Business Development Services Coordinator (4 Job Vacancies) – TechnoServe

About US:
TechnoServe (TNS) is an international non-profit international development organization founded in 1968. Its mission is to help entrepreneurial men and women break the cycle of poverty by building businesses that create jobs, income, and economic opportunities for their families, their communities, and their countries.

About USAID Project:
TechnoServe (TNS) will work in partnership with the Uganda Cooperative Alliance after being recently awarded a grant to implement the Feed the Future – Producer Organizations Activity. The USAID funded Feed the Future Uganda Producer Organizations Activity seeks to strengthen the Governance, management and service delivery capacity of Producer Organizations (POs) with the goal of helping to establish durable and enduring institutions that are able to plan, mobilize resources, and deliver services that meet the evolving needs of their members in a rapidly changing competitive environment. To achieve this vision, the activity will harness the potential of Uganda’s secondary POs in 12 of the Feed the Future focus districts in Uganda to serve as critical agents of change in equipping member POs with the skills, knowledge, and linkages needed to develop into sustainable businesses that meet the demands of their farmers.

Job Summary: The Business Development Services Coordinator (BDSC) ensures that beneficiary Producer Organizations (POs) in the coffee, maize and beans value chains are operated and managed profitably. The position will work closely with other team members of Feed the Future Producer Organizations Activity to enhance farmers’ benefit and leverage service delivery at each level of contact with both farmers and customers. The incumbent will build and maintain linkages between producer organizations and business development service providers.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:
· The incumbent will ensure sound operational and business strategy, business advisory services to the leadership and management of POs.
· Carry out structured business diagnosis, identification problems/constraints and prioritization of strategies to achieve growth;
· Ensure the timely execution of business plans and guide the leadership and management to conduct reviews to inform progress against strategic business targets;, volumes, market demands, profitability, membership and share capital;
· Provide support to Producer Organizations (POs) to come up with strategies that aim to increase their membership, equity, and establish a written value proposition to their membership;
· Build working and mutually beneficial relationships between BDSC providers and POs
· Support initiatives that aim to ensure effective collaboration with other Feed the Future and non-Feed the Future implementing partners in the designated region that synergize interventions along the three commodity value chains. Take part in regional commodity platforms and forums to contribute to sector enhancements;
· Oversee the work of advocacy advisers to set and achieve activity targets among the beneficiary POs;
· Build business and managerial capacity of board of directors/ executive committees and management of POs to grow their profitability, outreach to farmers and competitiveness etc.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
· The applicant should hold relevant degree qualifications in any of the following areas: Business Administration, Commerce, Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Business Management, Development Studies or any related studies;
· At least five years of business consulting, financing and /or business advisory in agriculture, agribusiness and demonstrated technical experience in any agricultural value chain;
· Excellent track record of building strong client and stakeholder relationships with strong team working skills;
· Positive, holistic attitude towards work, ability to solve problems and generate innovative solutions in work situations;
· Excellent oral and report written skills;
· High levels of integrity.

How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their applications via Email only to the Human Resources Manager: UG-jobs@tns.org. Please include an updated resume, cover letter and three professional references with the job title in the subject line of your email and on the application letter.

Deadline: Friday, 6th November, 2015

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