About Us                                                                          

The Center for African Leadership Studies (CALS) transforms African medical, business, governmental, and nonprofit institutions and individuals with training, coaching, and organizational development that produces effective, values-based servant-leaders. The Center translates international evidence-based leadership development best practices into local cultural circumstances to meet specific needs with indigenous forward-looking solutions that respect tradition.

CALS has an initiative named xHub, which is a social business incubator and coworking space that supports innovative, affordable, and scalable solutions that solve existing social problems for positive value. We provide our resources and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies to be able to play a significant role in shaping the entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem here in Ethiopia!

CALS has also a number of projects and startups under its wings and is an expanding business in different areas.

Summary of Scope of Work

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will be responsible for the administrative, financial, and risk management operations of the company. CFO will be involved in the development of a financial and operational strategy, KPIs, and the ongoing development and monitoring of the financial system.  

A CFO must be well-versed in all aspects of financial management ranging from simple accounting to broad investment and banking operations. The ideal candidate will be an excellent leader since all relative departments of the organization will be under their command.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provides leadership in the development for the continuous evaluation of short and long-term strategic financial objectives.
• Ensure credibility of CALS by providing timely and accurate analysis of budgets, financial trends and forecasts.
• Take hands-on lead position of developing, implementing, and maintaining a comprehensive job cost system.
• Direct and oversee all aspects of the Finance & Accounting functions of the organization.
• Evaluates and advises on the impact of long-range planning, introduction of new programs/ strategies and regulatory action.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with senior executives so as to identify their needs and seek full range of business solutions.
• Provide executive management with advice on the financial implications of business activities.
• Manage processes for financial forecasting, budgets and consolidation and reporting to the Company
• Provide recommendations to strategically enhance financial performance and business opportunities.
• Ensure that effective internal controls are in place and ensure compliance Ministry of Revenues (MoR) laws and rules for financial and tax reporting.
• Support the CEO with the preparation of monthly and annual financial plans
• Maintain speed and accuracy of billings and client payments
• Plan, implement and manage investment strategies
• Manage fundraising plans and capital structure
• Review financial reports for ways to reduce costs
• Determine finance KPIs
• Track and ensure cash flow is appropriate and sustainable

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate and manage well at all levels of the organization
• Strong problem solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analyses.
• High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.
• PC proficiency is essential (Windows environment) and strong working knowledge of Peachtree and Excel is required.
• Technological savviness and adaptability is required
• Problem solver and critical thinker mindset

Educational Requirements

• BS in Accounting or Finance with 8+ years’ experience
• MBA in Finance or CPA with 5+ years’ experience