$120K + for Dominion's new MD. Great opportunity but ...

Why ex-military officer?
What happened to good old academic qualifications and experience?

Is Dominion's youth camp to be an extension of “my boys” terrorist network being headed by Dominion's spiritual leader, to be let loose on political opponents, as we are witnessing now against Miguna Miguna in Nyando and Odhiambo Oketch in Komarock?

What is the true end agenda of Dominion? So far not looking so good fellows.

Odundo jaKarateng'
President, Luo Communities Everywhere (Luocome)

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"Seeking a recently retired former military officer for senior level position in Siaya, Kenya. Preferably a retired Navy Captain or Admiral...or Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps Colonel or General with large command experience.

Position Summary:
Manage all aspects of a 17,000-acre, vertically-integrated commercial rice farm and aquaculture operation in Western Kenya.

Responsibilities:
• Manage all company activities within the perimeter of the farm
• Manage off-site activities relating to the Yala farm, including sales, transportation, public relations and government relations
• Maximize profits, commensurate with the welfare of company employees.
• Report to and take instructions from the company president.
• Directly manage the following departmental managers:
o Field Crop Production *
o Field Crop Storage and Processing
o Aquaculture Production and Processing *
o Sales and Marketing
o Transportation
o Field Preparation and Maintenance *
o General Construction
o Accounting and Human Resources *
o Public Relations and Community Development *
o Fleet Maintenance *
o Security
* Denotes senior managers
• Assist owners in the development of operating budgets and propose capital allocations.
• Monitor fiscal results and work with owners and departmental managers to maintain approved budgets.
• Clarify and reinforce to all employees the owners’ business strategies and values.
• Develop and enforce company policies and procedures.
• Resolve differences between departmental managers and keep them working in a clear, common direction.
• Hire and fire employees (other than senior managers which action requires approval of the President)
• Cultivate an attitude of respect for the company among employees, customers, the community and the Nation of Kenya.


Required Skills and Abilities:

• The priority of qualifications for this position (in descending order) is as follows:
o Management experience
o Business experience
o Agricultural experience
o Logistical experience
o International experience

• Applicants must demonstrate success in the management of diverse employees and activities. To have achieved success in the presence of challenging situations and locations will be an advantage.
• The fundamentals of finance are important. Principals of basic accounting and budgeting must be understood. Equally important is an appreciation for American-style capitalism and the relationship between personal performance and personal reward for the GM and his senior subordinates.
• The General Manager must value the rich diversity of Kenya and her people with regard to culture and tradition. As the leader of over 300 permanent employees and hundreds of temporary laborers, he must advance the concepts of fair but firm employee policies that help them emerge from poverty with hope for the next generation, while delivering good value and service to the company.


Benefits:
The salary is negotiable dependent upon experience but will be not less than US$120,000. Employee benefits include:
• Annual bonus equal to 1.0% of the gross operating profits of the farm.
• A family home with furnishings and utilities. The acting manager’s home is a two-story, three-bedroom house but a new home will be built by mid-2008 inside a compound to be built around a guest lodge with pool and tennis court. That compound will be principally for physicians, nurses and other Western guests who will be providing volunteer medical services at the Kenya Youth Camp adjacent to the farm.
• 65% of the premium of a health insurance policy to be selected by employee
• Personal 4WD vehicle – with driver when appropriate.
• Wireless internet with Skype and related IT services, satellite television.
• Cell phone.
• Thirty days of annual leave, including two round trip airfares to the U.S. for each member of the family residing at the farm.
• Employment contracts are required by the Government of Kenya. A two-year contract is proposed with provisions for renewal at the discretion of both parties. The term of the initial contract notwithstanding, this is a permanent position and the owners are seeking a manager with long-term expectations.
• The Internal Revenue Service exempts the first $82,400 of foreign earned income from Federal income tax. The amount of this exemption increases annually but has not yet been posted for 2007.
• Cooks, housekeepers and nannies may be hired for approximately US$15.00 per week per employee.

Location of the Farm:
The farm is situated on the equator near Lake Victoria in a basin fed by the Yala River that has been historically referred to as the Yala Swamp. The climate is mild, as the elevation of the farm is 3,800 feet above sea level. Every day of the year the temperature at noon is 88 to 91°F and at midnight is 68 to 72°F, except during the rainy season when it can be somewhat cooler. The nearest major city, Kisumu, has a population in excess of 400,000 and is approximately 50 miles southeast of the farm. It is the retail and medical center of Nyanza Province and the Kisumu airport has daily jetliner service to Nairobi and other regional cities.

Farm Operations:
This business is premised upon the production of two or more crops per acre per year, free water, low land rents, stable politics and economy, inexpensive labor and a perennial shortage of rice and other crops in Kenya that lead to some of the highest commodity prices in the world.

The farm was leased from the local county councils in 2003 and those leases run through 2048. They provide for the capture of up to 70% of the flow of the Yala River which has a flow rate of up to 300 cubic meters per second. Dominion has built nine miles of dikes and a major dam across the river, creating a reservoir with 1,100 surface acres. It has also built several miles of main canals and secondary irrigations canals, check structures, roads, airstrip, granaries, rice mill, a housing compound, maintenance shops and a number of minor structures.

The compound is home to four American managers and the acting General Manager – a British citizen and lifelong Kenyan resident who will remain as public relations manager after the General Manager is in place. All five expats are married, three of whom are accompanied by their wives. The number of permanent employees ranges from 300 to 400 persons but can swell to over 1,000 persons for brief periods such as when cotton is hand picked on land not yet leveled for rice production.

Dry-land cultivation commenced in 2004 and irrigated farming began in mid-2006. Yields on rice have consistently exceeded 13,000 pounds per acre which is very near world records and is five times the historic yield for East African rice. Rice under irrigated cultivation currently totals only 700 acres and is limited by the progress of land clearing and field preparation. Large-scale leveling and rice field preparation began in 2006 and averages only 10 to 12 acres per day, as rice paddies must be perfectly flat and include minor dikes, canals and service roads on all sides. It is anticipated that the 17,050 acres will yield 14,000 to 15,000 acres of rice paddies by late 2010, by which time annualized rice production should exceed 100,000 metric tons (assuming no rotation). Rotation crops include soybeans and cotton.

Tilapia fish have been selectively bred on the farm since 2004 and are now in the fifth generation. As no animal feed is produced in Kenya, large-scale aquaculture cannot commence until sufficient quantities of soybeans and rice bran are available from internal production. Significant aquaculture is scheduled to begin in late 2008 with fish to be processed at existing facilities in Kisumu. Upon achieving annual production in the range of 10,000 to 15,000 metric tons, a processing plant will be constructed onsite. The farm’s ultimate production objective is 20,000 metric tons of whole tilapia annually. Wholesale prices for chilled fresh fillets currently exceed US$9,000 per metric ton. Principal markets will be the EU and the Middle East.

Ownership:
The farm was developed and is majority-owned by Calvin Burgess of Guthrie, Oklahoma. A significant minority interest is held by Dr. J.D. McKean of Edmond, Oklahoma. Dr. McKean is a retired physician who owns a commercial bank and other businesses. The company is debt free and there are no plans to change or expand ownership or to encumber the assets with any form of financial obligation. Mr. Burgess is the President and CEO and spends approximately one-third of his time in Kenya. Visit www.domgp.com for more information about the companies owned and operated by Calvin Burgess. "

http://www.edgeio.com/item/10242152