Business Fellow Job Vacancy at Grameen Foundation in Uganda

Job Title: Business Fellow
Reports to: Project Manager
Job Summary: The Business Fellow will be the commercial expert within the AppLab Money Incubator team and will be expected to drive the development of truly innovative business models to provide financial services to the poor. He/she will be deeply embedded in all aspects of the product development process, from initial research and analysis to final prototyping and evaluation. The Business Fellow will be responsible for ensuring the mobile products we develop are sustainable for our partners while also meeting the needs of poor users.

The Project: Mobile money has yet to reach its full potential. Though nearly 150 mobile network operators have deployed mobile money, few have successfully reached poor consumers. Even fewer have explored the latent demand for anything other than payments products—from savings, to micro-insurance, to loans. To address this problem, the Consultative Group Assisting the Poor (CGAP) and Grameen Foundation (GF) are working together to set up an incubator that tests innovations in mobile financial services. The incubator combines in-depth research approaches with rapid product testing to develop mobile financial services that are appropriate for the poor and move the industry beyond payments.

The Business Fellow will be joining a diverse team of highly motivated individuals with a passion for developing commercially sustainable products for the poor. We comprise a range of skills – from a PhD in mobile money to research experts to an IT guru who has launched mobile deployments across Africa and we are looking for a creative, commercially-minded team member to join us.

Essential Job Functions
·         Drive the process of developing innovative approaches to monetizing financial products:
·         Develop new models for sustainable mobile financial services products for the poor
·         Model the economics of these options and provide recommendations on a path forward
·         Work with our partners to ensure these models will be successful within their current operations
·         Work with the AppLab Money team to conduct research into the needs of poor households:
·         Conduct secondary and primary research activities to understand behaviors and needs
·         Analyze current financial services offerings and understand gaps that can be addressed
·         Work with the team throughout the product development and piloting process:
·         Drive team ideation sessions to develop new ideas from field insights
·         Support development of prototypes and field testing with our product designers
·         Monitor and evaluate consumer testing of products throughout a series of pilots
·         Support the project manager in maintaining the relationship with our donor and in developing new potential partnerships:
·         Help create and present materials to share our work with our partners
·         Identify and meet with other potential partners who could support new products
·         Help the team document findings in various forms (blogs, monthly updates, reports etc.)
·         Provide training and mentorship in business and commercial skills to junior staff team members
Education and Experience:
·         Has a deep commitment to eradication of poverty and alignment with Grameen Foundation’s mission
·         Believes in the potential to leverage information and communication technology (ICTs) for the benefit of poor people
·         Is able to bring creativity, innovation, and a thirst for new ideas to our team
·         Has strong written and oral communication skills
·         Has strong analytical and business modeling skills
·         Has deep knowledge of Microsoft office products (Excel, Powerpoint, word, etc.)
·         Experienced working in developing countries preferred, but not required
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
·         A Bachelor’s degree
·         2-3+ years experience in management consulting or an equivalent role

How to Apply:

Please follow the instructions as stated below as failure to do so could lead to disqualification.
1. Send an Application letter and CV/Resume.
2. Merge these two documents into one document in either word or pdf format.
3. Do not attach or send any scanned documents, these are sometimes too large for our inbox.
4. Include the job title and/or reference number in the subject line of the email address and send your application by email to grameenjobs@nftconsult.com
5. Only successful candidates will be contacted. For all other inquiries please contact our offices directly.
Apply before: 14 Aug, 2012

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