Wafiq Essop

Experience

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  Family retail store

  Jan 2010 - Jan 2019

  Served as a cashier and dealt with customer's concerns. Assisted customers, many whom were very old or could not read withdraw their wages. I had to deal with many drunk people, which was awesome training for me in hindsight.

  • Cashier Customer Service

    Jan 2013 - Jan 2019

  • Merchandising

    Jan 2010 - Dec 2012
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  Self Employed

  Dec 2016 - May 2019

  Autoparts Salesperson

  Car parts from stripped cars were refurbished and sold.Furniture was refurbished and sold.

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  Bemlab

  Oct 2018 - Nov 2018

  Lab Assistant

  Assisted in the soil sampling and analysis laboratory. Detailed chemical and physical properties of the soil was then determined.

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  Green Closet

  Feb 2019 - Oct 2020

  Product Developer

  Research and Development of products that are beneficial for the market. From concept, prototyping, pilot projects and finally licensing off my IP. Generation of actionable ideas for my clients.➢ Ideation➢ Prototyping of the product➢ Pilot projects➢ Marketing➢ Licensing of IP (2019-)

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  Ecosoil South Africa

  Nov 2019 - Feb 2020

  Junior Research Agronomist (R&D)

  Did Research and Development for Ecosoil. Projects include optimization of products to enhance sustainability and efficacy in addition to making certain product more cost effective. Development of new fertilizers and composting methods.➢Designed, planed and built a pot trial to test the viability of different compostactivator ingredients.➢ Had to ensure that the different treatments were done in a timely manner on eachof the pots in the trial and recorded results obtained every week (data capturing).There were more than 76 pots.➢ The results were the recorded to determine the effect of different ingredients onplant growth and which ones were supposed to be taken out (Analysis).➢ Data analytics was done to take the all the data and make an easy to understandformat. A presentation was then done.➢ Another trial was done to determine the effects of a chemical additive to alleviatesoil compaction and salinity on saline soil (Karoo soils). I designed and built thistrial.➢ Tests to determine soil compaction and salinity was done after 2 months to seeif the chemical (which the company wanted to launch) was indeed doing the jobthat it was supposed to.➢ Data was processed and analyzed and another presentation was given on this trial.➢ Had to manage some laborers to assist me when needed.➢ My third project was helping my colleague who was doing a trial to determine ifanaerobic composting works for the business. Reports were written on all threeof these trials which served as valuable IP for the business going forward.➢ Assisted colleagues with data capture on a citrus farm trial. Show less

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  DFM Technologies Pty Ltd

  Nov 2020 - Jan 2021

  Sales & Agricultural Consulting

  ➢ Sales and cold calling➢Training of new clients and customer retention (CRM)➢ Installation and building/fixing of soil moisture probes➢ Irrigation Scheduling according to different soils➢ Line Setting➢ Soil Profiling and consultingOn the Customer Success Management:• Establish and maintain customer relationships• Establish customer service policies and practices• Provide high-level technical and product support• Supervise and develop customer success teams Show less

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  AfriNat

  Feb 2021 - now

  Agronomic Sales Engineer & Business Developer

  ➢ Building Crop Production plans for farmers➢ Managing several demo and registration trials for our client base in all part of the Country➢ Networking (nationally and internationally) with private and public stakeholders to create partnerships between us and them➢ Technical Marketing material creation➢ Sales and farm visits - customer success➢ Knowledge of legalities surrounding fertilizers and registrations thereof. ➢ Finding and developing different sales channels➢ Involved in R&D to produce new products and improve existing ones➢ Facilitation of and planning of demo trials on farms➢ Identify and research potential clients➢ Develop and maintain client relationships➢ Data analysis and business insight creation➢ Opening new markets for current product range ➢ Bio-stimulant, natural farming, herbicide, insecticide, fungicide, microbes and biological Ag inputs knowledge ➢ Training of sales agents on product functionalities➢ Building of research greenhouse➢Regenerative and sustainable agriculture/farming programs were developed to reduce carbon footprint➢Reducing fertilizer costs along with helping farmers farm more ecologically friendly➢Make and give presentations to prospective clients and internal executives➢Ag sales, crop science, horticulture, plant breeder, soil scientist - technical skill setOn the project management front:• Delegating tasks on the project to employees best positioned to complete them• Making effective decisions when presented with multiple options for how to progress with the project• Serving as a point of contact for teams when multiple units are assigned to the same project to ensure team actions remain in synergy• Communicating with executives or the board to keep the project aligned with their goals• Performing quality control on the project throughout development to maintain the standards expected• Adjusting schedules and targets on the project as needs or financing for the project change Show less