Ali Balunywa

• Responsible for Leading the development & delivery of the Sales, Distribution and Retail strategy for the Airtel Business
• Responsible for delivering the Airtel money distribution plan and strategy (Airtel money infrastructure, branch and Agent Network spread and growth)
• Responsible for Managing, Training & Motivating both the franchise partners and the direct S&D team in a widely divergent environment
• Support the company to build an effective stakeholders dialogue and network to maintain a positive image of the company and ensure business continuity.
• Provide an appropriate environment for the S&D team to have an innovation culture.

In This Role, i have:

• Created annual budgets and developed comprehensive plans to accomplish company objectives while staying within budget.
• Engaged with customers & Franchise partners to effectively build rapport and lasting relationships.
• Focused teams on developing innovative and cutting-edge approaches at all levels with effective resource allocation and strategic planning.
• Collaborated with management, Group team members and fellow supervisors to organize efficient operations and achieve demanding schedule targets.
• Made recommendations for changes in funding process and policies based on data and judgment.
• Developed impactful and strategic partnerships with clients to drive business development.

• Responsible for the Development and execution of strategies to expand and improve operations of the company to support demand in Uganda. Improve costs, grow revenue, profit and operating margin. Grow Value share, profit to Cash Ratio.
• Accountable for the brand performance, Employee engagement & employer brand. Attract, develop and retain best commercial talent in the industry

In this role, I

• Drove strategic improvements to enhance operational and organizational efficiencies.
• Monitored office workflow and administrative processes to keep operations running smoothly.
• Negotiated new annual contracts and service agreements with vendors to achieve prime pricing.
• Instituted formal operating procedures and enforced adherence to policies and regulations that impacted bottom-line.
• Delivered leadership to executive team dedicated to driving ambitious targets with well-orchestrated plans.
• Monitored sales forecasts and projected financial planning for organization to achieve revenue goals.

In this role I,

• Implemented a new Sales & Distribution structure, rationalized the distribution model that significantly reduced dumping in the business.
• Improved distributor territorial integrity, driving distribution efficiencies and distributor profitability.
• Significantly improved the quality of new customer acquisitions/ Gross Additions. These actions amongst others contributed to over 4% CMS growth in 2016, & growth in RMS & SOGA for the business.
• Focused teams on developing innovative and cutting-edge approaches at all levels with effective resource allocation and strategic planning.
• Hired and directed teams to achieve daily and long-term operations and business goals.
• Developed impactful and strategic partnerships with clients to drive business development.
• During this period, the S&D Department was voted as the Best function in the organization for two years consecutively for 2016 and 2017

In this role, I

• Supported in the design and implementation of a new route to market strategy where we rationalized our distributors from twelve to six
• Implemented a Pay for Performance based distribution strategy aimed at driving performance
• Re-built the BAT Uganda Trade Marketing team and delivered growth of the BAT market share to over 85%.
• Worked with "low value" customers and consumers to understand needs and provide excellent service. This led to recommendation to launch a new VFM brand called Safari in the market
• Exceeded goals through effective task prioritization and great work ethic.
• Was recognized as the overall best Sales leader and given the “Silver Star of the Year” award for the East and Central African market for the year 2014

In this role, I

• Analyzed and improved performance across zone using sales metrics and performance reports.
• Considered and approved policies to support company initiatives and overall performance.
• Developed reports of zone performance and presented data to upper management.
• Supported the National Sales Manager, adjusting sales goals and processes for each region based on zone metrics and company objectives.
• Encouraged cross-selling of additional products and services through relationship-building and acquired understanding of customer business needs.
• Engaged in product training, demonstrations, consumer awareness, branding and acquisition initiatives to raise awareness and revenues.
• Was recognized as Zone leader of the year 2012 out of the 5 Zones in the country.

