Business Development Associate

Position summary:

The Alliance, on behalf of HarvestPlus, seeks a highly-motivated Business Development Associate to join our team. The position is located at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC) office in Nairobi, Kenya, which hosts the HarvestPlus Africa Regional Office.

In pursuit of the vision and mission of HarvestPlus, the Business Development Associate will be responsible for expanding HarvestPlus work by identifying, screening, securing and arranging suitable innovative program expansion and rationalization opportunities both outside and in the current countries of operation. The Business development Associate will work closely with the HarvestPlus Regional Director to refine and develop both short and long-term strategies and business plans that enable greater uptake of bio fortified crops and food value chains. The Associate will report to the Africa Regional Director.

Main duties and responsibilities include:

· Identify and profile bio fortification growth opportunities on the continent and assisting HarvestPlus with expansion of bio fortification including defining the entry strategy in new countries.

· Screen potential program partnerships in the priority countries by analyzing market strategies, requirements, potential, and funding; evaluating options; resolving internal priorities.

· Set up new programs and securing all the necessary legal obligations, licenses and permits required to conduct operations locally.

· Identify and coordinate partnership requirements; developing and negotiating contracts; integrating contract requirements with HarvestPlus operations.

· Assist with strategy formulation, resourcing, budgeting, financial, and & audit processes for newly established programs.

· Coordinate and supervising delivery in countries where HarvestPlus has limited physical presence.

· Support and assisting the development, preparation review of annual work plans.

· Assist in the developing and maintaining appropriate stakeholder relationships in the priority countries.

· Advise the Africa Regional Director on all program related matters and work on special projects, as required

The candidate shall have the following competencies, skills and experience:

· A university degree in a relevant field of study, such as agriculture including business, sales (BSc degree or higher)

· More than 5 years of experience in a commercial environment preferable agro or food based industry.

· Extensive in field experience in business management with an emphasis on strategic planning and project implementation development & customer relationship management.

· Experience in the conception, design and management of strategies, initiatives and programs.

· Fluency in English.

· Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity.

· Exceptional drive and entrepreneurship, a pronounced ability to motivate others.

· Hands-on problem-solver with strong analytical abilities.

· Strong organizational and business planning capability

· Ability to think strategically and creatively

Applicants are invited to visit http://ciat.cgiar.org/ciat-jobs to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications should include reference number HV-2764 Business Development Associate as the position applied for. Applications should be saved as one document using the candidate’s lastname, firstname for ease of sorting.