Digital Entrepreneurship Analyst at UNDP Ethiopia 

UNDP Ethiopia Vacancy:

Position: Digital Entrepreneurship Analyst

Application Deadline: June, 29/2023 

Background

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing the representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

MSMEs have long been considered engines for the social and economic well-being of nations. They play a pivotal role in reducing poverty by creating massive employment opportunities, and socio-cultural integration, and add value for GDP growth and addressing the issue of inclusiveness by bringing more women and youth into the socio-economic frontier. The recent crisis both from COVID-19 and the conflict in northern Ethiopia's effect on MSMEs has been severe, particularly because of the disproportionate vulnerability of urban areas (where most SMEs operate) and the lower resilience of smaller firms to external shocks.

Ethiopia is faced with various challenges despite the government’s commitment and progress on economic and social development. The challenges for the country are rooted in structural issues like poverty, unemployment, gender inequities, and the impacts of multiple crises (continuous conflict, the impact of climate change and the unforeseen challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic) that add to the gravity of issues the country needs to tackle. There exists a youth bulge with a large number of young people entering the job market every year. In the absence of public sector jobs, and inadequate support for MSMEs and entrepreneurship, Ethiopia is struggling to harness its demographic dividend – which if adequately invested in can fast-track the country’s development.

The government and various international and national organizations, including the UNDP have been steadily investing in developing the capacity of the private sector – but lasting change takes time, effort and resources over a medium to long duration. Despite various improvements and support mechanisms, there is limited capacity for national coordination to assess the needs of MSMEs and provide responsive services to them – these include technical and financial assistance, as well as mentorship and market access pathways.

MSMEs struggle to sustain and grow as access to finance is not flexible and inclusive. Women and youth employed in MSMEs or owning MSMEs are impacted even more due to these limitations. Digital mechanisms for supporting MSMEs and strengthening policy environment, and processes and enabling access to markets have not been explored or exploited. Overall institutional capacity is weak and there can be improvements in building multi-stakeholder partnerships or providing fora for dialogue between MSMEs and government entities that aim to support them.

Therefore, there are layers of challenges, inextricably linked to one other that need to be addressed by flexible and innovative approaches to programming. Years of experience have proven that issues cannot be dealt with in silos – and therefore UNDP Ethiopia, in consultation with GIZ is proposing a multi-pronged programme that will address the above-stated issues in systemic but innovative ways. It will also mainstream cross-cutting themes like gender equality, youth, green job, environmental awareness etc. The programme will be rooted in multi-stakeholder partnerships and will ensure that the progress made through it can be picked up by the relevant government departments and carried on for a stronger and ongoing impact.

The programme will support targeted beneficiaries (businesses, entrepreneurs, employees) afloat during the multiple crises that Ethiopia is facing; while collaborating with the private sector MSMEs to promote self-reliance and safeguard its resilience and viability in order to preserve and advance the SDGs, while focusing in particular on women and youth. The programme will support the private sector in driving growth, job creation and resilience building. Broadening the base for job creation will help create more and better jobs, as well as help overcome the uneven spatial distribution of jobs across the country. It will help protect viable MSMEs from sliding back and help them grow and create more jobs and support economic recovery through access to finance and direct capacity building and creating an enabling environment.

The project has the following pillars:

- Pillar I: Ensure continuity of critical support functions and businesses at risk of collapse in crisis-affected areas

- Pillar II. Business recovery and resilience building through pre-and post-investment support to most impacted MSMEs

- Pillar III. Direct support to crises-affected entrepreneurs/start-ups

Hence, this recruitment is to deploy Digital Entrepreneurship (DET) Analyst to oversee, coordinate and serve as a liaison between MoLS and UNDP in the implementation of the digital aspects of Supporting MSMEs Affected by Multiple crises in Ethiopia and promoting innovative start-ups towards restarting and recovery of the private sector project.

The incumbent will coordinate the interventions related to the Digital entrepreneurs’ component of the programme by directly linking with targeted beneficiaries (businesses, entrepreneurs, employees) to develop digital solutions towards enhancing the efficiency of business operations and accelerating recovery. Key responsibilities of the DET Senior Analyst will include project coordination, partnership development and knowledge management towards promoting digitalization in start-up businesses to drive growth, job creation and resilience building. The successful candidate will be stationed at MoLS and will engage with MoLS team on a daily basis.

