The East African Regional Director oversees the management, delivery and monitoring and evaluation of Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise East Africa Regional Director Summary: Oversee all aspects of delivering innovative business development programs to increase incomes and reduce extreme poverty in rural East Africa (Kenya and Uganda) Employer: Village Enterprise (a U.S. non-‐profit based in San Carlos, CA) Industry: Microenterprise/Microfinance/International Development/Social Entrepreneurship Job Title: East Africa Regional Director Function: Management of Field Programs and Operations Reports to: President/CEO Job Location: Based in East Africa (Hoima, Uganda; Kitale, Kenya; or Kampala, Uganda); involves travel in East Africa Duration: Minimum of two-‐year commitment; preference to candidates willing to commit to three years; opportunity to extend Website: www.VillageEnterprise.org Start Date: As soon as possible Job Description We are seeking an exceptional professional with leadership and management experience and a passion for microenterprise development, poverty reduction and social entrepreneurship in Africa to become the East Africa Regional Director. Duties and Areas of Responsibility The East African Regional Director oversees the management, delivery and monitoring and evaluation of Village Enterprise’s Microenterprise Development Program; for FY 2015, this will involve starting up to 3,000 microenterprises and identifying, training and supporting 9,000+ new clients; we anticipate that this number will grow each year. 1. Manage and lead all facets of our current field operations (70% of the position); • Oversee the delivery and monitoring of our field programs • Hire, train, and manage the Programs and Operations Team, which currently consists of a US-‐ based Director of Africa Operations, a Uganda-‐based Program Director, Kenya and Uganda Country Directors and Assistant Country Directors, a M&E Director, associated field operations staff, 70+ community-‐based business mentors and field coordinators, a SMART consultant, and three-‐four East Africa-‐based fellows. • Prepare annual field operations budget, and manage that budget • Manage partnerships with other key community based organizations (examples include USAID/FHI360, Budongo Conservation Field Service (BCFS), and Elevate Africa)
2. Define and implement forward looking strategic plans for East Africa (5%) 3. Oversee and manage our extensive Monitoring and Evaluation programs and team (5%) 4. Lead the development and delivery of new, innovative pilot projects and programs to increase our impact and scalability (10%) 5. Support the US Development team in creating workable proposals and donor materials (10%) Minimum Requirements Significant (two+ years) leadership and management experience; we are looking for an individual who can think operationally, innovatively and strategically, and oversee all phases of our field program, prepare the budget, mentor senior field staff, and work both independently and as a member of a team. • Significant leadership experience required o Two+ years demonstrated success in a leadership role managing a staff and directing an organization, a program, or an enterprise, in either the for-‐profit or not-‐for-‐profit sector o Demonstrated success in a start up environment; experience creating and managing a business, a non-‐profit, a new program, or a large project • Five to seven years of related work experience required o Proven ability to manage programs and people, and to mentor staff o Experience working in a developing country or emerging economy required; experience in Africa required; experience in rural East Africa preferred. o Experience in the international development field required; experience in the poverty reduction, microenterprise and/or microfinance fields preferred • Time Commitment o We require a minimum two year time commitment; three years preferred o Willingness to live and work in rural East Africa • Critical Thinking and Analytic Skills o Must be a very strong critical thinker with the ability to both analyze organizational dynamics and contextual threats, changes, and opportunities, and to develop and apply performance metrics o Experience developing and analyzing business and program effectiveness data, budgets and financial models is required • Communication Skills o Strong writing and communication skills required, as this role will involve preparing reports and presentations o Experience communicating with and managing cross-‐cultural teams is required o Fluency in English is required; working knowledge of Swahili is helpful
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Education: BA/BS required; MA/MS/MBA desired Passion for innovative approaches to poverty reduction around the world, including but not limited to social entrepreneurship and business development in Africa
Compensation Competitive compensation package based on education and experience; includes the following benefits: • Comprehensive health insurance in Kenya/Uganda, International travel and Emergency evacuation insurance, Flying Doctors insurance coverage in East Africa • Kenya and Uganda visas • All in-‐country travel, phone, internet and accommodations related to work • Four weeks of paid time off/year • Two international roundtrip flights to/from East Africa and the U.S. each year Career Development This is a career-‐track role in economic development and social business, offering significant opportunities for advancement at Village Enterprise and other organizations working in the fields of poverty reduction, international development, microenterprise and Small to Mid-‐Sized Enterprise (SME) development, microfinance and social entrepreneurship. To Apply Email a cover letter and a resume to Anne Olson at
[email protected] with subject “Village Enterprise EARD Application”. Your cover letter should address the following topics: 1) Why you want this position 2) How you will contribute to the growth of Village Enterprise 3) Note where you found this job posting About Village Enterprise: Village Enterprise is an innovative microenterprise development organization working in East Africa. Our mission is to equip people living in extreme poverty with resources to create sustainable businesses. Village Enterprise provides business skills and financial literacy training, seed capital, on-‐going mentoring, and the formation of business savings groups to new entrepreneurs. This year we have helped 9,000 East Africans start over 3,000 new businesses. Village Enterprise began in 1987 and, since then, has started over 30,000 microenterprises and impacted over 660,000 lives. During the next five years, we plan to significantly expand our program, evaluation and innovation efforts to increase the impact of microenterprise development in rural East Africa.
Organizational strengths: • Innovation and continuous improvement at the core of our program delivery— Village Enterprise was recently nominated as one of Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Next Century Innovators (among 1000+ applicants). • Exceptionally strong and rigorous monitoring & evaluation (M&E) processes in the field— Village Enterprise recently launched an extensive, three-‐year Randomized Control Trial (RCT), implemented by BRAC research. • Highly qualified and dedicated management and program delivery teams—Village Enterprise’s local leadership model was recently highlighted in the 10th anniversary issue of The Stanford Social Innovation Review.