In this role, I

• Owned all aspects of sales planning, development, and team and account management for Kampala zone.
• Directed work of efficient administrative team maintaining accurate sales, inventory and order documentation.
• Maintained up-to-date knowledge of Airtel products, services and performed competitor analysis.
• Consistently delivered on the sales targets for the Zone thus contributing over 40% of the total Airtel business in the two years.
• Strengthened the Distribution Channel by setting up over 850 Direct Sales Members to grow the customer base, with a retailer network of over 12000 in Kampala.
• Implemented the New Route to Market strategy for all existing & new Airtel products.
• Recognized as Sales Manager of the year 2011 in Airtel Uganda

In this role, I

• Boosted brand awareness and generated leads while managing internal and external marketing campaigns and programs.
• Capitalized on industry and marketplace trends to strategize marketing solutions and enhance business operations.
• Reduced marketing costs by streamlining marketing roles, leveraging communications materials, monitoring budgets and developing protocol.
• Increased revenues and profitability by designing customized sales coverage models, products, services and procedures for each customer. This customer-focused approach which had differentiated Dairibord Uganda from its competitors, was resulting in dominant market share within the corporate and small-medium business (SMB) market segment (Grew retail sales by 15% & profit by 20% in the first 3 months of implementation)
• Developed and implemented a reorganization plan for both field and in house sales personnel responsible for managing high-volume strategic customers to reduce customer costs, improve services and increase market & Volume share.

In this role, I

• Provided leadership for one of the company's largest strategic business units with revenues in excess of 1 billion shillings.
• Developed and maintained key customer relationships at the executive level, built strategic customer direction and developed appropriate customer solutions for large national distributors.
• Turned around a negative morale situation that was causing poor execution in Sales & distribution when the company was losing both customers and revenues.
• Implemented new processes and reward systems to improve morale and execution, which led to sales volume growth by over 344% in the first year of operation.
• Reengineered the business route to market, redeployed new account teams and implemented new processes which led to improved margins and reduce selling costs.
• Planned and led the company's two-day annual sales conference, including coordination of internal departments as well as key vendor partner presentations

In this role, I

• Secured high-value accounts through consultative selling, effective customer solutions and promoting compelling business opportunities.
• Introduced new processes to improve account and market tracking for better data analysis.
• Drove revenues and profitability by targeting both marketing and sales activities toward improved distribution, and direct wholesalers within the market.
• Developed strategies to improve efficiency, reduce costs and accelerate sales.
• Proactively developed win-win solutions for customers, winning primary supplier status with many accounts, resulting in improved Sales volumes growth by over 520% in the West-Nile region in FO7
• Successfully led several sales campaigns to secure incremental revenue for the company, thus making EABL the number one drinks company in West-Nile in 2007.
• Was recognized as best sales executive for 2007, in EABL – Uganda.

In this role, I

• Oversaw employee performance, corrected problems and increased efficiency to maintain productivity targets.
• Strengthened merchandising and promotional strategies to drive customer engagement and boost sales. Coached employees and trained on methods for handling various aspects of sales, complicated issues and difficult customers.
• Submitted reports to senior management to aid in business decision-making and planning.
• Implemented a sales strategy to capitalize on low end customer sales “Kibanda”, yielding a 15% improvement and increasing DSTV sales to approximately 30% of business revenues in F06.
• Built strategic relationships with customers and vendors resulting in improved coordination and implementation of product flow and accessibility, achieving dominant supplier status in virtually all assigned accounts for DSTV.

In this role, I

• Identified new business opportunities through cold calling, networking, marketing and prospective database leads.
• Negotiated new customer contracts based on pricing/terms that better reflected current changes within the DSTV arena, resulting in greater overall profitability and increasing business revenues.
• Recognized as best sales Executive from July 2004 to February 2005 generating double the average sales volume per month as other sales representatives, until promoted into middle management as Sales Supervisor.
• Signed up and maintained the already existing clients on the Multi-Choice system.

While in this role, I

• Prepared or edited organizational publications such as employee newsletter “ The Insider ” Magazine, a monthly journal for the Bank for internal or external audiences.
• Proofread and edited materials prepared by departmental staff to check and correct spelling, grammar and style
• Gained vast knowledge by working with the Protocol and the Travel desk in Bank of Uganda.
• Built media kits in support of specific strategic initiatives.
• Helped plan and execute company and client events.
• Provided administrative support to senior team members.

While in this role, I

• Initiated the company's first-ever outbound sales initiative, calling on customers to generate revenues and eliminating dependency on walk-in customers.
• Increased revenue by implementing effective sales strategies in all aspects of sales cycle process from prospecting leads through close.
• Directed and measured the outbound sales activities of 4 sales executives, resulting in new incremental customers and opportunities that brought this section from zero revenues to over 15% total revenue contribution for Wina Classic per month.
• Maintained detailed records of sales progress, inventories and marketing success to better align goals with company priorities.