Mastercard Foundation Job Recruitment

Job Title: Program Lead, Agriculture

Location: Lagos, Nigeria

The work at the Foundation – Agriculture

• Agri-food and rural SMEs are often a critical link in the economic transformation of a country as they allow farmers to commercialize their activities and lift themselves out of subsistence farming. The majority of the population across Africa depend on the agricultural sector for livelihoods and employment and agri-food and rural SMEs can help to provide a route out of poverty for smallholder farmers and rural communities while spurring economic diversification, sustainable development, creation of jobs and trade.
• Agriculture subject matter experts are required to ensure that the Foundation leverages the great opportunity for youth employment that the agricultural sector offers and support the development of country strategies. They work to help colleagues build a shared understanding of key issues and opportunities related to inclusive agricultural economies in Africa and contributes to the Foundation’s learning agenda.
• Africa remains a continent where most people, and a large majority of disadvantaged people, live in rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. Under the Rural and Agricultural Finance (RAF) initiative, the Foundation has committed over $175 million in funding to programs that provide financial services to smallholder farmers, provides access to essential inputs, and strengthens their capability to apply tested farming practices to improve the productivity of their farms.
• The initiative supports MFIs, banks, agribusinesses, MNOs, investment funds, and technology companies to provide these services to farmers. As a learning institution, the Foundation continues to generate and disseminate evaluation analysis to guide its future programming under its new Young Africa Works strategy and to benefit the wider financial inclusion industry.

The Opportunity

• Reporting to the Country Head, the Program Lead, Agriculture will be responsible for a portfolio of existing Rural and Agricultural Finance programs and partnerships along with building new portfolio. They will work collaboratively with the programs team and other Foundation staff.
• The Program Lead, Agriculture will be expected to provide expertise to identify constraints that prevent agricultural systems from functioning effectively at the country level, including, those that prevent youth from developing skills relevant for work in the sector; agribusinesses from accessing the finance; capacity and markets needed to grow; the development and design of programs in the agricultural sector and incorporating the agricultural sector’s needs into country strategies.
• This individual will be expected to interact effectively with senior levels of partner and public sector organizations and public sector to advance the current work of the Foundation, while concurrently contributing to the Foundation’s country strategy development and new programs.

Ways you can Contribute

• Identify challenges and opportunities in the agri-food system that can be unlocked through education, labour and financial systems, to drive job growth.
• Provide agricultural sector expertise to support Foundation country teams in the design and management of agricultural and agri-finance programs to scale country-level inclusive education, financial and labour systems in Africa.
• Work closely with country teams and other team members in the development or implementation of new programs, including co-creation of programs and due diligence of potential partners and projects.
• Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in the agricultural and agri-finance sector, including climate change.
• Lead and supervise small teams of colleagues and/or junior experts by providing coaching and support necessary for success and growth.
• Manage current programs, distilling learnings for Foundation staff and country teams. Includes oversight of day-to-day activities of particular programs or processes, conducting field visits, and reviewing project budgets.
• Communicate progress and learnings from projects to foundation colleagues and the wider development community.
• Contribute insights to the Foundation’s thought leadership on youth employment in Africa.
• Work closely with the program and country teams to leverage synergies across programs and across geographies.
• Build relationships with partner organizations, communities of practice, and global stakeholders.
• Represent the Foundation and collaborate with key internal and external audiences.
• Identify and help overcome challenges and other barriers to team effectiveness.
• Other duties as assigned.

Who You Are

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Agricultural Economics and/or Financial Inclusion.
• Minimum 10+ years of relevant experience in financing agricultural companies and farmers is required. This experience could include project management and/or field experience working in developing countries.
• Minimum 5 years of leadership and management experience including managing staff and coaching, mentoring and providing feedback.
• Experience working in commercial agricultural companies operational in Africa.
• Experience living and working in Africa.
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of the role of financial inclusion in economic growth and development, particularly in Africa, and as it relates to smallholder farmers.
• Understands market and systemic challenges to financial inclusion for rural and agricultural economics in Africa and best practices for addressing them, including M4P (Markets for the Poor) and facilitating market systems.
• Experience and understanding in a variety of value chains (cash and food crops), the small businesses and SMEs along the value chain, and supply chain / logistics in the agri-food system.
• Understanding of the role agri-food and rural SMEs can play in economic transformation and job creation for youth.
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of agricultural markets in Africa and the systemic challenges leading to stagnant growth. Possesses understanding and knowledge of current trends and innovations in agri-finance for value chains, agri-SMEs, smallholder farmers and youth engaged in the agri-food system. Experience with global grant making, especially in designing market systems development programs.
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills, the ability to think strategically and contribute as a thought partner in the Foundation’s strategy development.
• Demonstrates strong budgeting skills with the ability to manage a large portfolio of assets.
• Demonstrates the ability to communicate progress and learnings from projects to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Demonstrates experience in translating technical advice into practical recommendations for program managers and implementers. Command of quantitative and qualitative business analytics.
• Excellent project management skills, including multi-stakeholder projects.
• Excellent listening and interpersonal skills required.
• Proficiency in English, written and oral is required. Ability to speak a local language is highly preferred. French is an asset.
• Is willing to travel up to 40% of the time.
• A proactive, engaged and a self-starter with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• You are flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• You possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• You possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.

