Self Help Africa’s vision and strategy for 2016-2020 is to create a thriving African economy through the creation and support of sustainable, profitable agri-enterprises. We work with smallholder farmers in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to increase production and productivity, achieve better returns on investment and provide sufficient quantities and quality of food for their families to have a nutritious diet.
The purpose of this post is to support the development and implementation of an enterprise and value chain strategy for the SHA portfolio, supporting enterprising smallholder farmers build profitable sustainable businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families and communities.
The postholder will identify ‘investment ready’ enterprises among our programmes and identify collaborating partners and investors from the private sector. The post holder will encourage innovation and facilitate learning in this specific technical area and in close collaboration with Programme staff, this post plays a key hands-on role in building agribusinesses and is critical to enabling greater credibility and a significant scale up of Self Help Africa’s work.
Key Responsibilities:
- · Carry out a strategic analysis of enterprise options and effective value chains from SHA’s project portfolio.
- · Develop an enterprise strategy for SHA based on geographic and technical areas of comparative advantage for Self Help Africa’s enterprise development in our countries of operation.
- · Develop guidelines, assessment criteria and procedures for SHA commercial investments in SMEs.
- · Strategic analysis of supply chains and growth options and the creation of medium- and long-term business strategies.
- · Identify bottlenecks to enterprise development and identify strategies to address these through linkages with existing projects with the country programme.
- · Provide business support and training to identified/selected enterprises on:
- · Market analysis
- · Developing business plans
- · Governance training (Board)
- · Tax and legal compliance
- · Mentoring of management
- · Exporting
- · Accounting practices
- · Analysis of profit and loss statements
- · Strategic analysis of market growth opportunities
- · Explore different options for enterprise development such as public/private partnerships, social enterprises and impact investment.
- · Represent SHA in relevant fora. Any reasonable duty may be assigned that is consistent with the job and its level of responsibility.
Key Responsibilities
Internal:
- · Programmes Director
- · Enterprise Advisor
- · Country Directors
- · Programme Quality Team (Head Office)
- · Programme Support team (Head Office)
- · Programme Funding Team (Head Office)
- External
- · Private sector Partners
- · Impact Investors
- · Ministries of Agriculture (Central, Decentralised and research)
Knowledge & Experience
- A minimum of 10 years experience in an enterprise development role of a similar kind or own business development
- · Evidence of strong private sector experience and entrepreneurial skills
- · Proven track record of developing and/or evaluating complex client business plans Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
Qualifications/Other Requirements
Essential
- · Master’s Degree in Business, Economics, Finance, or Accounting - Master’s of Business Administration an advantage
- · Strong experience in finance or business consulting sectors
- · Experience in agriculture sector an advantage
- · Strong financial analysis and management skills, including the ability to create and analyze financial models
- · Willingness to travel up to 30%
- · Strong skills in Microsoft business software (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
- · Fluent communication skills in written and spoken English. French desirable
- · Ability to develop well written reports that concisely and clearly state the issues and recommendations.
- · Excellent communication skills.
- · Ability to work as part of an international team across jurisdictions and cultures.
- · Ability to work with minimum supervision.
- · Ability to train and mentor others.
- · Ability to solve problems and take corrective action.
Role Competencies ·
Managing yourself – Holds an awareness of own abilities and areas for development; adapts and uses abilities to work well with others and to help achieve objectives.
· Leadership – Acts to inspire others by clearly articulating and demonstrating the values and principles that underpin work. Holds a sense of pride in Self Help Africa and has loyalty to the organisation. Supports others to achieve excellent results.
· Communicating and working with others – Uses the most appropriate channel to share information with others both inside and outside Self Help Africa; adapts the message to meet the communication needs of the audience.
· Delivering results – Systematically develops plans towards achieving Self Help Africa’s objectives and delivers on commitments; uses appropriate techniques to help achieve agreed objectives.
· Planning and decision-making – Systematically develops plans towards achieving Self Help Africa’s objectives and delivers on commitments; makes clear, informed and timely decisions appropriate to role, in the interests of Self Help Africa and those we work with.
· Creativity and innovation – Seeks out, develops and successfully implements new ideas that further the needs of Self Help Africa and those we work with; builds on proven approaches and learns from ongoing work to improve it. Influence, advocacy and networking – Engages with others inside and outside the organisation to promote the interests of Self Help Africa and those we work with; gathers and shares a wider knowledge of issues relevant to Self Help Africa’s work. **
HOW TO APPLY:
Please apply through the following link https://selfhelpafrica.org/ie/regional-agri-enterprise-advisor/ and complete the application form and submit it to recruitment@selfhelpafrica.net