Duties and Responsibilities

a) Project management and coordinating

• Working closely with the relevant teams within the ministry and partner institutions to fast-track project implementation and identify areas where coordination / senior-level intervention is required; particularly on the digitalization aspect of the MSME project. 

• Managing the incubation program (TAF service) that will aid gig workers and recognize and provide support for MSMEs and start-ups that can help address the crisis, scale up Yegara.org, a flagship of MoLS-led digital platform. 

• Conducting analysis of critical issues pertaining to digital entrepreneurship, identifying cross-cutting and emerging issues, and proposing necessary solutions; particularly within crisis context 

• Advising the MoLS management on digital entrepreneurship strategic matters and setting priorities for leadership guidance including organizing and coordinating stakeholder meetings, and performance management.  

b) Support to Service-delivery functions which include processing businesses application to vet, identify and support entrepreneurs and start-ups that can contribute for the response to the crisis. This includes providing information on support available from the GoE, an application window for support, a central database for delivery management and a reporting and visualization tool on the use of funds

c) Government Liaising & mainstreaming  

• Active liaising by the Analyst across relevant partner government institutions to ensure alignment, mainstreaming and coordination of efforts and resources in line with government priorities and strategies of the Digital Transformation Plan.

d) Partnership Management

• Including active relationship management with development partners to ensure a collaborative and potentially multistakeholder platform to drive digitalizing component of the programme. The analyst shall be responsible for influencing development partner priorities to secure funding partnerships with the Business Emergency Unit. 

• Mapping of actors and development partners in Ethiopia working on the recovery of businesses and facilities to have platforms for stakeholders’ coordination and collaboration

e) Project Communications & Popularization

• Providing technical support for the 3rd National Job Summit (African Job Summit), Branding and marketing panel agenda setting, and match-making Ethiopia’s DE for international audiences

• Co-develop project communication materials (related to digital entrepreneurship) with MoLS team members and ensure timely and effective project popularization among public and private stakeholders.

• Continuing the Enkopa movement, making the necessary arrangements for the Enkopa panel session, and providing input to the Enkopa website

• Representing the MoLS in leading the Enkopa Summit which will be on October 22-23,2023.

Institutional Arrangement

 a) MoLS will directly supervise the DET Analyst - seconded UNDP recruited NPSA staff. The Analyst will deliver monthly and quarterly performance delivery reports to UNDP. MoLS will send an approval letter attaching the progress reports monthly to UNDP CO for payment 

b) The progress report to be submitted Monthly should entail planned activities, tasks accomplished as per the plan, additional tasks accomplished, reasons for lagging from the plan if any, problems encountered, solutions recommended and next period plan. 

c) The DET Analyst is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with relevant government stakeholders and potential donors 

d) MOLS will provide office facilities and necessary support for the efficient delivery of tasks.

e) Secretarial services and Local transport services for work-related activities will be arranged by MoLS

Competencies

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside your comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in the change process

• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, brings people together, builds/maintains coalitions/partnerships

• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, consider in decision making 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

• Business Direction & Strategy - Strategic thinking: Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities, linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions

• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP

• Business Development - Knowledge generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context or responsive to a stated need  

• Digital & Innovation - Data analysis: Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making

• Digital & Innovation - Innovation ecosystem curation - Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilize them to build a community and over time a movement around a common mission that can bring about changes at the system level. 

• Ability to give a sense of purpose and build trust, develop programmes of activities and platforms to build and strengthen relationships

• Information management and Technology - Data management and analytics: Knowledge in data management, data sciences, ability to structure data, develop dashboards and visualization. Design data warehouses, data lakes or data platforms concepts.

Job requirements

Education:

• BA degree or Master in Computer Science, Information Systems, Economics, Law, Mathematics, Engineering, Statistics, or another relevant field of study

Experience:

• Minimum of 4 years of relevant work experience with BA and 2 years with MA.  

Required skills:

• Demonstrated experience in digital entrepreneurship/startups development, MSME ecosystem development

• Understanding of the Ethiopian ICT sector context and effects on small businesses

• Good understanding of Fintech and private sector development programmes and initiatives

• Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section  

• Demonstrated experience in MSME ecosystem development, enterprise development policies and public sector capacity development related to the thematic sector

• Practical and working knowledge of GoEs information technology policies and strategies in relation to MSMEs

• Direct working level experience with digital enterprises including handling enterprise vetting and conducting due diligence for digital technology incubation programmes  

• strong background in Project Cycle Management and Results-Based Management tools

Language:

• Fluency in English and local language of the duty station.

How to Apply

Register using this LINK