SC Johnson: Project Groundswell
Position of "Project Field Lead"
Location
Ghana
Term & Reporting
Full Time
Position reports to SC Johnson's Strategic Sustainability Manager
Start Date: April 1, 2010
Project Description
SC Johnson is a family-owned and managed business dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, and insect control. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE ®, OFF! ®, PLEDGE ®, RAID ®, SCRUBBING BUBBLES ®, SHOUT ®, WINDEX ® and ZIPLOC ® in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN ®, BAYGON ®, BRISE ®, ECHO ®, KABIKILLER ®, KLEAR ®, and MR. MUSCLE ®. The 123-year old company, with more than $8 billion in sales, employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells products in more than 110 countries. www.scjohnson.com
Groundswell is a sustainable business initiative to create a profitable, community-based business model that drives the adoption of consumer products and behaviors effective against malaria prevention. Groundswell is led by SC Johnson (SCJ) with the support of Cornell University's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
SC Johnson will apply a unique entrepreneurship process pioneered by Cornell's CSGE. This process partners a company with members of a community to co-create simultaneously a new business and a new consumer market. The process has been used by companies to develop new businesses and consumer markets around sanitation (SC Johnson in Kenya), nutrition (DuPont/Solae in India), access to clean water (TWI in Mexico), and healthcare (Ascension Health in the United States).
Position Description: Project Field Lead
Ø Key Role: Lead the SCJ field team and the local community partners in co-creating a financially sustainable, community-based business that integrates SCJ's product lines as a core part of a consumer value proposition effective in preventing malaria.
Ø Responsibilities:
o Support SCJ Groundswell Project Director in creation of overall business strategy, project timelines, and project milestones
o Translate market creation methodology and business strategy into field-level action plans
o Oversee execution of action plans in reaching milestones
o Report-out regularly on progress, challenges and learnings
o Provide strong leadership and business direction in a manner that builds cohesion and capacity among community business partners
o Maintain strong communication and alignment among all project stakeholders
o Serve as bridge between the project's field-level and corporate level challenges and needs
o Oversee field-level project finances
Ø Qualifications:
o Experienced entrepreneur/intrapreneur with track record of managing project budgets and leading teams in taking a business/organization from concept to going concern
o Proven ability to excel in dynamic, high uncertainty environment
o Cross-functional versatility, with knowledge of cost accounting, project finance, and new product marketing
o Excellent facilitation skills and ability to communicate complex issues and concepts to lay persons
o Fluent (oral and written) in English and local language(s)
o Passion for using business as a tool for addressing poverty
Compensation
TBD
Please email resumes and cover letters to: Justin DeKoszmovszky Manager, Strategic Sustainability SC Johnson & Sons JPDeKosz@scj.com & Erik Simanis Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise Johnson School of Management Cornell University ens25@cornell.edu
Project Groundswell FAQS:
Groundswell is a sustainable business initiative to create a profitable, community-based business model that drives the adoption of consumer products and behaviors effective
Who?
Groundswell is led by SC Johnson with the support of Cornell University's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). SC Johnson will partner closely with residents of the target community todevelop an initial business concept and to then turn that concept into a sustainable business. CSGE will play a coaching and mentorship role to the SC Johnson project team, contributing its technical experience in new market creation and new business development for low income communities. BMGF will provide seed funding and working capital to support the establishment of the community-based business.
We believe a market-based, consumer-level approach to malaria eradication can play a vital, complementary role to the current suite of philanthropy-based, public health approaches. By working with an "at-risk" community to integrate malaria prevention products into a sustainable business model and broader consumer value proposition with mass appeal, we can align the objectives of malaria control, customer wants andneeds, and profitability. Also, while we will start with currently available malaria prevention products, demonstrating a viable market opportunity will attract additional private-sector investment and drive the development of new and improved consumer products effective against malaria.
SC Johnson will apply a unique entrepreneurship process pioneered by Cornell's CSGE. This process partners a company with members of a community to co-create simultaneously a new business and a new consumer market. The process has been used by companies to develop new businesses and consumer markets around sanitation (SC Johnson in Kenya), nutrition (DuPont/Solae in India), access to cleanwater (TWI in Mexico), and healthcare (Ascension Health in the United States).
We will launch the project in Ghana. Ghana was chosen for several reasons. First, malaria infection rates vary significantly across the country, ranging from near eradication to extremely high incidence. Ghana, therefore, allows us to test theeffectiveness of the business under a broad spectrum of malaria conditions, thereby helping to ensure it's effectiveness in other geographies. Second, SC Johnson has excellent business capacity in Ghana, as well as a wide range of current products applicable to malaria prevention. The availability of these SC Johnson resources will help ensure a successful business outcome and a strong foundation on which to grow and scale the business. Third, Ghana has supportive government policies for testing new products in a timely manner. This factor will help us to ensure that the newbusiness's products and services are tailored to the business model and the specific needs of our target consumer segment.
When?
We will start the field work in Ghana in June 2010, with the goal of establishing a profitable business in the target community within two years. Our longer-term goal is togrow and scale the business across Ghana and into other countries once we have initial proof of concept, including a profitable business model with sustained consumerdemand for products and services demonstrated to reduce malaria in the served community.
