Global Impact Ventures Growth Associate/Manager

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. We provide quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural trainings to improve harvests. We measure our success by our ability to make farmers more prosperous: On average, farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund.

Job Description

The Impact Ventures Department aims to build ultra-scalable new channels and business models that can grow to serve more than half a million farmers in just a few years. We have a diverse portfolio of investments, from government partnerships to short-term behavior change campaigns to tree seedling nurseries. What they share is a commitment to serve millions of farm families while maintaining operations that are financially efficient.

We are seeking someone to help identify, design and scale-up early-stage ventures in partnership with country and global teams. Given how the department supports the portfolio of investments is constantly changing, this role will require an openness to add value in multiple ways. You will report into the Impact Ventures Growth Director.

Role responsibilities could include the following (specific responsibilities dependent on organizational needs):

Develop strategies to scale current Impact Ventures investments to reach hundreds of thousands of clients.

• Manage or advise 1-2 on the ground leaders who oversee the daily operations. Each of these leaders will likely lead a growing team of 10-30 people.
• Work with program leads to maintain strong field execution through building systems/tools to track and assess important field performance indicators and solve unexpected operational challenges
• Build 5-year strategies that improve our ability to hit scale targets, achieve stronger impact per farmer, and maintains program cost controls
• Help recruit senior program leaders

Dream big and operationalize new ideas,whether enhancing existing pilots or contributing to country/organizational strategy in identifying new opportunities to pursue. 

• Work with country leadership teams to build a business case for a new product or service including strategic rationale, financial projections, and connecting the case to farmer needs identified in the field.
• Co-develop the trial design with country teams including what to trial, how to trial, and at what scale. 
• Hire and manage a pilot team directly to trial new ideas or act as a advisor to country teams if they take on ownership of trialing 

Develop relationships and coordinate with partners who are relevant to our work. Partners could include One Acre Fund Country Directors, executives at social enterprises, and officials in government ministries. 

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

• 4 to 7+ years of professional work experience with experience leading teams and managing projects; entrepreneurial or consulting experience preferred (e.g. building a new team, launching new programs across a large field team)
• Humility; a willingness to get your shoes muddy and work productively with people from all walks of life
• An entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to start adding value quickly.
• Experience gathering and combining different types of qualitative (e.g. farmer interviews) and quantitative (e.g. financial/impact modelling) information to guide major strategic and operational decisions
• Willingness to travel 35% of the time to rural areas post-Covid - our operations are predominantly based in rural areas, close to our customers.
• Fluency in English

Preferred Start Date

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, start dates can vary significantly by role. We are adapting rapidly to Covid-19 and most of our team is now working remotely. Given the changing environment, we will appreciate your flexibility in confirming a start date.

Job Location

Kigali, Rwanda or Nairobi, Kenya

Compensation

Commensurate with experience

Duration

Full-time job.

Benefits 

Health insurance, paid time off

Sponsor International Candidates

Yes; African nationals strongly encouraged to apply. 

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.