Sub Award and Enterprise Development Manager at TechnoServe Kenya

Role Summary and Position Description:

• The Sub Awards and Enterprise Development Manager will be responsible for equipping young men and women with knowledge and skills to sustainably support income-generating activities within the Blue Economy through enterprise and technical training, funding, access to networks and enhanced leadership skills. The key success factors will include and be limited to collaborating with the local partners to meet the program’s objectives.
• This position will be responsible for implementing the program objective which includes supporting 15,000 (70% women) aspiring and current youth entrepreneurs, building the capacity of local enterprise development organizations to effect systematic change, fostering financial inclusion amongst the financially disadvantaged young people via the Bahari Boost Challenge Fund and implement digital solutions for the youth enterprises.
• Post the program’s pilot phase in 2024, the role will be tasked with identifying system and program efficiencies, developing structures and being creative to ensure the scalability and transformative strategy is implemented by training, funding and providing markets to the subsequent cohorts and collaborating with the local partners.
• Sub awards management will include establishing efficient systems for engaging sub-award partners, and onboarding at least five new partners while ensuring due diligence and adherence to the Grants Manual. During the award phase, this will include managing partner communication, capacity-strengthening processes, and collaborating on work plans and budgets aligned with program deliverables. Additionally, this role will include coordinating partner progress and reporting, providing technical leadership for grant management, developing a comprehensive partnership strategy, and sharing timely reports with stakeholders.
• The ideal candidate will have a passion for youth empowerment, sustainability, and the blue economy, with proven experience in enterprise development (training, financing, market access) and networking skills with a focus on the critical value chains including but not limited to fisheries, ecotourism, mangrove restoration, apiculture, seaweed, plastic recycling etc.
• The Sub Awards & Enterprise Development Manager will supervise a team of enterprise development advisors, digital associate, and enterprise finance advisors. They will collaborate with the team identifying and coordinating local partners; supervising members of the project team; and overseeing project implementation, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Duties & Responsibilities

• This role is crucial in capacity strengthening the local partners and scaling the youth enterprises through training (business and technical skills), access to funding, market linkages, networking and leadership enhancement.
• In concert with the Senior Program Manager, he/she will act as the primary project contact person and liaison for local partners.
• Local Partners Management
• Pre Award Phase
• Develop and advance efficient, effective systems and processes for engaging the sub-awards partners i.e. the sub-awards strategy, request for proposals and onboarding guidelines.
• Collaborate with the existing 10 local partners and onboard at least 5 local partners by leading the application documents applications, proposals review, contracting and onboarding and funds disbursement.
• Working with the Senior Program Manager and the Sub-Awards Officer, ensure proper due diligence of program partners is conducted and results are achieved through enhancing proper partners management as specified in the Grants Manual and Partnerships Strategy.
• Award Phase
• Manage communication with potential partners providing clear guidelines on the proposed recommendations after the due diligence stage.
• Manage the capacity strengthening process which includes organizational capacity assessment (OCAT) and development plans. In liaison with the MEL manager, they will track the progress of the local partners quarterly using the appropriate tools and communicate with the relevant stakeholders.
• Lead the team to collaborate with the local partners to develop work plans and budgets in line with the program deliverables.
• Post Award Phase
• Working with the Monitoring and Evaluation function, coordinate local partner delivery and progress, learning, collaboration and technical reporting. This will include but is not limited to developing and maintaining a system for tracking and reporting on partnership activities, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and outcomes.
• Provide technical leadership to the design and management of local partnership grants. This includes identifying specific learning and program opportunities focused on transformative change in support of youth inclusion, and gender equality, organizing grant award competitions, and managing technical aspects of the grants, once issued.
• In liaison with the market systems and partnerships manager, develop and implement a comprehensive partnership strategy to achieve the program's objectives, including long-term and short-term partnership goals beneficial to TechnoServe for example, financial institutions, technical partners and market enablers. Additionally, work closely with the program team to ensure that partnerships are aligned with the program's goals and contribute to its success.
• Develop, revise and enhance the Training of Trainer (ToT) framework, structure, and curriculum. Collaborate with sub-awardees to develop or adapt business training materials, methodologies, and tracks, with a particular emphasis on addressing blue business needs.
• Identify issues and risks related to implementation promptly, suggesting appropriate program adjustments.
• Compile, develop and share timely and quality reports with the different stakeholders which include and not limited to TechnoServe management and the donor.

