VP Strategy & Partnerships at Pula

About the role:

Pula is seeking an experienced VP of Strategy & Partnerships to join the senior management team and build partnerships with philanthropic funders and development agencies. The candidate must have a love for building partnerships across commercial and public sector, profits and non-profits, probing into data, solving challenging problems, and structuring complex processes, while also being comfortable in a fast-paced growing business.

The VP is expected to: i) shape our narrative around risk financing and insurance, ii) build on our existing fundraising networks and iii) guide the partnerships and consulting team. Tasks will range from driving research -and developing a narrative around- the impact of insurance on climate change adaptation with the consulting team members, liaising with development agency partners and philanthropic clients on funding risk finance mechanisms and insurance premiums to working with the partnerships team to deliver on programmatic and contracted responsibilities.

The VP Strategy & Partnerships will report to the co-CEOs, and will have management responsibility for a team that currently comprises 6 team members with responsibilities in consulting & research, fundraising and program execution for programs with a total value of 4mln over the next 2 years.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead our fundraising efforts in the area of risk financing, including developing a theory of change and impact narrative, working with Pula’s own data on climate change variability, yield outcomes and farmer data; and based on this, identifying new and existing funding sources for premium finance.
• Lead our consulting and research work partnering with our philanthropic and consulting partners that include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Shell Foundation, MasterCard Foundation, KPMG, Bayer Foundation amongst others, working with a small team to deliver on the contracted deliverables. 
• You will lead discrete data analysis and research initiatives that help Pula better understand new markets through feasibility studies, as well as customer behaviour as identified by these 3rd parties (for example: estimating impact of gender on insurance uptake in Malawi and Zambia, you will guide and build a small team to deliver such analysis). 

Does this sound like you?

Critical Requirements for the Role (Must-Haves):

• 7+ years development or management consulting experience, proven track record with a top tier consulting firm is a strong plus.
• Strong quantitative and data analytics skills, as well as report writing and presentation skills. 
• Strong team management skills, ability to work with multi cultural and multi disciplinary teams. 
• You have either experience or interest in working in rural farming contexts and are passionate about helping smallholder farmers build resilience. 

Preferred requirements (Nice-to-haves): 

• Masters degree with an outstanding academic record in the area of economics, agriculture, development, finance or similar relevant field.

Candidate Attributes:

• Ability to translate complex and challenging concepts into detailed action plans. 
• Should be comfortable in working with a hands-on approach.