Job Description

AGRIBUSINESS SPECIALIST

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

About the position

CIAT, on behalf of IITA, is seeking an Agribusiness Specialist who will manage the RUNRES project in Rwanda, and closely collaborate with project partners and scientists in the other project locations in Ethiopia, DRC, and South Africa, and with ETH scientists and management in Switzerland.

Requirements

Key duties & responsibilities

• Prepare investment profiles of the target bio circular innovations.
• Organize investor forums to mobilize investments in bio-circular innovations.
• Identify specific needs of the innovation scaling partners to develop/sharpen their scaling/business plan.
• Provide technical assistance to each innovation scaling partner to develop/sharpen a scaling/business plan before submission to the Project Advisory and Steering Committees.
• Develop an agreed-upon detailed business delivery plan for each innovation scaling partner with short and medium-term goals in the fields of supply chain management, marketing, sales, and accounting & financial management.
• Support the implementation of scaling/business plans effectively.
• Formulate capacity building and business development interventions and implement these interventions through training followed by individual coaching and mentoring the companies based on their specific needs to further sharpen their business understanding and skills and to accelerate the implementation of their business plans.
• Supervise business services providers
• Assisting the innovation businesses in formulating an individual strategy to improve their readiness to secure investment (equity, loan) to scale their operations.
• Lead the engagement of policy-makers and regulators in advocacy workshops and identify needs and entry points for enabling policies
• Lead the development of policy notes and briefs to engage policy–makers.
• Ensure visibility of the project activities and results in scientific, development, and policy arenas, as well as among local stakeholders in the regions where project activities take place.
• Lead effective project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and documentation with project partners and donors.
• Lead the elaboration of project reports.
• Supervise junior staff.
• Additional tasks may be assigned by the supervisors as deemed necessary or relevant to the role.

Required qualifications and experience

• The candidate should have completed a Master’s degree (Preferably an MBA or MSc) with specialization in Finance, Marketing, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Agribusiness.
• 5+ years of professional experience supporting the start-up of commercial agribusiness production, sales, and marketing operations.
• Experience promoting the introduction and adoption of new agriculture technology in Rwanda and East Africa.
• Experience advising small and medium private agribusinesses involved in agri-food systems and/or circular ventures.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience related to SMEs, access to finance, the private sector, and entrepreneurship development.
• Experience in successful engagement with public sector institutions.
• Excellent communication skills, able to interact with a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary team of scientists and development partners in layman language.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and working proficiency in French, and Kinyarwanda.
• Affinity with multi-stakeholder approaches
• Proactive and independent problem solver, and excellent team player.
• A good understanding of the circular economy theories, approaches, and policy landscape in Rwanda is an advantage.
• Proven capacity in publishing technical, and/or scientific documents such as journal articles, and policy brief is an advantage.
• Proven project management skills.
•  Experience with monitoring and evaluation of research for development interventions is considered an advantage.

Benefits

Terms of employment

This position is a nationally recruited position based in Kigali, Rwanda. The initial contract will be for two (2) years subject to a probation period of three (3) months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

This position is graded at BG08, level, with a minimum basic salary of RWF 1,740,781 in a scale of BG01 to BG14 (BG14 being the highest level according to the Alliance job classification framework policy). We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits including but not limited to insurance, retirement plan, staff training and development, paid time off and flexible working arrangements.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities.

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number REF: 103980 Agribusiness Specialist as the position applied for. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: 1^st October 2024

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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