Manager, Innovation Lab at African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC)

About the Opportunity

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the new Innovation Lab, which plays a critical role in helping Inkomoko scale to 8 countries by 2030.  The Innovation Lab Manager will work closely with the Regional Director of Innovation to develop a user-centric innovation culture and processes to ensure successful implementation of new solutions (both tech and non-tech) across Inkomoko.

We’re looking for a creative thinker and an entrepreneurial problem-solver who is equally comfortable with business strategy and technology. The Innovation Lab Manager will be responsible for helping cross-functional colleagues apply innovation tools and processes effectively and managing Inkomoko’s day to day innovation portfolio. 

Responsibilities

The Innovation Lab Manager is expected to be an experienced project manager and skilled communicator who can facilitate cross-team collaborations and guide innovation ideas, concepts, and initiatives through their life cycle successfully.  A successful candidate should have practical innovation experience from any industry and ready to take on the following roles within innovation management:

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

• Support the Regional Director of Innovation to optimize existing tools and processes and develop new ones as necessary, i.e. SOPs, visual aids to support operations, country programs and field teams.
• Manage innovation initiatives in portfolio through all stages from beginning to end, i.e. from idea to solution.
• Ensure that all innovation initiatives have clear goals and are aligning with Inkomoko’s existing strategy of creating thriving communities for entrepreneurs.
• Coordinate and collaborate with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to source ideas of value to Inkomoko operations and services to Inkomoko clients.
• Coordinate and maintain close communications with cross-functional colleagues to validate insights, ideas, concepts, etc. (customer discovery, market research, etc.)
• Collaborate with cross-functional colleagues to design small scale experiments, with clear ‘success’ metrics, to test key user demand-/market-based assumptions.
• Organize and/or facilitate internal workshops as necessary to improve innovation capabilities of cross-functional colleagues, including efficient use of innovation tools and processes.
• Collaborate with other innovation team members, including technical product development, and external vendors as necessary (e.g. fintech) to identify potential solutions (tech and non-tech) for scale and conduct rapid testing of prototypes.
• Perform other related work as directed by the Regional Director of Innovation or other Senior staff.

Minimum Qualifications

The position requires a creative thinker who can approach problem-solving deeply as well as broadly, across disciplines and systems; human-centered design (HCD) and UX/UI experience is a big plus. The ability to communicate clearly with and facilitate internal collaborations among diverse teams is essential.

Must have:

• 5 years of innovation management experience, overseeing diverse program/project portfolios in nonprofit, private or public sector.
• Exceptional communication skills (oral, written) in English, plus at least one other language of the communities we serve (Kinyarwanda, French, Swahili, Somali, Arabic, Amharic)
• Practical UI/UX experience, including application of human-centered design (HCD) principles to design product/service.
• Bachelor’s degree in design, technology management, marketing, communications, or some innovation related field.
• Adaptive problem solver, with ability to work independently and managing multiple projects with minimal supervision. 
• Experience creating or facilitating effective learning environments for diverse audiences and across cultures.

A plus:

• Economic development experience, experience working with refugee populations.
• Startup or social enterprise experience.
• Experience leading teams (directly or indirectly).