Business Mentor _ Dadaab -Dagahaley (6 months Fixed Term)

Employer: Village Enterprise

Industry: Nonprofit/International Development/Social Entrepreneurship

Function: Develop Micro- Enterprises and provide Mentoring activities to Business Owners

Job Title: Business Mentor

Position Type: Full time

Reports to: Field Associate

Contract: Six Months Fixed Term

Location: Dadaab. ( Dagahaley)

Organization Overview: Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation. Village Enterprise targets the poor, provides business training, seed capital/startup funds and on-going mentoring to over 10,000 new entrepreneurs to start 3,000 enterprises each year. Since its inception in 1987, Village Enterprise has started over 40,000 micro-enterprises.

Position Overview: This is a full-time staff member, 40 hours per week. The individual might be required to work on some weekends and occasionally holidays depending on the magnitude of work. A Village Enterprise Business Mentor is passionate about alleviating poverty in their region and dedicated to their roles as trainer, mentor and community leader

Job Description:

Micro Enterprise Development:

·      Develop micro-enterprises according to the Village funding cycle, start micro-enterprises in your region.

·      Fill out proper Village forms for each micro enterprise as specified in the Business Mentor manual.

·      Mobilize qualified groups to participate in Village Enterprise program

·      Responsible for quality Village Enterprise Program implementation in entire sub-county

Training and disbursement:

·      Properly train all new Village Enterprise business owners according to training process detailed in the Business Mentor Manual

·      After pre-funding training sessions are complete, work with Village Enterprise staff to carry out grant disbursement for all business groups

·      Conduct supplemental training sessions and evaluate micro-enterprise performance after grant disbursements

Mentoring:

·      Provide mentoring on choosing and running a business using methods outlined in Mentoring Manual. Mentoring will require at least one visit to each business per month

·      Provide advice and support in designing business-mentoring methodologies that are the most appropriate for the type pf enterprises supported.

·      Prepare a monthly report detailing progress of business groups including successes and challenges, general observations and changes to business groups (industry, composition)

·      Help Business owners in producing credible business and marketing plan including how to balance positive cash flow and maintain accounts.

·      Connect enterprises up and down the value chain by identifying relevant stakeholders, suppliers etc. and creating sustainable commercial relationships between the parties.

Business Savings Groups (BSGs):

·      Organize Business Savings Groups for each set of 10 businesses funded during a cycle

·      Train business groups on Business Saving Group formation for self-directed savings and loans

·      Attend Monthly Savings Group Meetings for the first nine months providing assistance as needed.

·      Provide information and material, which may be of use to the business owners for marketing, value addition, business development, motivation and value chain maintenance.

Regional Exposure and Analysis:

·      Assist Field Associate, to introduce Village’s program to local government agencies

·      Work with Field Associate to help identify most viable businesses in your region

·      Consult with other Business Mentors to determine best practices and share information

·      Attend Business Mentor Training and participate in regional Business Mentor meetings, usually bi-weekly

·      Organize business visits as requested by Country Office.

·      Teach and show business owners how to conduct engaging presentations to visitors.

·      Organize and facilitate peer to peer and lesson learning exchange events between the different enterprises supported in the program.

Reporting:

·      Submit a monthly report according to the Village Enterprise form in the BM training manual

·      Submit Business Profiles once a quarter

Safeguarding

·      Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility at Village Enterprise, and it begins with me

·      Continuously sensitize program participants on safeguarding.

·      Ensure compliance with Village Enterprise’s safeguarding policies

·      Report any incident of safeguarding in program operations for appropriate action/follow up.

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Core Competencies:

·      Dedicated and hardworking

·      Highly self-motivated

·      Easy to interact and engage with various community groups

·      Confident and proactive in pursuing organization goals

Physical Environment and Demands  

·      Field based in a rural setup

·      Full time field work

·      Public transport including motorbike (bodaboda) will be the mode of transport

·      Frequent interaction with communities and their local leaders