Program Consultant (Entrepreneurship & Access to Finance)

ABOUT MASTERCARD FOUNDATION

Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work. Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. The Foundation is independent with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

THE WORK AT THE FOUNDATION

We are currently in an exciting period at the Mastercard Foundation as we intensify the implementation of the Young Africa Works strategy, aiming to empower 30 million young people throughout Africa to access dignified and fulfilling employment.

To ensure the Foundation’s accessibility to our partners and program participants, we have established offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda. These offices provide strong in-country support for the implementation of Young Africa Works. We collaborate with governments, the private sector, educators, and other funders to enhance the quality of education and vocational training, equip young individuals with the necessary skills for the workforce, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and facilitate connections between job seekers and meaningful employment opportunities.

Our values serve as our guiding principles, transcending and surpassing all other considerations. We wholeheartedly encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work.

If you are an experienced professional in programs design looking to increase your impact, read on!

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Country Program Head, the Consultant will manage specific programs to address constraints in entrepreneurial ecosystems across sectors, aligning with the Foundation’s commitment to creating dignified and fulfilling work for young people. S/he will provide expertise and engage effectively with senior leaders of partner organizations and ecosystem stakeholders to advance the Foundation’s country strategy.

WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

• Support the origination and design of interventions across the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the small and growing business space.
• Integrate impact considerations to ensure the program design addresses the needs of young people in general.
• Work collaboratively with the Country Program team in developing strategies relevant to Young Africa Works in Uganda, focusing on skills, enterprise support services, market systems, and access to finance.
• Review key and critical lessons learned to identify success factors for scaling program efficacy.
• Review the enterprise support services model to optimize market systems linkages between beneficiaries and market actors in the ecosystem.
• Review the program’s inclusion approaches, supporting partners to identify gaps and challenges in reaching excluded groups.
• Optimize partnerships within and beyond the Young Africa Works network to accelerate scale and impact.
• Capture and communicate progress and lessons learned from programs to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Collaborate with the Country Program team to leverage synergistic opportunities to enhance the impact/outcomes of Young Africa Works programs.
• Analyze the program’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plan and develop an action plan for data collection tools.
• Refine the communication and outreach strategy to align with target groups and program objectives, guiding the development of tactics.
• Represent the Foundation in governance activities to provide oversight, leverage lessons learned, and work with partners to document learning processes for adaptive program management.
• Guide and support the partnership implementation team in co-design and overcoming barriers to team effectiveness by sharing knowledge and solutions.
• Assess partners’ processes and program implementation to ensure alignment with Foundation policies, procedures, code of conduct, and reporting standards.
• Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in the small and growing business entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Stay updated on developments in the MSME and financing space, including new concepts, key partners, policy movements, and important events.
• Build relationships with partner organizations, communities of practice, and global stakeholders.

WHO YOU ARE

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Economics, and/or Financial Inclusion.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant experience in entrepreneurship programs and ecosystem-building initiatives with a sector-agnostic approach.
• Minimum of 5 years of leadership and management experience in project management.
• Experience working in digital economy-related programs in the region is an added advantage.
• Strong understanding of building sustainable business models and the role of system players, including markets, finance, and enterprise support, in fostering enterprise growth and development.
• Strong understanding of enterprise support models that have shown results and best practices for adoption.
• Understanding of entrepreneurial support organizations’ role in catalyzing economic transformation and job creation for youth.
• Strong analytical skills, strategic thinking, and contribution as a thought partner in the Foundation’s strategy development.
• Strong budgeting skills with the ability to manage a portfolio of assets.
• Command of quantitative and qualitative business analytics.
• Excellent project management skills, including managing multi-stakeholder projects.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate information to various constituents across cultures.
• Excellent people skills and ability to coordinate technical and cross-functional teams.
• Excellent listening and interpersonal skills.
• The ability to speak a local language is highly preferred.

Deadline for Applications is June 13, 2024.

Mastercard Foundation (the “Foundation”) values and respects your privacy. By submitting an application for this opportunity, you hereby agree to the Foundation’s collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy (available at https://mastercardfdn.org/privacy/). Please note that the Foundation may share your personal information with third-party agencies that support the Foundation’s recruitment activities, and such third-party agencies may contact you directly regarding this opportunity. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Foundation’s Privacy Officer at the address indicated in its Privacy Policy.

The Mastercard Foundation values the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to the organization and we are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone.

Completion of satisfactory business references and background checks are essential conditions of employment.

For more information and to sign up for the Foundation’s newsletter, please visit http://www.mastercardfdn.org/
Follow the Foundation on Twitter at @MastercardFdn

NB: To avoid missing email communication about your application, please check your spam/junk folder and mark our emails as “not junk”.