Youth Enterprise Development Support

Skills development

• Strategic and technical lead responsible for implementing (through local partners) activities in the four program pillars: skills development, access to financial solutions, access to market and networks, and building youth voices to optimize their rewards from participation in the blue economy. Ensure the quality and timeliness of local partners' deliverables and work products, alignment and provide direction to the Enterprise Development Advisors and local partners.
• Lead the skills development and access to finance workstreams ensuring young men and women are equipped with holistic knowledge and skills to sustainably support income-generating activities within the Blue Economy.
• Review our curriculum (business and technical training) and ensure it fits the needs of the young people, oversee the training of the young people by the local partners which includes reviewing the content, digitization etc and identifying training scalable solutions.
• Identify issues and risks related to implementation promptly, suggesting appropriate program adjustments.
• Plan and coordinate activities to ensure local partners deliver training to 15,000+ youth in Kenya's coastal region including curriculum development, deployment, and adoption and reporting.
• Working with the Gender Advisor, integrate engendered practices into programming activities with local organizations and ensure compliance with the TechnoServe Safeguarding policy.
• Access to financial solutions
• Manage the Bahari Boost Challenge Fund by ensuring approximately 30% are awarded the fund and timely disbursements.
• In collaboration with the Enterprise Financial Advisors, capacity strengthen the local partners to link young men and women to existing financial service providers and the Bahari Boost Challenge Fund.
• Collaborating with the market systems and partnerships manager, create linkage to financials and non-financial service providers such as Fintech, County Governments, MFIs and Local Banks & Saccos.

Communication & advocacy

• Organize stakeholder meetings, workshops, and events to promote dialogue and collaboration.
• Support activities to enhance program visibility for internal and external stakeholders and communicate critical program learnings.
• As appropriate, represent the project at strategic meetings, partnership negotiations, and learning events.
• Produce narrative reports for internal and external consumption, for example, coordinating the sub-awards monthly reports and supporting the team in the donor reporting process.
• Ensure dissemination of learning and best practices from the grants administered under the Program, including through webinars and/or written materials

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Three Enterprise Development Advisors, two Enterprise Finance Advisors & one Digital Associate.
• Provide mentorship and capacity development to more junior staff.
• Perform other tasks as needed to ensure the success of the program.

Required Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Abilities:

• Relevant educational qualification (preferably Master level) in Business Administration, Economics, Agribusiness, or related field and over 7 years of experience working in the private sector in management consulting, program management, venture building, banking or related fields, or in an NGO/government role.
• A proven track record of working with stakeholders in the blue economy or sustainable development sectors is highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of the business and agricultural/blue economy ecosystem in Kenya with familiarity with the various market actors and players, including financial sectors, input suppliers, service providers, etc.
• Experience working with youth programs or social enterprises is a plus.
• Experience working in Kenya or the coastal regions is an advantage.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Leading complex economic growth including agriculture, enterprise development, blue economy programs in Kenya and/or Sub-Saharan Africa strongly preferred
• Influencing and collaborating with senior management of businesses (input suppliers, producer organizations, processors, traders, etc.), financial institutions, and other private sector actors to achieve partnership results
• Sourcing and delivering demand-driven technical assistance and business development services particularly through technical assistance facility mechanisms
• Designing and implementing inclusive business models that integrate young women and men ( entrepreneurs) and successfully removing structural barriers that bar entry from entering or thriving in agricultural and or blue economy-related value chains
• Designing and implementing climate-smart approaches that improve the resilience of value chain actors and blue economy sectors as a whole
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports
• Ability to communicate a high-level strategy to internal and external stakeholders while driving the execution of a work plan and achieving short-term milestones.
• Experience and comfort in applying adaptive management principles to make strategic, data-driven decisions in the face of uncertainty and complexity.