Job Title: Lead Youth Innovation & Enterprise Development EYE-C-Program
Organisation: aBi Development
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About Organisation:
aBi Development Ltd focuses on increasing agricultural production & value addition by extending matching grants & Business Development Services (BDS) to agribusinesses, farmer organisations & intermediaries to enhance planning & management, production & business infrastructure, as well as upstream & downstream market linkages of producers & agribusinesses.
Job Summary: The Lead Youth Innovation & Enterprise Development will design and implement strategies that drive meaningful participation of young women in the coffee and complementary value chains under the EYE-C program. The role focuses on unlocking enterprise opportunities, catalyzing innovation, and building scalable youth-led businesses. S/he will work closely with regional teams, implementing partners, and financial institutions to strengthen youth skills, incubation systems, digital tools, and market access in line with EYE-C’s 20 million bag roadmap.
Program Technical Head
Regional Youth and Enterprise Development Officers and Short time Technical Consultants (STTAs).
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Strategy Development and Innovation Planning
- Lead the development and integration of youth enterprise and innovation strategies into EYE-C’s program framework and operational plans.
- Design and implement a youth innovation and entrepreneurship strategy aligned with EYE-C goals.
- Identify high-potential enterprise opportunities for youth along the coffee value chain.
- Analyse barriers to youth engagement and propose inclusive solutions, especially for young women.
- Ensure youth-focused approaches are embedded in program planning, delivery, and resource allocation.
- Youth innovation strategy approved and adopted.
- % increase in youth participation in EYE-C-supported value chains. Number of scalable youth enterprise models validated.
- Capacity building and mentorship.
- Participate in designing training materials ensuring focus and appeal to the youth for their participation, development, growth and sustainability of their businesses in the coffee value chain.
- Develop/review training and learning materials to ensure they are innovative, and youth focused
- Facilitate training programs on agribusiness, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
- Mentor young women in business development, financial literacy, and leadership
- Support youth enterprises to access business development services for their growth and sustainability
- Training materials developed reflect focus on youth skills development, enterprise growth and sustainability Increased number of youth
- owned/led enterprises accessing business development services. Increased number of youths on social media coffee industry knowledge sharing platforms
- Partnerships and Ecosystem Engagement
- Cultivate partnerships with public and private sector actors to scale youth innovation, enterprise incubation, and policy influence.
- Map and engage stakeholders in youth enterprise support, incubation, and finance.
- Formalize partnerships with agribusinesses, academia, accelerators, and innovation hubs.
- Co-develop joint projects with private sector for sourcing from youth-led enterprises.
- Liaise with government for policy support, youth programs, and enabling regulation.
- Work with the financial inclusion partner to review/refine blended finance products that include grant, equity and debt for scaling up youth owned/led enterprises
- Number of strategic partners in the EYE-C partnership map with MOUs signed.
- Partnership engagement plan developed
- Joint initiatives and co-investments with other partners to leverage resources and scale outreach. Improved loan product offering with features reducing barriers for youth access to finance
- Enterprise Development and Incubation
- Support the development, growth, and sustainability of youth-led enterprises from ideation to scale.
- Design and oversee incubation pipelines, coaching programs, and technical assistance for youth businesses.
- Guide business model development, competitive positioning, and market validation.
- Organize youth innovation competitions and recognize high-potential innovations.
- Support creation of agri-tech and digital platforms to enhance enterprise growth.
- Design and oversee incubation pipelines, coaching programs, and technical assistance for youth businesses.
- Number of youth-led enterprises established across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments and linked to markets. Number of innovation challenges held annually with >70% female participation.
- BDS strategy developed to guide delivery of business development service to youth enterprises. Increased number of digital platforms/tools developed or supported.
- Financial Access and Business Support
- Promote inclusive financial services, digital finance, and blended finance solutions for youth-led enterprises.
- Work with financial inclusion partner to develop youth-sensitive financial products.
- Train youth on credit readiness, digital finance, and financial management.
- Facilitate access to grants, equity, and debt products for youth businesses.
- % of youth-led enterprises that access at least one financial service.
- Number of finance products tailored to youth piloted.
- Number of regional BDS providers mobilized or engaged.
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
- Track progress, capture learnings, and contribute to program improvement through data and evidence.
- Contributes to the development of M&E tools to track youth engagement and innovation outcomes.
- Carry out periodic monitoring and evaluation of youth owned/led projects and bring to the attention of management any issues that may hinder project success for remedial timely intervention.
- Document best practices and success stories and prepare learning and periodic reporting to external and internal stakeholders
- Number of youth innovation indicators tracked quarterly. Number of success stories or case studies published per year. Number of learning sessions held with partners per year.
- Contribute to the development of local and international knowledge through networks to facilitate accumulation and periodic distribution of key lessons learnt to key stakeholders.
- And any other duties as requested by the Program Technical Head
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in agriculture, Agribusiness, Agriculture and rural, Innovation, or related field.
- Minimum 5 years of experience in youth development, innovation, or agribusiness programs.
- Proven experience working in agricultural value chains, preferably coffee.
- Strong understanding of youth entrepreneurship, digital tools, and inclusive development.
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
How to Apply:
Please send your applications to [email protected] indicating the Position Title in the email subject line. All documents should be combined into a single PDF file, with the total size not exceeding 5MBs.
Deadline: 19th September 2025
NB: Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted. Canvassing will lead to disqualification.
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Level of Education: Bachelor Degree
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 60