Melanie Norris

Managing all day to day dealings with major vendors such as HP, Microsoft, APC, Numeric, Bosch, Transcend, Manhattan, Genius including, but not limited to trading terms and conditions, credit terms, quota´s, marketing activities and budgets, rebate monitoring, pricing and logistical requirements. Loading orders and following up to ensure timeous delivery. Managing credit lines and negotiating new credit terms. Negotiating new vendor contracts. Also sourcing new products from Asia and managing operational side of delivery. Supporting the MD with many and varied personal projects from aircraft procurement and shipping to assisting with charitable endeavors and farming projects.

Managing all aspects of Supplies Distribution for English and Southern Africa, including setting up a Distribution Channel in English Africa by sourcing new partners and negotiating contract terms, credit terms, handling all on-boarding processes and managing the end to end relationship from there on including, but not limited to, ordering, supply-chain, managing partner programs, marketing plans and budgets as well as developing the final tier business in country with these partners. Developing a general business plan for the region, aligned with HP EMEA strategy but taking the territory (and individual countries within the territory) into consideration as well as offering advice and researching best / most cost effective routes to market across English Africa. Product training to wholesale sales staff as well as training to procurement / product managers on HP tools, procurement rules, channel programmes and anti-counterfeit measures.

Managing supplies business for Eastern & Southern Africa - responsible for working with 3 wholesalers in Southern Africa, 1 Pan African Wholesaler and the set up of a new wholesaler in Eastern Africa. In this rold I was responsible for the implementation and management of the SCCP (Supplies Commercial Channel) program with 13 partners in Namibia and 16 partners in Mauritius including business planning, marketing, quota setting and management as well as ensuring HP had a strong mind share within the business at decision maker level. I further offered training on programmes and tools offered by HP both to resellers and distribution partners, but also more generalised Anti-Counterfeit training to the public and even customs departments.

This role involved managing 3 wholesale partners with a quota of $ 90 million per half. including growing their relationship with HP and winning loyalty from partners, ensuring partners are accredited and helping them to get accreditation up to date. I got involved with forming part of partners’ sales teams and assisting them with sales - especially when required for large deal negotiations and even sitting in partners’ strategy and business planning sessions and offering guidance from an HP perspective to ensure Business Plans developed comply with the HP Strategy and take quota´s into consideration. I was responsible for preventing partners from ‘grey’ marketing (both in purchases and sales) by communicating HP processes and ensuring that business both inside and outside of SA was carried out through the correct channels. My end to end role included assisting partners with resolving all HP issues from delays in stock to service issues and reporting figures on an on-going basis to ensure they achieve targets and to ensure early detection of any sell out reporting issues as well as ensuring partners had the correct HP resources available to them for everything from product information to pre-sales consultants across all Business Units.

This role involved managing 18 final tier partners, with a quota of $ 9,000,000 per half with the responsibility of growing the relationship with HP and winning loyalty from Partners, ensuring that their accreditation remained current and they were aware of HP strategy. As part of my partners’ sales teams I would assist them with end user visits and sales consulting. By communicating HP processes and ensuring that business both inside and outside of SA was carried out within the correct channels, I prevented partners from ‘grey’ marketing (both in purchases and sales). I negotiated quotas with partners quarterly and gave them feedbackon an on-going basis to ensure they achieved targets and maximised rebates, as well as setting marketing budgets and overseeing expenditure with the aim of giving maximum possible ROE and capitalising budgets available to the benefit of the resellers and HP. In this role I was the SA lead for SMB Data Protection programme. I had to ensure partners had the correct HP resources available to them for everything from product information to pre-sales consultants across all business units.

Despec´s core function was distributing supplies to English Africa and, as the Product Manager, I was responsible for managing the forecasting and reporting to HP, as well as maintaining the relationship, negotiating contracts, marketing funds and general business terms. I needed to manage the purchasing of all consumables and ensure the correct levels of stock were held to support the business and it's growth. I ensured the profitability of the division by developing varied pricing structures for various customer types and territories and managing margins. My role included assisting sales staff with customer issues and product knowledge as well as key account management on critical accounts, reporting to Despec Head Office in Europe. I traveled to various countries within the region to assess markets and grow our customer base, managed both the inbound and outbound logistics functions and managed the marketing budgets by preparing plans and overseeing expenditure.

I started at Bateleur Customised Solutions as an Internal Sales representative and Bookkeeper, giving support to the out bound sales team, but was soon promoted to Key Account Manager position wherein I serviced and existing client base while also actively sourcing and generating new clients and supporting them with an end to end service that included consulting on requirements, providing solutions and even handling repairs post sales. I was awarded Employee of the Year 2001. Microsoft Licensing Specialist and Printing & Supplies Specialist

At Johdav I was responsible for all aspects of administration in an accounting firm that consisted of three Accountants and two Bookkeepers all internal accounting functions including Petty Cash control, invoicing, statements, Creditor and Debtor control, VAT returns, PAYE returns, RSC levies, Processing Staff time sheets on PQ. I also carried out certain accounting functions on behalf of clients, including monthly invoice and statement runs, entering and control of Debtors and Creditors on SOHO, PAYE returns, VAT returns, UIF returns and RSC levies. As the Personal Assistant to the Company’s Sole Member, I was responsible for all aspects of organising his personal and business diaries, as well as organising various functions and activities on his behalf. I also entered details onto Caseware (up to trial balance) to prepare books for Accountants to carry out Annual Financial Statements for clients.