Function -Business Planning & Performance

Reports To - Director, Business Planning & Performance 

Location - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Scope - Group-wide — annual planning cycle and FP&A



Role Purpose

The Budgeting & Business Planning Head is the engine of the Group's annual planning cycle and its ongoing financial performance discipline. You will own the Group budget process end-to-end — from cluster target-setting through to Board submission — and maintain the FP&A reporting that connects the budget to actual performance month by month. This is a foundational role: you are building the planning function as much as running it, in close partnership with the Director and the GCFO's office.

Key Responsibilities

Annual Budget & Business Planning Cycle

• Own the Group's annual business planning cycle — calendar, templates, process, and consolidation
• Coordinate budget submissions from all three cluster heads and six group function heads, ensuring alignment to Floor / Base / Ceiling Scorecard targets
• Build and maintain the Group consolidated budget model, including ERC (Employee-Related Cost), working capital, and capex assumptions per scenario
• Prepare the annual budget pack for EXCO and Board submission (target: November Board approval)
• Support the Director in running the Strategy Week planning sessions (August) with Scorecard-anchored cluster templates

FP&A & Financial Performance Reporting

• Produce monthly variance analysis — budget vs actual vs prior year — at Group and cluster level
• Maintain the Group's five-year financial model, updating assumptions as actuals develop
• Track working capital performance against the five-cash-cycles doctrine; flag breaches to the Director and GCFO
• Monitor cost-of-capital compliance (12% USD hurdle) across active business cases and investment decisions
• Prepare the financial section of the Monthly Business Review pack in partnership with the Operations Control Manager

Scorecard & KPI Financial Linkage

• Maintain the financial inputs to the Group Scorecard — gate trajectory tracking, NP vs floor calculations, and YTD bonus accrual estimates
• Support the CHRO and Director in producing the consolidated variable compensation pool budget per Compensation Policy v1.3
• Translate cluster financial performance into gate-level outcomes for the Compensation & Promotion Committee
• Maintain the twelve contract variables register per role (per Compensation Policy Section 8) in coordination with People & Culture

Business Case & Investment Support

• Provide financial modelling support for business cases going to the Local Investment Committee
• Validate that business cases clear the 12% cost-of-capital hurdle and present the financial summary to the Committee
• Maintain a tracker of all approved investments, their committed capex, and their post-investment performance

What We Are Looking For

Essential

• 4–7 years of experience in FP&A, corporate finance, financial planning, or management accounting in a multi-business or group environment
• Strong financial modelling skills — able to build and maintain a Group consolidated P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow model from scratch
• Deep understanding of budgeting and planning cycles in complex organisations
• Comfortable with the mechanics of variable compensation tied to financial gates (or willing to learn quickly)
• High attention to detail with the ability to hold multiple financial threads simultaneously without losing accuracy
• Strong communicator — able to translate financial complexity into clear language for non-finance cluster heads

Preferred

• Qualified accountant (ACCA, CPA, CIMA or equivalent) or MBA with a strong finance orientation
• Experience in a conglomerate, private equity-backed business, or DFI-funded organisation
• Familiarity with East African regulatory and tax environment (Tanzania preferred)
• Experience supporting a Board budget approval process
• Exposure to working capital management in trading or asset-intensive businesses

What Success Looks Like — Year 1

• The FY2027 budget is delivered on time to the Board, with a clean Group consolidated model and cluster-level sign-off from all three cluster heads
• Monthly variance reports are produced within five working days of month-end close
• The five-year financial model is maintained and updated — not built fresh each time something changes
• The Director and GCOO can answer any financial performance question in real time because you keep the numbers current
• Business cases arriving at the Local Investment Committee have been pre-validated for financial robustness before they reach the room

Committee & Governance Exposure

This role provides direct support to the Local Investment Committee (financial validation of business cases) and the Compensation & Promotion Committee (variable pool budget). You will work closely with the GCFO's office and will have visibility of Board-level financial submissions. This is uncommon exposure for an L3 role and reflects the seniority of the function's mandate.