 10,000 tonnes per year by the end of 2024.

Yalelo Uganda’s unique value proposition and the success in Zambia are based on comprehensive control of its supply chain, from producing high-quality fish feed to distribution and a chain of local retail points-of-sale. The new CFO will play a key role in supporting and scaling a similar value chain for Yalelo Uganda.

The CFO will help lead the next phase of growth and professionalization for Yalelo Uganda, with a focus on financial and business control, as well as on business strategy. Mentoring and developing financial acumen for both Managers and Team Leaders from across the Company will be an ongoing aspect of this role.

The position

Yalelo Uganda is a fast growing, sustainable aquaculture business backed by Veris Investments, an independent investment company that makes equity investments in companies and projects in the food value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa. The new CFO will lead Yalelo Uganda’s Finance Team, and help the organization scale.

Tasks & responsibilities

As a key member of the management team, the CFO is a key leadership function that will be responsible for all accounting and financial management for Yalelo Uganda. Responsibilities will include establishing and enhancing financial control, business control, financial and business analysis and insights, as well as risk management. One of the key areas of responsibility will be the further automation and digitization of various business and finance processes, partly through the further implementing and tailoring of the CRM system and creating real-time insights.

Pivotal to the success of the CFO will be their capacity to develop, mentor and lead their team and a willingness and ability to transfer their knowledge and experience to a young and dedicated team. Such Capacity Building is an essential aspect of this role.

The CFO will be tasked with identifying areas for improvement by implementing relevant metrics and will manage cash flows, create margin insights and drive working capital and inventory initiatives, thereby improving the internal control framework as well as collaboration across the organization.

The CFO will bring leadership experience managing different cultures and has worked or lived abroad if not a Ugandan National. They will be familiar with collaborating with an international private equity firm or shareholders that are routinely active in the Business.

The CFO is a strong, self-confident leader who get things done and has experience building and shaping teams and processes. The CFO will be required, especially in the initial year, to ‘roll up’ their sleeves and lead his/her team by example.

Their knowledge and experience will enable them to bring the finance organization to the next level, and they will be capable of maintaining a high-level overview while implementing robust structures and processes in a fast-growing organization. The CFO brings experience with digitization and will be a solid sparring partner to the CEO of Yalelo Uganda.

The Team
The CFO will report hierarchically to the CEO, but maintain a functional relationship with the FirstWave CFO. Together with the management team, s/he will contribute to shaping the business strategy. The CFO will lead, shape, and foster the growth of the existing team of seven professionals. S/he will manage a senior member of staff who will be responsible for the day to day aspects of regulatory compliance.

The CFO at Yalelo Uganda will work in a highly dynamic environment, contributing to a fast-growing sustainable business in Sub-Saharan Africa. S/he will also collaborate closely on projects with colleagues from Veris Investment in The Netherlands. This presents a unique opportunity for someone with a proven track record in building and leading Finance Teams and advising growing organizations from the perspective of finance, controls, and business insights.

Candidate profile*

• Over seven years of experience of which at least three should have been at a Managerial level
• Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Accounting (or ACCA), or related field
• Complemented with relevant post-master qualification such as CPA, CFA, EMFC/RC or international equivalent
• High affinity with data and numbers
• Experience with international fundraising or liquidity management
• Strong understanding of business, operations and processes in a fast paced environment
• Project management skills
• Effective communication skills
• Hands-on strategic thinker
• * Research shows that while male candidates feel confident enough to apply when they meet about 60% of the requirements, female candidates only apply when they tick every box. So if this role has your name on it, but you’re not sure about the criteria, we still want to hear from you.

Interested?

You can apply for this position by using the link below. Yalelo Uganda is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.