Programs and Partnership Marketer

About the role

African Food Network is hiring its first dedicated Programs and Partnerships Manager, a relationship and operations role that sits between the Founder and external partners such as sponsors, country partners, institutional bodies and event partners. The person in this role opens conversations, nurtures the pipeline, represents the organisation at events and meetings, and prepares everything so the Founder steps in only to negotiate and close deals.

Key responsibilities

• Coordinate all active AFN programs (African Food Summit and Expo UK 2026, African Food Influencers Awards 2026, African Food and Drinks Festival Ghana 2026 and future programs), managing timelines, milestones, deliverables and partner accountability, and escalating risks with proposed solutions.
• Own the sponsor pipeline: respond to every sponsor lead, qualify interest, schedule follow-ups, prepare briefing materials and track conversations until the Founder negotiates the final deal.
• Develop country partners across at least 10 African nations, onboarding them and reporting progress weekly.
• Represent AFN at industry events, networking sessions and government meetings in Abuja and beyond, following up within 48 hours of each interaction.
• Draft partner emails, follow-up notes, meeting summaries and status updates to a publish-ready standard.
• Provide a weekly report to the Founder covering the sponsor pipeline, country partner progress, program milestones and upcoming events.

Required profile

• At least two years of experience in a corporate, institutional or professionally structured organisation.
• Experience managing multiple projects or workstreams at once.
• Strong written and verbal corporate communication, able to represent AFN to executives, brand managers and government officials.
• Comfortable at networking events and proactive in follow-up.
• Proficient in at least one project tracking tool (Notion, Trello, Asana, Monday or equivalent).
• Preferred: background in event management, partnerships, communications or program coordination; experience in food, culture, creative or hospitality; familiarity with the African business landscape; based in Abuja or willing to work from there.

What we offer

• Base salary of N150,000 per month during probation, rising to N150,000 post-probation.
• Performance incentive of 2% of the value of each sponsorship deal converted or contributed to closing, after full staff status is confirmed.