Business Development Services Officer

On behalf of a consulting company, we are recruiting qualified candidates who match the requirements below

About the Project

For Ethiopia to achieve full and productive employment, decent work, and economic growth as outlined in the SDGs and GoE’s strategic plan, new and sustainable jobs need to be created in the economy. One of the job creation strategies is building a vibrant local private sector by revamping the current support to M&SMEs with a special focus on high-yield sectors, effectively supporting high-potential and high-growth MSMEs, and improving the quality of business development services. In light of this, our client has received a grant from Mastercard Foundation, in collaboration with MInT, to work on two main areas of intervention:

1. Supporting the creation and growth of new start-up ventures.
2. Enabling the growth of existing start-up platforms and building the capacity of local actors (such as SMEs) to participate in start-ups

This project aims to recruit, train, and provide seed funding for 100 startups (50 early-stage and 50 growth-stage startups) by the end of 2027 and ensure that 52,920 jobs are created. It will also contribute to building an ICT-based entrepreneurial ecosystem where the country’s digital economy is positively impacted.

Scope of Work

• The Business Development Service officer (BDS officer) will manage the day-to-day implementation of incubation and acceleration activities/services of at least 30 startups per year. This includes supporting founders to develop their KPIs, mentor matching, follow-up with their improvement and commitment, and regular reporting of job creation data.
• The BDS officer will be the main contact person between selected startups and the project team.
• S/he will directly report to the Team Leader and will have direct communication with the Community Manager and Director. The officer is also expected to work with the remaining implementation team (M&E, Project Coordinator, Finance, and Communication).

Specific Tasks

The following tasks are the expected responsibilities of the BDS officer:

• Lead and rollout open calls and other public (social media or basic mass media) strategies and communications.
• Manage the overall incubation and acceleration activities, planning, and strategy.
• Regular check-in with startups in the program (incubation and acceleration).
• Support tailored and generalized topics and modules for training, boot camps, and workshops.
• Organize clinical sessions and identify business diagnosis for tailored support areas for each startup.
• Based on the business diagnosis, identify the right type of coaching and mentoring activities together with the project team and consultants.
• Support the management and facilitation of networking sessions, investment pitch events, boot camps, workshops, founders’ breakfast, promotional campaigns, webinars, and other private (in-house) and public events.
• Communicate with startups daily to follow up on ongoing cases, mitigate challenges, and enable them to access seed funding and effectively partner with their vendors.
• Report project progress to the Team Leader regularly.
• Make sure to track the project based on the set KPIs and required targets.

Profile Requirements

• Since the project aims to reach startups outside of Addis Ababa, you must be willing to travel to regions as needed.
• The project is implemented collaboratively with different stakeholders, namely MInT. Therefore, s/he has to have strong people skills and is willing to work in a diverse and demanding environment.
• Strong writing skills and content creation.
• Proven IT/ICT knowledge, as well as experience and understanding of IT developments and IT/ICT projects.
• Strong communication, presentation, and moderation skills.
• Teamwork and networking skills combined with the talent to think conceptually and analytically.
• Sensitivity towards, or experience with, approaches to gender equality.
• Fluent in English and Amharic; knowledge of other local languages is an advantage.

Skills Required:

• Computer / Software / It / Data
• Sales / Marketing / Business / Management
• Social / Science / Project / Management / Development