Vacancy Announcement

Business Development Advisor for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development; Good Governance; Climate, Energy and Sustainable Urban Development; Digital Transformation and Digital Economy; and regional projects in the Great Lakes Region.

The project “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment” (WEE) is part of the “Sustainable Economic Development” priority area. The project aims to strengthen the economic participation of women in Rwanda and operates in the following areas of activity: (1) Improvement of working conditions for female employees, (2) Enhancement of competitiveness, including the export capabilities of women-led companies. The WEE project is commissioned by BMZ and implemented by GIZ in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) of Rwanda.

In the area of enhancement of competitiveness, including the export capabilities of women-led companies, the WEE project supports women-led companies enhance their competitiveness. There is a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as most female-led enterprises are in this segment. A call for expression of interest is planned to select beneficiaries amongst the target group, based on pre-defined criteria in line with the project objective and targets. Beneficiaries will receive a range of needs-based counselling aimed at improving their competitiveness on local and international markets, for example related to managerial and procedural issues, product development, innovation in production processes, and product or sustainability certification. If interested, they can be advised on the introduction of gender diversity management elements. The approach combines measures that promote gender equality in companies with measures that increase their competitiveness. The project will work with relevant state and non-state actors and leverage existing initiatives.

The WEE project is searching for one candidate for the position of Business Development Advisor.

Candidate Profile

Location: Kigali

Fixed Term: Until 30^th June 2026

Position: 1

Start date: 1^st December 2024

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

• Supports project management of the “Promoting Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda” project
• Provides professional advisory services on strengthening the economic participation of women in Rwanda in the project’s two main areas of activity: (1) improvement of working conditions of female employees, (2) improving economic and societal conditions for female entrepreneurship. Manages relevant contracts and provides quality assurance of activities, reports, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data.
• Builds and maintains networks and cooperations within GIZ and with partners and stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society, and development partners.
• Contributes to knowledge management and reporting.

Tasks

The Business Development advisor is responsible for the following tasks:

1. Support of project management:

• Support of project management concerning project planning and the development of concepts and strategies related to the enhancement of competitiveness of women-led companies and to strengthening gender equality in the private sector;
• Ensuring implementation of related activities according to the operational plan, with particular focus on partnerships with private sector companies;
• Monitoring the activity budget in consultation with project management and the financial officer;
• Compiling relevant information for activities, reports, delegation visits and other assignments.

2. Professional advisory services:

• Identifying new ideas for supporting the competitiveness of women-led businesses and strengthening gender equality in the private sector within the scope of the project, particularly through direct partnerships with private sector companies;
• Quality assurance of the activities and suggestions of necessary changes, improvements and initiatives;
• Preparing necessary documents for contracting external service providers and recipients of financing agreements;
• Contract management, including ensuring the quality of administrative processes
• Designing, preparing and implementing workshops, seminars and other events on issues related to activities related to the area of work.

3. Networking and cooperation:

• Actively seeking cooperation within the team, within GIZ Rwanda and with other external stakeholders in close cooperation with project management;
• Assisting project management in the identification of new potential synergies and establishment of connection with relevant actors to improve and maintain effective outreach and implementation.

4. Knowledge management:

• Development of drafts for strategies and technical concepts, including guidelines, manuals and procedures;
• Preparation of reports and presentation documents and contribution to overall project reporting;
• Supporting PR work, including social media;
• Identification and documentation of lessons learnt and best practices as well as incorporating them into implementation.

5. Other duties/tasks:

The Business Development Advisor will perform any other related duties and tasks at the request of management.

Required Qualifications, Competences and Experience

1. Qualifications and Professional Experience

• University degree in Business Administration or related area.
• 5 years of professional experience in the field of private sector development, business advisory, or similar
• 1 year of professional experience in a comparable position in an international development project
• Demonstrated expertise in gender equality (university course or professional certificate or relevant professional experience)

2. Additional Knowledge and Competencies

• Very good and well documented capacity to work in teams as well as independently;
• Willingness to always abide by the principles and regulations of GIZ while implementing the different activities and representing the WEE project within the different partner institutions;
• Very good and independent working knowledge of ITC applications such as MS Office, Outlook, MS Teams;
• Well-developed network and understanding of the institutional framework in the field of SME development;
• Outstanding organizational and planning abilities;
• Enthusiasm and positive attitude, supporter of diversity and inclusion;
• Willingness to develop new skills and competencies as required by the job and tasks;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Fluent in Kinyarwanda and English