About the Company
GrowSari is a tech-enabled B2B platform dedicated to transforming the over one million sari-sari stores across the Philippines into comprehensive service hubs for grassroots communities. Since its inception in 2016, GrowSari has expanded to serve over 50,000 stores in 100 cities, powering them with tools for growth, data analytics, and efficient management. The platform provides affordable inventory, working capital loans, and supports a variety of micro-services, such as telco load and e-commerce, enabling store owners to optimize their operations. GrowSari also delivers vital insights for manufacturers and distributors to enhance their strategies, building a sustainable ecosystem that drives local economic growth.
Job Summary:
The Growth & Innovation Associate is one of the most exciting and unconventional roles in our organization. This is not a traditional job with a fixed task list. It is a hands-on, build-as-you-go role for someone who is early in their career but already thinks like a founder — someone who gets energized by problems without obvious solutions, who takes initiative before being asked, and who finds more satisfaction in launching something imperfect than perfecting something that never ships.
You will work directly alongside the CEO/Founder and senior leadership, embedded in the heart of the business with exposure to every function — brand, sales, supply chain, finance, and digital. Your mandate is to help the business grow into its next chapter by building new ideas, testing new channels, launching new products, and identifying opportunities that the core team is too busy to chase.
This role is designed for someone who wants to compress a decade of learning into a few years — by doing real work, owning real outcomes, and building real things in the fast-paced, competitive world of FMCG.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Market Research & Opportunity Spotting
- Monitor FMCG market trends, competitor activity, consumer behavior shifts, and emerging product categories relevant to the company's portfolio
- Conduct structured research on white space opportunities — new products, new channels, new geographies, or new consumer segments the business could target
- Summarize findings into clear, actionable insight reports for leadership review
- Track what competitors, challenger brands, and D2C startups are doing — and flag anything the company should respond to or learn from
- Build and maintain a simple opportunity tracker — a running list of ideas worth exploring, with early-stage assessment of feasibility and potential
2. New Product & Brand Initiative Support
- Assist in the ideation and early development of new product concepts — gathering consumer feedback, benchmarking packaging and pricing, and supporting product testing coordination
- Help prepare business cases and concept briefs for new product launches or brand extensions, including market sizing, basic financial projections, and go-to-market considerations
- Coordinate with internal teams (Marketing, Supply Chain, R&D) and external partners (contract manufacturers, packaging suppliers, designers) to move concepts forward
- Support the management of the innovation pipeline — tracking which concepts are progressing, which are stalled, and why
- Assist in consumer and retailer feedback sessions, helping capture insights and translate them into product or positioning recommendations
3. Commercial & Channel Development Support
- Support the identification and development of new sales channels — including e-commerce marketplaces, D2C platforms, social commerce (TikTok Shop, Instagram), quick commerce, and foodservice
- Help research and initiate contact with potential distributors, trade partners, or key accounts under the guidance of senior leadership
- Assist in preparing pitch decks, product sell-in materials, and trade presentations for retailer and distributor meetings
- Monitor performance of existing channels and surface data-driven recommendations for improvement
- Coordinate sampling campaigns, in-store activations, or pop-up initiatives as part of new channel testing efforts
4. Business Case Development & Financial Modelling
- Build basic financial models for new initiatives — including revenue projections, cost estimates, break-even analysis, and ROI scenarios
- Support the preparation of investment proposals and initiative briefs for CEO and leadership review
- Track and report on the financial performance of pilot projects or new launches against agreed targets
- Develop competency in FMCG-specific commercial metrics — gross margin, trade spend efficiency, cost per unit, distribution coverage, and shelf velocity
- Assist the Finance team in budgeting and forecasting for new business initiatives
5. Project Management & Initiative Execution
- Own the day-to-day coordination and execution of assigned growth projects and innovation initiatives from brief to delivery
- Build and maintain project plans, timelines, and status trackers for active initiatives
- Proactively identify blockers, escalate risks, and propose solutions to keep projects on track
- Prepare regular progress updates and reports for the CEO and relevant stakeholders
- Ensure clear communication and alignment across cross-functional teams involved in each initiative
6. Strategic Support & Executive Assistance
- Support the preparation of strategic presentations, Board decks, and investor materials as directed by the CEO/Founder
- Conduct ad hoc research and analysis on topics requested by senior leadership — market sizing, competitor deep-dives, partnership evaluation, etc.
- Participate in strategic planning sessions and leadership meetings, contributing observations and ideas while building understanding of how decisions are made at the top
- Help document key decisions, strategic frameworks, and lessons learned from projects and initiatives
- Act as a reliable execution partner to the CEO — following through on commitments, managing upward proactively, and operating with high trust and discretion
7. Innovation Culture & Internal Collaboration
- Help facilitate internal ideation sessions or brainstorming workshops to surface ideas from across the business
- Serve as an internal connector — bridging conversations between Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance on cross-functional initiatives
- Bring fresh, external perspectives into internal discussions — referencing what's working in other markets, categories, or startup ecosystems
- Demonstrate and encourage a bias for action, resourcefulness, and ownership in day-to-day interactions with colleagues
