Business Development & External Relations Manager at Africa’s Voices

Job Number: BD/001/2020
Application deadline: 25th September, 2020 midnight GMT
Salary: USD 38,000 – USD 49,000 gross per annum

JOB SUMMARY

Africa's Voices Foundation (AVF) (www.africasvoices.org) is seeking an experienced, detail-oriented, and enthusiastic professional to join our growing team as the Business Development and External Relations Manager. Under the direct supervision of the Executive Director, you will provide strategic support on business development, fundraising and communication within AVF.

The Business Development and External Relations Manager will help AVF expand its partner reach and clientele. The goal is to drive sustainable financial growth through forging strong relationships with clients, suppliers and other partners. To excel in this role you will be an active listener, have a compelling sales personality, and a hunger to chase and close new business. You will identify new business opportunities in order to generate revenue and help the organization grow and meet its objectives.

As Manager, you will play a key role in implementing our long-term strategy and focus on stakeholder engagement and external communications, while providing visible leadership across the entire communications spectrum. You will develop and maintain strategic relationships with donors, partners, the media and the general public in order to build brand awareness and presence for AVF.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Business Development Responsibilities

• Drive the growth of AVF by generating new business opportunities.
• Advance AVF’s institutional fund development efforts by supporting the proposal development process and Business Development Team to meet deadlines, including narrative writing; preparation of supporting documents; and final submission.
• Work closely with Senior Management and Programme Leadership to identify potential new clients, craft proposals, and review contracts.
• Develop internal systems to help make AVF’s fundraising and business development more effective.
• Broaden and diversify AVF’s donor and investor base to increase revenues.Research and disseminate funding opportunities.
• Work with partner organizations including responding to information requests and contributing to bids and proposals in a timely and responsive manner.
• Support efforts to develop and implement strategies that secure unrestricted funding.
• Write letters of inquiry/proposals to foundations and corporate donors.
• Evaluate and present potential business development opportunities.
• Support the development of tools and processes to improve organizational documentation efforts and efficiencies. Manage soft and hard copy proposal documents and files.
• Convene and preside over business development meetings and keep records thereof.

External Relations Responsibilities

• Work to create and maintain a positive image for AVF through media and communications.
• Supervise the writing of documents relating to public relations and advertising and work with executives in other departments.
• Oversee the writing and editing of event scripts, speeches, Trustee documents and reports, advertising and promotional materials, programme reports for external dissemination, press releases, interviews and any other external communications.
• Develop and execute an effective social and multimedia strategy across channels.
• Develop and maintain an online presence for AVF, including the management of AVF’s website and social media presence.
• Develop and deploy audio-visual content to enhance the reach of AVF.
• Develop and implement professional communications guidelines and systems to assure consistency and quality in AVF’s external communications
• Implement and assure ongoing stakeholder, market and competition monitoring in the areas relevant to External Communications
• Build and maintain relationships with relevant stakeholders from the media, associations, the economy and politics, classic and social media
• Provide strategic advice and assistance for Senior Management and Programme Leadership on external communications matters
• Assist the Executive Director in protecting and strengthening AVF’s reputation and anchoring AVF as a responsible company in external perception.
• Supervise the Communications Officer/Assistant.

Key competencies

• Creative and resourceful, with an established reputation in impact investing, social enterprise, international and economic development, financial services, and/or corporate social responsibility.
• High level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills including ability to build alliances and collaborative relationships with sensitivity to diversity.
• Knowledge of donor trends, sustainable development goals, rules and regulations of major donors, major players and consortiums.
• Have a track record in securing grants from bilateral and/or multilateral donors, corporates, foundations and/or major donors.
• Sound knowledge of and understanding of the funding terrain in Kenya and the Eastern Africa region.

Conditions

AVF offers a competitive salary using a salary scheme that recognizes experience, qualifications and demonstrated excellence at the relevant salary level. This position involves travel.

SELECTION CRITERIA

ESSENTIAL

Education, Expertise and Skills

• A minimum Master’s Degree in any relevant field.
• At least Seven (7) years’ experience in international development/ Project management and/or fundraising.
• Ability to provide excellent judgement, understand complex problems, and develop solutions.
• Knowledge of the media landscape, including key technologies and tools, trends, figures, and best practices.
• Strong writing skills, and the ability to persuade with concision.
• Knowledge of current news and the ability to understand key trends driving the evolution of the media landscape.
• Strong public speaking skills.
• Highly organized, with ability to create strategic plans and execute against them.
• Flexible and action-oriented, with an ability to adapt to changing situations.
• Experience of leading donor engagement and consortium building. Significant experience in fundraising in a competitive environment and niche issue.
• Exceptional proposal writing skills – including budgets, log frames, and technical tenders.
• Ability to project manage multiple proposals and coordinate winning teams.
• Solid track record in securing grants and contracts for international development organisations in Africa, particularly focused on economic programmes/social enterprises.
• Experience in donor mapping, researching prospects and managing pipelines essential.

Personal Attributes and Language Competencies

• High levels of energy, initiative, and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work requirements.
• Aptitude for and willingness to work in client-facing contexts, focused on delivering research value-add.
• Clear and confident communicator of research design and findings to non-specialist and practitioner audiences.
• Fluent in oral and written English language.

DESIRABLE

• Working knowledge of social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter). Technical understanding of user interfaces and digital platforms.
• Knowledge of Eastern Africa media or media development.
• Exposure to, interest in and some understanding of techniques for analysing textual data such as text mining, topic modelling and supervised machine learning.
• Knowledge and understanding of data visualisation techniques.
• Legal authorisation to work in Kenya. This position is open to international applicants.

AVF is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity. All applications for vacant positions will be welcomed and will be considered on the relative merits of the applicant against the role profile for the position regardless of colour, race, nationality, ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, parental responsibilities, age, religion, or belief.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.