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 eight countries across Africa and Asia, and in 2017 alone, we facilitated crop and livestock insurance cover to 611,000 farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi. We are recruiting to fill the following position below: Business Development Associate. Responsibilities: Lead Generation and Outreach: Identify and qualify potential clients through research, industry events, inbound leads, referrals, and market activity. Conduct outreach via email, phone, and meetings to introduce Pula’s solutions. Maintain consistent weekly activity targets to support pipeline growth. Track tender websites and identifying potential opportunities for the relevant teams. Client-Facing Document Preparation: Proposal writing - Co-develop proposal concepts through understanding and researching company experience, ecosystem trends, and innovative solutions. Write and provide quality control for concept notes, proposals, and tender responses. Prepare templated pitch decks, concept notes, and proposals with guidance from the team. Marketing Material Development: Coordinate the creation and improvement of sales and marketing materials, such as brochures and presentations to support business development efforts. Client Relations Support: Attend introductory meetings alongside senior commercial managers. Manage follow-up actions, client requests, and general communication. Build rapport with operational and technical teams supporting the client. Attend relevant workshops, conferences, and networking events to build relationships. Market Intelligence: Gather insights on competitors, partners, and emerging opportunities. Track key industry developments and report trends to the commercial team. Knowledge Management: Manage database of P&C knowledge to improve communication efficiency across the team and institutional knowledge. Keep CRM entries updated with accurate contact details, meeting notes, and pipeline stages. Internal Coordination: Work closely with marketing, operations, and product teams to align on commercial priorities. Support weekly team check-ins with updated activity reports. What you need to be successful: You are an effective communicator with strong writing skills, capable of synthesizing information, drafting compelling proposals, and communicating ideas across diverse platforms. You are energized by networking events and thrive at building rapport and trust with partners. Experience working with diverse actors from development, private sector, and the government. You listen and understand different perspectives and can connect the dots to build consensus. Comfort working in fast-paced and ambiguous environments. You are meticulous and highly organized in planning, executing, and monitoring multiple proposals under tight deadlines. You are a team player, you are able to get buy-in, input, and approval across internal teams as needed for proposals. You are driven by impact. You are motivated by Pula’s goal of empowering smallholder farmers. Qualifications: University degree with First Class or Upper Second honors. 3-5 years of experience in business development, partner management, consulting, or related fields. Experience in writing proposals, concept notes, and creating budgets in response to tenders. Understanding of agriculture and/or fintech sectors. Strong interpersonal skills, high motivation, ownership, and willingness to learn. Experience with Google suites, Excel, and CRM tools.
