When a major bilateral donor announced a highly competitive $43 million funding opportunity spanning three African countries, I was tasked with leading the entire proposal development process with just six weeks on the clock. Coordinating across multiple country offices, technical teams and more than 15 individual budgets in a fully remote environment, I developed a structured proposal management system that delivered a compliant and strategically competitive submission on time. The result was one of HJFMRI's largest regional wins, a full award of $43 million that significantly expanded the organisation's sub-Saharan Africa portfolio, deepened key donor and implementing partnerships and laid the foundation for a proposal management framework that continues to improve our bid win rates to this day. What made this win particularly meaningful was not just the number, but what it proved: that a well-coordinated remote team, armed with the right tools and clear accountability, can compete and win at the highest levels of international development funding.

When I identified that HJFMRI's growth across sub-Saharan Africa was being constrained by the absence of formal institutional partnerships in several high-priority countries, I knew that unlocking the next tier of funding required more than good proposals; it required trusted relationships with the right institutions. I led a deliberate partnership development initiative, engaging national ministries of health, leading research universities and hospital networks across target countries and negotiating formal frameworks aligned with both organisational priorities and funder requirements. The results were transformative: HJFMRI expanded into three new countries, unlocked previously inaccessible European and private donor funding streams and grew the regional pipeline to 30+ active opportunities worth more than $250M, sustaining a 65% win rate on major bids over two years.

As Senior Regional Business Development and Grants Manager at HJFMRI, I was responsible for leading a high-performing business development function across 5+ African countries, building and managing a regional pipeline of 30+ active opportunities worth more than $250M and securing $100M+ managed annually from the most competitive donor environments in global health. By aligning technical teams with funder priorities early in the capture process, standardising pre- and post-award workflows and directing a portfolio spanning HIV/TB programmes, health systems strengthening and vaccine delivery, I sustained a 65% win rate on major bids over two years and maintained 95%+ donor satisfaction scores across 20+ active awards. This was not a single project win; it was the result of a sustained, disciplined and strategically led business development operation built to perform consistently at scale.