Location: Lagos, Nigeria

The work at the Foundation – Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

• Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a critical role in employment and job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa. To address youth unemployment, the demand for labour will need to increase and it will need to increase within firms. In its new strategy, the Foundation has committed to efforts that improve the quality and quantity of jobs in African countries, and working with MSMEs is vital to this mission. Constraints facing the growth of MSMEs fall under the following categories: investment climate, access to infrastructure, access to markets, access to finance, and training and skills.
• The Foundation will pursue systemic approaches to diagnose and work on several interventions that range from the firm to the bank to the policy level to address these constraints within target countries.
• The MSME team supports the development of country strategies, provides technical support in the development of country-led programs, helps colleagues build a shared understanding of key issues and opportunities related to growing MSME employment in Africa, and contributes to the Foundation’s learning agenda.
• The Foundation’s work, to date, has supported micro-enterprise directly through its work in Financial Inclusion and in Youth Livelihoods. The Foundation continues to support a number of Financial Inclusion programs that predate the Young Africa Works strategy, especially in the Rural and Agricultural Finance initiative. These programs support banks and investment funds to strengthen MSMEs directly for growth and / or the delivery of essential financial services to smallholder farmers.

The Opportunity

• Reporting to the Country Head, the Program Lead, MSME Finance will work collaboratively with MSME colleagues and other Foundation staff, such as Program country team members and Impact team colleagues.
• The Program Lead, MSME Finance will be responsible for a portfolio of existing financial inclusion programs and partnerships as well as supporting the development of country strategies.
• She / he will be expected to interact effectively with senior levels of partner organizations to advance the Foundation’s initiatives, while concurrently contribute to the Foundation’s country strategy development.
• She/ he will be expected to provide expertise to identify constraints that prevent systems from functioning effectively at the country level to promote MSME growth; including those constraints that prevent young people from developing skills relevant for work among MSMEs and that prevent MSMEs from accessing the finance, capacity and markets needed to grow; develop and design programs to support MSME start-ups and growth; and incorporate the MSME segment’s needs into country strategies.

Ways you can Contribute

• Identify challenges and opportunities facing MSMEs that can be unlocked through education, labour and financial systems to drive job growth.
• Provide expertise on MSMEs to support Foundation colleagues’ design and management of programs to scale country-level inclusive education, financial and labour systems in Africa.
• Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in the Financial Inclusion field, the MSME sector and entrepreneurship growth in Africa.
• Manage current and future programs as appropriate; including programs in the rural and agricultural finance initiative and distill learnings for Foundation staff.
• Lead and supervise small teams of colleagues and/or junior experts by providing coaching and support necessary for success and growth.
• Communicate progress and learnings from projects to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Work closely with program and country teams to leverage synergies across programs and geographies.
• Build relationships with partner organizations, communities of practice, and global stakeholders.
• Represent the Foundation and collaborate with key internal and external audiences.
• Participate in governance activities related to programs, such as investment committees, advisory committees or other stakeholders to provide oversight or elevate and leverage learnings.
• Identify and overcome barriers to team effectiveness by sharing knowledge and learnings while offering insights and possible solutions to issues and/or program challenges.
• Contribute insights to the Foundation’s thought leadership on youth employment in Africa.

Who You Are

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Development Economics and / or Financial Inclusion.
• Minimum 10+ years of experience in financing and non-financial support to MSMEs or new enterprises is highly preferred. This should include commercial experience and project management in enterprise business development, investing in and/or financing MSMEs in developing countries.
• Minimum 5 years of leadership and management experience including managing staff and coaching, mentoring and providing feedback.
• Strong understanding of MSME segments (from early stage startups to growth-stage SMEs) in Africa and the systemic challenges constraining their growth. Understanding of the role MSMEs can play in economic transformation and job creation.
• Experience with MFIs, banks or investment companies operational in Africa to finance SMEs.
• Experience living and working in Africa; knowledge of African social, economic and political contexts would be an asset.
• Possesses a strong understanding of the role of financial inclusion in economic growth and development in Africa. Understands systemic challenges to financial inclusion and best practices for addressing them.
• Strong budgeting skills with the ability to manage a large portfolio of assets.
• Strong ability to communicate progress and learnings from projects to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Astute ability to provide expert technical advice to program managers and implementers.
• Experience with global grant making, especially in designing market systems development programs. This experience may come from working in another funding organization, corporation or an NGO.
• Command of quantitative and qualitative business analytics.
• Excellent project management skills, including multi-stakeholder projects.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to be flexible and adaptable.
• Proactive, engaged and a self-starter.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Proficiency in English, written and oral is required. Ability to speak a local language is highly preferred. French is an asset.
• Is willing to travel up to 40% of the time.
• You are flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• You possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• You possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.