Enterprise & Savings Lead at Village Enterprise: (Deadline 15 August 2022)

Enterprise & Savings Lead at Village Enterprise: (Deadline 15 August 2022)

Employer: Village Enterprise
Industry: Nonprofit/International Development/Social Entrepreneurship
Function: Microenterprises and Savings Groups Support
Job Title: Enterprise & Savings Lead
Position Type: Full time
Reports to: Vice President of Programs
Location: Rwanda

Organization Overview: Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation. Village Enterprise targets the poor, provides business training, seed capital/startup funds and on-going mentoring to over 10,000 new entrepreneurs to start 3,000 enterprises each year. Since its inception in 1987, Village Enterprise has started over 40,000 micro-enterprises.

Position Overview:

Village Enterprise is looking for an Enterprise and Savings Lead (Rwanda) to support the success of our microenterprise development program. This individual will have a focus on ensuring that enterprises and savings groups launched through the program provide to desired outcomes and impact being set out to achieve. They will bring the necessary skills to understand and implement key activities and programs which put our entrepreneurs on a pathway to success.

Core Responsibilities

Business and Business Savings Group Impact – The Enterprise and Savings Lead will primarily be focused on designing, leading, and facilitating activities which lead to increased success of business and business savings group. This will include using quantitative and qualitative data for evaluation and decision making, supporting field implementation staff, and working with management teams to ensure our entrepreneurs are on the best path possible.

Market Analysis and Intelligence – The Enterprise and Savings Lead will be responsible for keeping up with latest market trends and opportunities relevant for our business owners. This will include designing and or accessing tools to keep our team informed of market dynamics and how their selection of enterprises plays into the larger eco-system of actors. It will also include using that market analysis directly to support good business choices for our entrepreneurs.

Innovations and Partnerships – The Enterprise and Savings Lead will continually work to identify and implement innovations which lead to greater success for businesses and business savings groups. They will also design or support the creation of technical partnerships which will be beneficial to the organization’s overall goals and targets around business and business savings group success.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

Lead a team of direct reports and matrixed indirect reports in focusing on increasing business and business savings group value for the participants of the village Enterprise (50%)

• Identify core areas of success needed for businesses to thrive at Village Enterprise.
• Support entrepreneurs to protect their local environment identifying and promoting climate smart and environmentally friendly enterprises and practices.
• Analyze the business owner’s needs based on their geographical region, trends and suggest common approach to success and growth of their businesses.

• Support recruitment and supervise a team of direct reports that will focus on increased business success of our participants. This includes market linkages, financial inclusion and adoption of relevant technologies. Additionally, support recruitment of key field positions that have a direct impact on business success.

• Design matrix style model to engage critical positions at Village Enterprise in maximizing what their role can bring to assuring business success.

• Develop strategies of identifying, evaluating and appraising businesses for grant allocation in collaboration with the field team.

• Build staff capacity to identify and support impact at the business group level and business savings group level.

• On case by basis, participate in project working group to share ideas, and well thought out plans to achieve success and overall impact.

Design, Lead, support, and/or Facilitate the adoption of partnerships, activities and innovations that lead to increased business and business savings groups success (30%).

• Research and identify both current and new activities that will lead our businesses to being more profitable.

• Assure adoption of successful current and new activities with field staff. This will include necessary piloting and activities.

• Support decision making on appropriate new innovations and ideas that will be implemented by the program.
• Identify organizations that offer products and services which will prove valuable to our business owners being successful. Manage partnerships and linkages that create increased business performance and success.
• Engage private sector actors in the graduation model on sustainability and business success and developing business success and developing Village Enterprise differentiated advantage on business success.
• Organize and represent Village Enterprise in forums that are relevant to the position including savings group approaches, microenterprise support, Market Linkages etc.

Gather, analyze and act on quantitative and qualitative market and business performance data at Village Enterprise (20%)

• Assist field team lead to develop performance indicators around business success for Business Mentor and Field Associates.
• Working with CD’s/ACD’s/FC’s/BM’s to develop and manage an up to date understanding of the microeconomic environment in Rwanda.
• Undertake key research to understand the BO’s business ventures and project drivers of sectors, customers and potential opportunities for linkages.
• Responsible for assuring data flows to the appropriate decision makers connected directly to our business owner’s success (primarily field agents such as Field Associates and Business Mentors).
• Analyze and act on business performance data through creating feedback loops and interventions that ensure our businesses are being fully supported to being successful.
• Support on as needed basis high value proposals and or projects at Village Enterprise.

Safeguarding

• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility at VE, and it begins with me

• Continuously sensitize program participants on safeguarding.
• Ensure compliance with VE’s safeguarding policies
• Report any incident of safeguarding in program operations for appropriate action/follow up.

Key Performance Indicators for the role:

1. Business Success Country Average (Business Progress Survey)

2. Business Savings Group Country Average

3. Market and Financial Linkages Created and Successful

Core Competencies

• Deep experience with supporting those in extreme poverty through microenterprise, savings Groups and familiarity with Poverty Graduation approach

• Ability to work in challenging and changing environments, and to see through challenges to find solutions

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to exercise diplomacy and tact as demonstrated in previous roles that required communication with a broad and diverse set of partners.

• Outstanding communication skills, both in writing, in person, and via other forms of communication.

• Computer literate and proficient in basic Microsoft packages ,email and other technology (including project management software, salesforce, cloud storage etc).

• Ability to use and interpret data for decision making and enhancing overall organizational performance and business success.

Qualifications

• University degree or an equivalent in Business development, program management, international development or other relevant field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Minimum Five Years Working in Management of development programs for an international organization.

• Experience working with multiple countries in sub-sahara Africa is desirable

• Fluency in English is a must.

To Apply:

Interested and qualified candidates who meet the set criteria are invited to send their Cover Letter and CV (Maximum 3 pages) including 3 referees to: [email protected] addressed to: The Human Resource Coordinator.

Subject Line ‘Enterprise & Savings Lead’. Applications will be accepted until August 15th, 2022.

Shortlisting will be done on a rolling basis.