The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the Trade Promotion and Negotiation Organisation for the UK, and DBT Africa is one of nine (9) DBT global networks, led by His Majestys Trade Commissioner for Africa John Humphrey (HMTC).
Business events drive interactions and serve as a catalyst for deal origination, spotlighting and promoting not just UK DBTs service offer but the Best of Britain internationally. As a medium, it has become increasingly important for meeting and delivering on key strategic objectives for businesses and governments.
The post holder will be responsible for DBT Africas approach to event management, with a primary focus on external facing sector events. They will oversee the day to day running of the events unit, manage the Africa networks forward look calendar and coordinate cross-functional teams and 3rd party agencies to support the preparation for and delivery of trade events. The post holder will ensure standards and high quality of execution to reflect the high quality of the UK business offer. They will work closely with other DBT colleagues on budgeting and personally negotiating with external providers and sponsors to ensure value for money.
The candidate will need to maintain a system of internal governance, ensure compliance with financial processes, anticipate and mitigate risk and undertake regular reviews of events to ensure resources are being deployed in an effective and efficient manner.
Roles And Responsibilities
The role
The role will combine marketing, communications and events knowledge and experience with strong project management, leadership and people management skills. The role will report into the Head of Marketing and Communications based in Johannesburg.
You will be a key part of the DBT team, and you will work directly with Sector Directors, Private Offices of Ministers, Heads of Missions and DBT Events HQ to ensure DBT Africas business priorities are integrated into identified priority events.
The Events division is a very small unit with a large remit and responsibility. The successful candidate will need to be a dynamic leader with good communication skills, quick thinking, forward looking, flexible and resilient. The role requires travel within Africa and to the UK.
Your Primary Objectives Will Be
- Lead DBT Africas Event team: You will lead and manage our Events Unit consisting of one events supports officer based in Johannesburg in addition to the post holder, overseeing the workflow of the events team and support employees with key external facing events to help deliver best in class events these range from trade shows, business roundtables, trade missions and DBT Africas inputs into specific wider HMG events such as the UK-African Investment Summit 2024.
- You will collaborate closely with HQ teams, including the Ministerial Visits and Trade Envoys teams to compile the forward look, communicate DBT Africa activities to HQ teams and ensure that the network is making the most of VIP level engagement.
- You will work closely with DBT Africa Sector Directors to jointly develop plans to deliver the events element of sector campaigns and achieve desired impact e.g., participant needs analysis to ensure event relevance and value.
- You will advise and guide teams and the wider network on factors that will impact event outcomes such as quality, effectiveness, budget, risks etc. You will be responsible for maintaining the DBT Africa forward look and using it as a tool to monitor, review and guide events activity across the Network to ensure that only planned events with clear, measurable outcomes take place.
- You will ensure standards and quality of execution as well as ensuring value for money by establishing and leading the evaluation of all events ensuring continuous improvement of the Networks events and engagement.
- You will negotiate participation packages on behalf of the trade teams, identify opportunities for event related revenue, sponsorship, partnerships, products, services, etc. to ensure maximum return on spend.
1-2 staff members
