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Job Title:                                                   Team Leader

Reporting Unit/Supervisor:                        Regional Director, Southern Africa

Location:                                                   Johannesburg, South Africa

Travel:                                                       International 50%, Domestic 0%

 

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TechnoServe Background:

TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. We are a nonprofit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital, and markets. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs, and wealth for their families and communities. With more than four decades of proven results, we believe in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.

 

Program Description:

The Department for International Development (DFID) anticipates a five-year Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) program to drive catalytic change in how investors view and invest in agribusinesses working in smallholder supply chains. Portfolio companies may be in any country in which DFID operates. Specifically, CASA will increase economic opportunities for smallholder farmers by:

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• Enabling more smallholder farmers to engage with and trade into commercial markets;

• Demonstrating the commercial viability of agribusinesses with significant smallholder supply chains and attracting more investment into these businesses;

• Deepening the smallholder impact of investments made by development finance institutions and impact investors.

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CASA has three components.

1. Work in three countries in two target value chains to be determined to support SME agribusinesses to access early stage investment.

2. Creation of an Emerging Smallholder Facility (ESF) to support larger agribusinesses that have received development investment funds to further maximize their impact.

3. Learning and Communication activities to identify evidence gaps in commercial agriculture, and monitor the entire CASA program.

 

Position Description:

The Team Leader role consists of two functions (roughly 50/50 split in terms of time):

 

1. Specific TA Project oversight

2. CASA Component B Overall Program Management

 

Specific TA Project oversight

• Manage the end-to-end process, including designing, proposing, obtaining approval for, tendering, and supervising a selection of the technical assistance projects for agribusinesses (including those in Francophone countries)

• Manage TA providers, and provide strategic influencing to ensure regular stakeholder participation and collaboration

• Maintain strong relationships with the CASA leadership and CASA portfolio companies

• Identify institutional gaps in subcontractors and investees, ensuring high level performance through remote managing, coaching, and capacity building

• Coordinate closely with CASA M&E systems, processes, procedures and reporting

• Maintain the CASA Technical Assistance Provider Database

• Contribute to TechnoServe knowledge management/development by leveraging agriculture learnings from CASA

• Proactively promote CASA and TechnoServe in the wider development sector, seeking opportunities for collaboration and partnership as well as nurturing potential agriculture business development prospects

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CASA Component B Overall Program Management

• Lead investor engagement and pipeline development

• Oversee CASA Component B team’s activities, manage relationship with DFID

• Set agenda, facilitate logistics, prepare materials, attend and present at Committee meetings; oversee program financial management and reporting

• Oversee ongoing program monitoring; Provide input into CASA baseline and midterm evaluations and oversee implementation of impact evaluation initiatives

• Lead the overall participation and collaboration of stakeholders including but not limited to: TA committee, DFID, agribusiness investors and investees

• Lead TA committee to ensure gender considerations are adequately integrated into investee selection approach

• Approve payments, expense reports, provide input into annual budget process

• Lead submission of required donor reports; and regularly communicate with donor on project issues to ensure alignment

• Produce regular communication and knowledge exchange materials based on TAF experiences and learning

• Contribute to TAF strategy and knowledge institutionalisation at TechnoServe; as well as communication of learnings with the broader industry.

 

Required Skills & Experience:

• More than 10 years’ experience in a senior management role in commercial agriculture, agribusiness development, and access to finance in Sub-Saharan Africa and / or South Asia

• Experience influencing senior management of development finance institutions, agribusiness companies and impact investors to achieve results

• Experience creating high-touch partnership approach in reinforcing network ties between impact investors and agribusinesses

• Demonstrated experience collaborating with senior management teams of medium and large agribusinesses

• Proven track record in managing smallholder/MSME Technical Assistance facilities and/or public-private partnerships in the agriculture development space

• Understanding of capacities and constraints of smallholder farming and agribusiness development

• Demonstrated experience integrating female smallholder farmers and successfully removing structural barriers that bar entry into agribusiness supply chains

• Experience leading complex DFID-funded programs and familiarity with reporting mechanisms

• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams

• Management or strategy consulting experience (i.e. experience advising private companies),

• A good understanding of the financial services sector and experience of agricultural development program design

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HOW TO APPLY:  Please send your cover letter and resume to recruitment@broderickhaightconsulting.com with the subject title “TS Team Leader”

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