Growth Director: Rest of Sub Saharan Africa

Develop and build capability

• Enable and embed the business model by aligning financial planning, development priorities, franchisee support, governance routines and execution disciplines across priority markets.
  
• Lead business planning, forecasting, performance reporting and financial analysis to support achievement of revenue, operating profit, capital efficiency and net new unit growth targets.
  
• Develop and maintain franchisee and equity business model economics, including margin improvement, restaurant-level profitability, capital requirements, returns and risk assumptions.
  
• Provide robust governance of financial, accounting, capital and strategic projects planning activities, ensuring decisions are supported by timely and accurate data.
  

Develop an accelerated unit expansion strategy

• Develop and execute an accelerated unit expansion strategy for the Rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, including market prioritization, pipeline planning, site feasibility and launch readiness.
  
• Form part of the Investment Committee and evaluate new store, remodel, acquisition and consolidation proposals to validate ROI, capital allocation, risk and strategic fit.
  
• Develop and implement asset growth, optimization and refresh strategies that improve restaurant performance, brand standards, franchisee confidence and long-term market sustainability.
  
• Direct and co-ordinate development activities, including recommendations on new restaurants, site opportunities, restaurant concepts, capital expenditure and restaurant enhancements
  

Build investor, franchisee and ecosystem capability to enable the business model

• Build a compelling investor and franchise partner proposition that clearly articulates market potential, growth runway, returns, risks and partnership expectations.
  
• Develop relationships with high-quality franchisees, investors, funders, developers, logistics partners, digital platforms and government stakeholders who can unlock market access and scale.
  
• Lead commercial modelling, capital allocation recommendations, pricing assumptions, development pipeline planning and investment optimization for priority markets.
  
• Identify M&A, acquisition, conversion or strategic alliance opportunities that accelerate footprint growth, local capability or speed to profitability.
  

Co-create, together with LT, Annual Operating Plan (AOP)

• Create a disciplined growth operating rhythm using financial reporting, market scorecards, pipeline tracking, business reviews and performance routines.
  
• Ensure colleagues receive timely, accurate and relevant financial, franchisee, development and market performance data to support business decisions.
  
• Partner with Finance, Development, Operations, Marketing, Supply Chain and Legal to embed practical tools, reporting and governance into expansion decisions.
  
• Track leading indicators including pipeline conversion, market readiness, restaurant unit economics, partner performance, speed to open, cash flow, return on investment and capital efficiency.
  

Lead cross-functional execution and governance against the AOP and expansion agenda

• Lead agile, cross-functional squads to move priority markets from insight to investment decision, partner commitment, launch and scale.
  
• Establish governance, decision rights, milestones and escalation processes that remove barriers and accelerate execution across rest-of-Africa expansion.
  
• Provide regular reporting to the General Manager and Africa Leadership Team on growth bets, market readiness, partner progress, risk, capital deployment and strategic choices.
  
• Deliver NNU growth targets while building the longer-term capability, partnerships and market pipeline required for sustained accelerated growth.
  

Key Business Challenges Addressed:

• Turning fragmented, uncertain and high-potential African markets into a prioritized, investable and executable growth pipeline.
  
• Balancing speed, scale, brand standards, local relevance, partner capability, risk and return in complex emerging-market environments.
  
• Creating the investor confidence, cross-functional alignment, finance discipline and development execution required to enable the business model and unlock growth across Rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Strategy, Finance, Economics, Data Analytics, Marketing, Innovation, Engineering or a related field MBA, executive education in growth strategy, digital transformation, emerging markets, venture building or equivalent post-graduate qualification preferred.
  
• Minimum 10 years’ relevant senior experience in finance, business planning, franchise development, market expansion, investment governance, corporate development or a related field, preferably in restaurant, hospitality, retail or consumer products.
  
• Proven ability to unlock accelerated growth by identifying white-space opportunities, building scalable commercial models and converting strategy into measurable execution.
  
• Strong financial and commercial fluency, including business planning, forecasting, scenario modelling, unit economics, ROI analysis, capital allocation, margin improvement and performance tracking.
  
• Working knowledge of franchise operating models, development pipelines, restaurant economics, market-entry requirements and multi-country business model enablement.
  
• Experience creating investor-ready business cases, ROI models, partner value propositions, capital allocation recommendations and board-level decision narratives.
  
• Demonstrated capability in ecosystem building, including franchise partner attraction, investor engagement, funder relationships, government navigation and strategic alliances.
  
• High learning agility and comfort with ambiguity, able to operate across markets with varied infrastructure, regulation, consumer behavior and partner maturity.
  
• Strong experimentation mindset, with experience using pilots, rapid testing, stage-gate decisions and evidence-based scale-up plans.
  
• Excellent enterprise leadership, influence, negotiation, storytelling and executive communication skills across senior internal and external stakeholders.
  
• Proficiency in relevant tools, including financial modelling, ERP, CRM, market analytics, BI dashboards, project tracking and collaboration platforms.