ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION INSTITUTE

Position:                           Senior Project Officer I -  Agri-Hub   

Employment Type:         One year, with the possibility to extension

Duty Station(s):                Addis Ababa (Oromia)

Required Number:         One

Salary & Benefits:           Competitive

Application Deadline:    January 4, 2024

BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government Institute created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATI envisions to be the leading center of innovative solutions for the transformation of Ethiopian Agriculture by 2030.

The Institute focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, Sidama, South-West, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private, and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training, and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has made the transformation and commercialization of the agriculture sector a key tenet of its Transformation Plan. At the very core of the strategy to achieve this transformation is the transition of smallholder farmers from subsistence orientation to market focused production systems and activities that better integrate them into domestic and global supply chains. The full development and competitiveness of the entire agricultural value chain is thus critical to ensure that smallholder farmers can make the necessary market linkages that allow such supply chain integrations to happen.

Along the agricultural value chain, agriculture-oriented enterprises play critical roles in developing infrastructure, producing and distributing inputs, processing, marketing, retailing and exporting products, among others. However, these businesses are predominantly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that remain largely underdeveloped due to a number of barriers, particularly access to appropriate and timely financial products and services, talent and skill development, and supply chain and market linkages. There is thus a need for targeted support for agricultural SMEs as they are a catalyst to increasing rural incomes, improving food security, and are the building blocks to form larger enterprises spurring Ethiopia’s future economic growth.

In many other countries, Agribusiness Accelerators have successfully scaled and professionalized SMEs through comprehensive business development services and funding. At ATI Several projects already provide some supports to agricultural SMEs, but opportunity remains for an SME-focused program to provide more holistic business development services. Thus, we are building a new SME-focused business unit – Agri-Hub – to expand the Accelerator model at ATI.

Some of the most critical challenges SMEs face are underdeveloped business capabilities and limited access to finance. Agri-Hub is looking to hire a regional Senior Project Officer I to help address these challenges. Each Senior Project Officer I will support the SMEs served by Agri-Hub in his/her region with the following responsibilities: 1) deliver regular 1:1 business advisory mentorship to SME owners, with support including: developing and operationalizing a business plan, making strategic and numbers-based decisions, identifying and executing operational efficiencies; 2) represent Agri-Hub to develop relationships and create linkages to lending institutions (i.e. commercial banks and MFIs) and facilitate their willingness to lend to Agri-Hub SMEs; and 3) facilitate and coordinate the delivery of Agri-Hub services in his/her region.

The Senior Project Officer I will officially report to the Agri-Hub Team Lead of the Agri-Hub HQ and Regional Business and marketing team lead and will be based in OATC (Oromia). This role will require frequent travel within the regions.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

·       Provide 1:1 business advisory and mentorship to high potential small enterprises involving:

-      Guidance on strategic decisions

-      Coaching to form ambitious but attainable business plans

-      Hands-on support to operationalize those plans

·       Serve as the voice of Agri-Hub to form relationships with regional MFIs and commercial banks on behalf of Agri-Hub’s SMEs; facilitate those SMEs’ linkages to financing institutions

·       Coordinate implementation of services to SMEs in the region

·       Work closely with regional and federal project teams, regional partners, and BDS providers to identify, align, and provide the most impactful supports that enhance the business skill and business model of MSMEs.

·       Develop implementation plan and organize quality and effective business skill development trainings and workshops, Report performance and brief progress updates about his/her duties to immediate supervisor/director regularly

Job Requirements

• REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• ·Masters degree in Business Administration, Agribusiness, Finance, Commerce, Management, Marketing or other relevant fields

• At least 6 years work experience in either one or more of the following: consulting, strategy, business development/management/administration, corporate finance, investment facilitation, entrepreneurship

• Thorough academic understanding of business topics (i.e. finance, marketing, strategy) as well as practical work experience

• Outstanding inter-personal skills; ability to effectively engage and influence mentees as well as influence financing institutions like MFIs and Commercial Banks

• Fluency in English, Afaan Oromoo and Amharic, listen, written and spoken,

• Self-driven individual with ability to drive work with minimal supervision; demonstrated track record of organization, multi-tasking, and time management skills

• Proven experience in designing detailed project implementation plans and coordinating with multiple stakeholders to drive timely execution and ensuring on-budget delivery

•  Ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment, with an emphasis on high performance, teamwork, accountability, monitoring and results measurement

• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools

How to Apply

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

• We invite all candidates meeting the required qualifications to submit (i) a cover letter and (ii) CV (maximum 3 pages), at THIS LINK and include “Application for Senior Project Officer I - Agri-Hub ” in the subject line.

• Also, please DO NOT submit scans of certificates with your application form.

• Women are highly encouraged to apply.

• NB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.