Partner, MSME Mastercard Foundation

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a critical role in employment and job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the Young Africa Works strategy, the Foundation has committed to improving the quality and quantity of jobs in African countries that address youth unemployment. Working with MSMEs is vital to this mission. The Foundation pursues systemic approaches to diagnose and work on interventions to address the numerous constraints on the growth of MSMEs.

Ways you can contribute
• Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in the Financial Inclusion field, the MSME sector and entrepreneurship growth in Africa to support the Country team design and management of programs to scale country-level inclusive, financial programs.
• Support and contribute to conducting due diligence of potential partners and projects, reviewing project design and appropriate documentation, reporting and data collection as well as budget reviews.
• Build relationships with partner organizations, communities of practice, and global stakeholders.
• Identify and overcome barriers to team effectiveness by sharing knowledge and learnings while offering insights and possible solutions to issues and/or program challenges.
• Manage current and future programs and provide key support working in close collaboration with other technical experts in the various sectors that involve MSME development.
• Initiate discussions and share lessons across country wide MSME expertise groups on progress, challenges and opportunities as well as linkages with other sectors.
• Communicate progress and learnings from projects to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Collaborate with program and country teams to leverage synergies across programs and geographies.
• Participate in governance activities related to programs, such as investment committees, advisory committees or other stakeholders to provide oversight or elevate and leverage learnings.
• Represents the Foundation in MSME and private sector engagement related partner coordination working groups, task forces and other meetings where relevant.
• Lead and supervise small teams of colleagues and/or junior experts by providing coaching and support necessary for success and growth.

Who you are
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Finance, Business, Development Economics and/or Financial Inclusion. Master’s degree or equivalent is an added advantage.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of experience in business development support, 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.
• Good understanding of MSME segments (from early stage startups to growth-stage SMEs) in Africa and the systemic challenges constraining their growth, with particular understanding of the Uganda context.
• Experience living and working on MSME support programs in Uganda with command of quantitative and qualitative business analytics. Knowledge of African social, economic and political contexts would be an asset.
• Excellent project management skills, including multi-stakeholder projects. Experience especially in designing market systems development programs.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures. Strong ability to communicate progress and learnings from projects to colleagues and the wider development community.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team with excellent prioritization and time management skills. Excellent people skills, ability to coordinate technical and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills, the ability to think strategically and contribute as a thought partner in the Foundation’s strategy development.
• Astute ability to provide expert technical advice to implementers.
• Proactive, engaged, a self-starter, flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Ability to travel up to 30%.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• Demonstrate a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.