ABOUT INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FOUNDATION (IYF)

For thirty years, our sole focus has been to help young people succeed. Together with partners around the world, we’ve invested in ensuring that youth develop the leadership, technical, and life skills to earn a livelihood. Whether it’s landing a first job, growing a business, or driving social change, every young person deserves the opportunity to realize his or her full potential. Rooted in the belief of youth as problem-solvers, change-makers, and leaders, our initiatives are catalysts for change. For more information, please consult HERE

POSITION SUMMARY

The primary responsibility of this position will be to help create new economic opportunities for youth, by building skills, changing norms, and supporting access to financial resources to enable young entrepreneurs to start or grow their businesses. As a core member of our USAID funded Integrated Youth Activity (IYA) program’s Youth Empowerment Fund and Enterprise Development team and in partnership with IYA’s youth inclusion and engagement, employability, education, and capacity building functions, this position will provide technical assistance for the establishment and promotion of youth-led enterprises, including entrepreneurship skill-building, business incubator and accelerator initiatives, mentorship linkages, and access to financial resources. This position requires experience and technical expertise in small business management and enterprise development, strong training and capacity building skills, and knowledge of youth development and inclusive development approaches.

CORE JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contribute to the design, execution, and analysis of regional labor market assessment and mapping activities to identify viable entrepreneurship pathways for targeted youth populations and economic growth sectors.
• Lead the development and/or adaptation of existing materials for a tailored entrepreneurship training package integrated into IYA’s foundational skill-building approach, ensuring alignment of training content to assessed skill gaps and risk appetite levels of project participants, and to labor market analysis findings.
• Develop SOPs and guidelines on the rollout of entrepreneurship training programs and packages across IYA’s Youth hubs and conduct continuous monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure quality and adapt implementation strategy as needed.
• Cascade entrepreneurship training resources to, and help build training capacities of, youth-serving organizations and other project stakeholders working with youth-led enterprises.
• Facilitate hands-on work experience opportunities through internships with successful entrepreneurs for older youth, and in-school or extracurricular modules on building an entrepreneurial mindset for students.
• Establish and manage business mentorship program, connecting male and female business advisors and private-sector champions to young entrepreneurs and youth-led businesses.
• Oversee IYA’s business incubator and accelerator activities supporting high-potential young entrepreneurs to take their businesses through ideation to investment.
• Advise and link with IYA’s youth-led Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization to enable young entrepreneurs to access youth-tailored financial products to start businesses.
• Establish and oversee monitoring and data collection systems for project activities and targets in the entrepreneurship pathway.
• Perform other duties as requested.

Job Requirements

• Masters’ degree or equivalent work experience in a relevant field such as business management, enterprise development, vocational education or business education.
• Minimum seven years of experience implementing projects in the areas of entrepreneurship, youth economic opportunity, small and micro-enterprise development, and/or financial inclusion in Ethiopia.
• Experience working with, and professional networks among, business/commerce associations, financial service providers, business incubators, and education or vocational training systems in Ethiopia.
• Excellent training, facilitation, and workshop management skills. Experience with virtual training modalities and e-learning strongly desired
• Demonstrated experience successfully working with the public sector, the private sector, civil society, nongovernmental organizations, and community-based organizations
• Experience with and understanding of gender and social inclusivity in entrepreneurship, capacity strengthening and access to financial services for youth and youth-led enterprises
• Strong ability to build partnerships, facilitate cross-sector collaboration, advocate for institutional and systemic change, and generate commitment to shared goals
• Deep personal commitment to social and economic development that recognizes youth as critical actors and beneficiaries, and to gender equity and social inclusion
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Amharic
• Strong presentation, research, reporting and representation skills
• Excellent computer skills using MSOffice 365 Suite of products
• Ability to travel domestically up to 30 - 40% of time

How to Apply

Please submit your CV written in English via: jobs@iyfnet.org with " Entrepreneurship Technical Advisor " in the subject line.

NB: To be eligible for this position, applicants must have the legal authority to work and reside in Ethiopia; this position is a local hire position in Ethiopia. Applications will be reviewed as received. The International Youth Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Please note only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls.

Closing date of application is October 21, 2021.