Expertise France – IYBA-SEED PROGRAM
Expertise France is the French public international cooperation agency. It designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the sustainable development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action.
IYBA-SEED “Investing in Young Businesses in Africa – Supporting Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development” is co-funded by the European Union (DG INTPA), the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Team France and SlovakAid, for a period of 4 years (2023-2026). It is implemented by a consortium of leading European development agencies, including Enabel (Belgium), Expertise France (France), GIZ (Germany), SAIDC (Slovakia) and SNV (Netherlands). The consortium is led by Expertise France.
IYBA-SEED is part of the third Building Block of the Team Europe Initiative TEI IYBA “Investing in Young Businesses in Africa”, which is made up of three Building Blocks: 1) Increase the financial and technical support for pre-seed stage entrepreneurs and micro and small enterprises, 2) Increase the finance for SMEs and entrepreneurs at seed and early stages, and 3) Supporting the ecosystem, with a special emphasis on women and young people.
IYBA-SEED takes an “Ecosystem Strengthening” approach: it targets the entrepreneurship ecosystem and its actors, in order to reach young businesses (i.e. SEED beneficiaries) which are defined as:
- (Very-)early stage businesses and entrepreneurs (pre-seed and seed)
- Led by young entrepreneurs (18-35yo) and/or women entrepreneurs (of all ages)
The project aims to “contribute to creating decent jobs and resilient economies by strengthening entrepreneurship ecosystems in a number of sub-Saharan countries so that they can increase access to Business Development Services (both financial and non-financial) for SEED beneficiaries” in 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Togo).
IYBA-SEED works on four key components / specific objectives
- Capacity Development and Networks : strengthen and connect Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Actors (EEAs) and their networks (both nationally and internationally) to improve access to Business Development Services (both financial and non-financial) for SEED beneficiaries
- Business Environment : contribute to a business environment (policies and regulations) which is conducive to the creation and growth of SEED beneficiaries
- Entrepreneurial Culture : promote an inclusive entrepreneurial culture that encourages existing and future young and women entrepreneurs to create and grow SEED beneficiaries
- Knowledge : foster access for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Actors, SEED beneficiaries and other stakeholders to lessons learned and best practices for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Strengthening
Description of the mission
Under the hierarchical supervision of the Deputy Program Director, the Project Assistant provides administrative, financial, procurement and logistics support to the project IYBA-SEED.
The Project Assistant is part of the central Project Management Unit (PMU) and is based in Brussels.
Functional supervision is provided by the IYBA-SEED Deputy Program Director in Brussels, who is responsible for training and supporting him/her in his/her mission.
He/she will work on a daily basis with and supports the PMU (coordination team and team of component leads) as well as the EF field teams (mainly Deputy Lead Benin, Deputy Lead Senegal and to a lesser extent the Country Team in Togo).
The position requires a high degree of autonomy and interpersonal skills appropriate to working in a European, international and multicultural environment, as well as a good command of both English and French.
The main tasks are listed below (non-exhaustive list):
Financial support
- Assistance in monitoring expenses and supplier invoices (follow-up, reminders, administrative registration)
- Recovery of supporting accounting documents and preparation for payment
- Support during audits
- Update, crosscheck and reconciliation of the project’s transaction list
- Preparation of monthly reporting accounting packages
- Update of the monthly financial report
Procurement support
- Evaluation of the administrative Eligibility of Tenderers
- Conformity Checks
- Setup of contract in our ERP
- Draft of procurement award reports
Logistics support
- Direct organisation and management of travel in collaboration with a travel service provider (control of itineraries received and cost optimisation)
- Booking air/train tickets and local transport
- Preparation of mission security clearances
- Booking of meeting rooms, hotels and airport-hotel transfers in an international context
- Administrative management of visas and all administrative formalities prior to travel
- Ensures or supports the organisation of specific events (missions, seminars and meetings)
- Relations with service providers: processing, negotiation of quotes, management of subscriptions, control of invoicing
- Budgetary monitoring of the organisation of missions to ensure control of travel costs
- Ensuring the logistics and smooth day-to-day running of the PMU office: supplies, consumables and relationships with IT support services.
Administrative support
- Reception of appointments
- Mail management
- Signing of documents
- Indexing, filing and archiving of documents related to the project (especially procurement & missions) on Teams and the headquarters’ servers.
- Management of administrative tasks and formatting of working documents
- Updating existing dashboards/monitoring
- Event organisation, preparation and management (Steering Committees, Workshops)
Expériences / Formation
Qualifications and experience
- Higher education (e.g. Diploma) in accounting and/or administrative and financial management
- At least 3 years’ experience in a similar position
- Proficiency in English and French is required
Specific knowledge, skills or competences
- Good understanding of the tools and technologies used in travel management (platform, etc.)
- Ability to adapt quickly to the working environment
- Reactivity to emergencies
- Good priority management (dealing with several simultaneous requests)
- Good interpersonal and writing skills (numerous internal and external contacts)
Soft skills
- Discretion, confidentiality
- Availability and sense of service
- Rigour (methodical and organised)
- Ability to work in a team
Salaire
BELGIQUE (Bruxelles)
Du 01 avril 2025 au 30 Novembre 2026 (20 mois)
REMUNERATION MENSUELLE : 2704 € (indemnité non contractuelle fixée par décret et arrêté, dont le montant peut varier notamment en fonction de l’évolution du barème de référence, de la localisation de la mission et des cas d’abattements prévus par les textes)
Les candidats doivent remplir les conditions suivantes :
- Avoir entre 18 et 28 ans à la date de l’inscription. Le départ en mission s’effectue au plus tard le jour du 29ème anniversaire. Au-delà, aucune dérogation n’est accordée.
- Être français ou ressortissant d’un pays de l’Espace économique européen (EEE).
- Dans le cadre d’un VIA, le volontaire ne doit pas disposer de la nationalité du pays de mission (double nationalité également)
- Être en règle avec les obligations de service national (journée de défense et de citoyenneté)
- Jouir de ses droits civiques et avoir un casier judiciaire vierge
- Remplir les conditions d’aptitude physique exigées pour les personnes exerçant des activités de même nature dans l’organisme d’accueil
- N’ayant jamais réalisé de VIE/VIA