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Job Title:    Business Advisor (3 Job Opportunities)

Organisation: TechnoServe

Duty Station:  Kampala, Kabale and Mbale, Uganda

Reports to: HortiMap Value Chain Manager

 

About US:

TechnoServe is a leader in harnessing the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty. A nonprofit organization operating in 29 countries, we work with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. By linking people to information, capital, and markets, we have helped millions to create lasting prosperity for their families and communities. Founded over 50 years ago, TechnoServe has been named the #1 nonprofit for fighting poverty by the ImpactMatters charity ratings agency.

 

About Hortimap Program:

Through the four-year Hortimap program funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Technoserve and partners BID Network and Impact Capital Africa will transform the horticulture industry in Uganda. The program combines catalytic funding through a Market Development Facility and Technical Assistance fund to leverage private sector and local resources and expertise to strengthen SMEs and local supply chains, while delivering world-class entrepreneurship training to farmers and retailers to realize their potential. These interventions are expected to increase incomes for more than 31,000 farmers, create 11,000 jobs, and improve access to healthy, safe food for 250,000 Ugandan consumers.

 

Job Summary:  This position is part of the Horticultural Value Chain Development Team which works to oversee and deliver high quality technical assistance to MDF clients, enterprises within their supply chain, and farmers. The Business Advisor will work closely with Business Counsellors, participants, local stakeholders, and partners, as well as respective country and regional management. S/he will be responsible for delivering training to higher-capacity MSME clients and overseeing quality delivery of training delivered by HortiMAP Agronomy Advisors and Business Counsellors.

 

Key Duties and Responsibilities:  

·        Use TechnoServe’s tested assessment tools to benchmark producer organizations capacity and help identify areas for improvement.

·        Help link producer organizations to business development service providers to build capacity in core areas such governance, marketing, member services, and inclusive leadership of women and youth.

·        Deliver TechnoServe’s proven entrepreneurship training to micro-retailers.

·        Support Business Councilors in delivering entrepreneurship training and business mentorship to entrepreneurial farmers and micro-entrepreneurs

·        Train vendors on educating customers on why their fresh fruit and vegetables are better and healthier for consumer’s families, including the importance of pesticide-free produce.

·        Facilitate linkages between these vendors and reliable suppliers of safe and good quality produce

·        Ensure the delivery of technical training packages is of high quality, is appropriate to the local context, and is effectively reaching participants;

·        Collect baseline figures and measure impact in order to monitor progress (M&E)

·        Planning of activities to ensure that the objectives of the program are met within the set times and resources and that impact is maximized

·        Periodic reporting of the situation on the ground to provide both data and anecdotal evidence of impact

·        Oversee quality delivery of training delivered by HortiMAP Agronomy Advisors and Business Counsellors.

 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

·        The ideal candidate for the TechnoServe Business Advisor job should hold a degree in business related studies

·        Minimum of three years of field and technical experience with agribusiness development, youth development, or entrepreneurship in Uganda

·        Knowledge of the agri-business sector in the country

·        Strong private sector experience and entrepreneurial skills

·        Knowledge of business management, marketing plan development, business plan development, supply chain studies and market surveys

·        Experience in the financial markets and products

·        Proven understanding of Monitoring and Evaluation tools and practices

·        Excellent problem solving and analytical skills

·        Good computer skills in business software (Excel, MS Project and PowerPoint)

·        Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills a must;

·        Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports;

·        Track record of building strong client and stakeholder relationships;

 

Success Factors: Competency is a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) directly related to successful performance on the job.

Core Competencies include:

·        Integrity and honesty: Is widely trusted; seen as a direct, truthful individual; presents truthful information in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent himself or herself for personal gain.

·        Team Work/ Relationships: Works co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member and/or leader, to achieve a common goal. Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and networks.

·        Learning attitude: Proactively takes advantage of opportunities to learn. Actively identifies new areas for learning; applies and shares new knowledge and skill appropriately.

·        Diversity/Inclusiveness: Demonstrates an understanding and appreciation for diversity and supports diversity efforts. Interacts effectively with and inclusively with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, ages, and genders.

·        Communication: Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations. Listens effectively; shares information, ideas and arguments; adjusts terminology, language and communication modes to the needs of the audience; ensures accurate understanding; acts in a way that facilitates open exchange of ideas and information; uses appropriate non-verbal communication.

·        Decision making/Problem Solving: Is able to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution. Is able to make effective decisions on a day-to-day basis, taking ownership of decisions, demonstrating sound judgement in escalating issues where necessary.

·        Results Oriented/ High Quality Deliverables: Stays focused on the efforts necessary to achieve quality results consistent with programmatic or departmental goals. Demonstrates the ability to achieve effective results; works persistently to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. Accomplishes tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks.

·        Planning & Time Management: Establishes a course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a specific goal. Effectively plans, schedules, prioritizes and controls activities; identifies, integrates and orchestrates resources (people, material, information, budget, and/or time) to accomplish goals. Prioritizes work according to the program or department’s goals, not just own job responsibilities; manages own time effectively.

·        Business Acumen: The ability to use information, ask the right questions and take decisions that make an impact on the overall business performance.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

·        Financial & Resource Management: The ability to estimate, justify, and manage appropriate funding levels to support goal accomplishment. Managing Resources is about understanding human, financial, and operational resource issues to make decisions aimed at building and planning efficient project workflows, and at improving overall organizational performance.

·        Donor/Partnership Management: Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, or organizations to help achieve business goals.

·        Analysis, Research, Report Writing: Experience in business planning and analysis, modeling for feasibility and execution. Able to analyze and express oneself clearly in business writing.

·        Innovative Mindset: Curious inquiries, asks questions and seeks out information from multiple sources, learns from mistakes, sees change as an opportunity.

Managerial Competencies:

·        Emotional Intelligence: The act of knowing, understanding, and responding to emotions, overcoming stress in the moment, and being aware of how your words and actions affect others. Emotional intelligence consists of 4 attributes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

·        Strategic Thinking: Managers should recognize key actions, underlying problems, make connection and patterns, see consequences and implications. Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans ways to deal with them.

·        Staff Development: managers are required to work with employees to plan on the development of skills and abilities so that they can fulfil current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.

·        Trust to Delegate: managers should have trust and willingness to assign responsibilities to direct reports and give them discretion and authority to carry them out.

·        Feedback/Coaching (mentoring): managers should give instructions, suggestions, explanations, and feedback to subordinates.

 

Career Pathways: The positions that may be a next career opportunity for employees in this job title include Senior Business Advisor

 

How to Apply:

If you are interested and you meet the requirements, apply through the link below;

 

Click Here

 

NB: Please submit a resume, cover letter and three professional references. Please note that only shortlisted candidates shall be contacted.

 

Deadline: 6^th April 2021

 

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