British High Commission Sector Director: Mining - Department for Business and Trade Jobs in Zambia

British High Commission Sector Director: Mining - Department for Business and Trade Jobs in Zambia


Main purpose of job:

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the Trade Promotion and Negotiation organisation for the UK. We promote UK businesses overseas and attract foreign investment to our shores. We have 3,000 staff across the globe in over 100 countries. Our aspiration is to address some of the challenges facing the UK, by helping British businesses to internationalise and grow overseas.

DBT Africa is one of the nine DBT global networks and is led by John Humphrey, HM Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Africa. The Africa Region is exciting and energising and UK firms have a strong presence here, making the UK the the second largest investor on the continent.

With some of the strongest growing economies in the world and booming population growth, there are numerous more opportunities for UK firms; from tech start-ups in the West to infrastructure in the East. The DBT Africa network’s role is to promote these opportunities and position the UK as the continent’s number one trading partner and investor.

You will join the Department for Business and Trade’s Africa network. This role will provide crucial leadership and expertise to enable the expansion.

Your job will be to work independently with senior level African buyers and key UK companies. You will help UK firms to create new, and expand existing business, and build up investments in Africa. This includes identifying the very best opportunities in Africa and the right strategies and markets together with UK companies, informing, challenging and helping UK companies at board level to create plans that support new effective market entry, and successful engagements with major projects.

You will guide DBT country teams to understand the UK offer, and help them to evaluate projects in terms of their best alignment to deliver outcomes that match UK interests, and to work effectively in support of UK business interests in their countries. You will leading DBT’s work with the key UK businesses in mining in Africa.

You will develop a strong understanding of the current state of mining development in Africa, the greatest opportunities for the UK, identifying new projects on the horizon as well as driving existing projects forward. You will learn to understand the key barriers to UK trade and investment, and ensure that our work in this area is prioritised effectively, and that adequate action is taken to resolve these barriers.

You will engage UK companies early on when opportunities start to arise in Africa. You will liaise with key buyers, increase their understanding of UK expertise, and help key buyers to engage with UK companies. You will create and lead a small number of very high quality events that reflect the unique quality of the UK offer in mining, and that advance our interests with key buyers.

The successful candidate will have autonomy and will be expected to bring a step change in UK business, drawing on the full set of tools available, including UK export finance, UK Government capability working with host Governments, and all the UK’s private sector USPs, to create partnerships based on sustainable growth in our trade.

This will require strategic thinking, drive, leadership and an ability to understand and link up different tools and approaches, creativity and problem solving in work with stakeholders to ensure the right outcomes are achieved, together with sales and delivery skills in working with key buyers.

The jobholder will join a dynamic team of experts from the private sector, committed to support UK business interests and Africa’s economic growth. This is an exciting time to join DBT Africa, as we deliver on our ambition to be Africa’s trade