Current Opportunities at Aga Khan Foundation

Position Overview

• The Aga Khan Foundation is seeking a dynamic and experienced Innovation and Design Advisor to join our team in East Africa to lead AKF’s agenda in becoming a regional leader in social innovation and impact. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in driving design thinking and innovative solutions across our portfolio, ensuring a user-centric approach to address complex challenges.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership of Design Thinking & Innovation

• Develop and implement a comprehensive innovation strategy/agenda aligned with AKF EA’s mission and goals as a regional leader in social innovation and impact
• Lead on the development and execution of the Foundation’s design studio, including finalizing and implementing the business model as a program and financial asset
• Elevate AKF EA’s role as a leader in social innovation and impact across the region and globally by elevating our work and best practices

Program Portfolio: Design Processes to Innovate

• Lead on the design and execution of timely, effective, and high quality design processes through our program portfolio
• Develop the fabric of support to enable innovation, such as coaches, materials/documentation, and advising
• Develop country-specific design leads to develop our in-house capacity to deliver on proposal development and design related activities (eg. innovate, incubate, scale)
• Design and implement financial processes to enable timely innovative design work at the school and community level

Programme Portfolio: Incubation for Scale

• Finalize the school and community incubation frameworks, testing them through our program portfolio
• Incubate a minimum of 60 ideas per year, scaling no less than 30 prototypes over that same period
• Deliver on time, on budget, and with quality incubation processes and outcomes

Business Development

• Integrate design thinking strategy into new business development opportunities and program inception processes
• Create resources for partnerships staff to understand why and how to integrate HCD into their work
• Identify and manage external HCD partners (eg. consultants and coaches) to ensure all processes are delivered on time and with quality, as well as, build on each other to demonstrate impact.
• Elevate AKF’s internal capacity to engage in and lead design processes through a learning agenda
• Build AKF’s network of design thinkers and partners
• Create linkages to AKF’s Global work (eg. Bezos, Accelerate Impact, Schools2030 Global Secretariat)
• Contribute to global thinking on HCD/design thinking, including writing stories, speaking, and collaborating with colleagues across the AKDN and externally
• Represent AKF in the design space/events/conferences

Representation & Broader Learning

• Elevate AKF’s internal capacity to engage in and lead design processes through a learning agenda
• Build AKF’s network of design thinkers and partners
• Create linkages to AKF’s Global work (eg. Bezos, Accelerate Impact, Schools2030 Global Secretariat)
• Contribute to global thinking on HCD/design thinking, including writing stories, speaking, and collaborating with colleagues across the AKDN and externally
• Represent AKF in the design space/events/conferences

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a relevant field and recognised further education in design, design thinking, or like.
• Proven experience (minimum 5 years) in leading innovation initiatives and design projects, preferably in East Africa and in the social sector.
• Strong facilitation skills with the ability to lead workshops and engage diverse stakeholders. Experience in Northern Uganda and the Swahili coast is a strong asset.
• Experience working in East Africa or a similar context is required.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels.
• Demonstrated understanding of community engagement and a commitment to participatory approaches.
• Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for innovation projects.

The successful candidate will report to the Aga Khan Foundation’s East Africa ECD & Education Advisor

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• The Property Development & Finance Manager, based in Nairobi, Kenya, will play a critical role in the assessment of properties owned/held by AKDN agencies in Africa (predominantly East Africa), as well as globally. Accountabilities will be focused primarily on the African continent, but there will be opportunities to be involved in the development and preparation on broader global strategies.

Responsibilities

• Work with all stakeholders and agencies, as appropriate, to explore and provide viable options for property holdings including currently utilised, underutilised, and undeveloped assets.
• Work to identify appropriate investment opportunities – by way of maintaining/improving current property assets, improving utilisation, identifying opportunities for developing, both previously developed and undeveloped properties and assessing acquisition opportunities. Fostering a culture of intra-agency co-operation by way of joint asset usage and development will be key to optimising return on investment/value.
• Take accountability for the development/implementation of local Development Corporations with a financial reporting and project management lens, enabling appropriate controls and governance are in place.
• Act as the ‘account manager’ in any contractual arrangements for the sale, development and asset management of the property portfolio.
• Monitor and control all financial governance for the on-going projects and ensure that strict adherence to agreed budgets and processes – monthly reporting will be a key deliverable.
• Manage relationships and deliverables with consultants and advisors in the field (Africa) and ensure all activities are delivered to agreed timelines and completeness.
• Take accountability for managing the governance and processes that are created to operationalise the Kenya Property Strategy including maintaining the necessary financial statements, preparing periodic reports and ensuring the logistics and documentation for meetings.

Key objectives

• Lead the on-the-ground property developments and corporate governance (financial reporting, treasury, and regulatory requirements) with support from AKDN agencies
• Work with property contacts locally (third party consultants and contractors) in developing feasibilities and executing on development project plans with particular attention to demand drivers, infrastructure development, economic and political back drops, and the impact on social development needs
• Prepare and review all property development/re-development proposals with particular attention to financial and funding assumptions and projections.
• Prepare and review all property disposal, donation and change of use proposals and verify that all avenues have been adequately pursued and internally approved processes have been adhered to -
• Prepare and review all property acquisition proposals with particular attention to market rates (acquisition price), clean land title, allowable usage/special conditions, disputes (old and current), restrictions and any other issues that affects or will affect the property in the future – always consider (and offer to the agency in question) other property assets already owned
• Prepare and review all project-related summary papers for stakeholder engagement and onward approvals
• Monitor any ongoing development projects as they progress and provide summary reports to stakeholders paying particular attention to time, budget, and quality
• Work with property contacts locally to review tender documents and ensure appropriate and due process is followed
• Work with property contacts locally on master planning and co-ordination across agencies - Liaison with all property contacts globally to ensure data is up-to-date and correctly recorded

The requirements

• Finance and/or accounting degrees, up to a master’s level (MBA or equivalent), preferably from an overseas institution (Canada, US, UK, and/or Australia)
• Approximately seven years work experience in corporate finance, investment banking, accounting, asset management, property development and/or private equity, preferably with some years overseas (Canada, US, UK, and/or Australia)
• Experience of working/being involved in property matters in the developing world a distinct advantage
• Strong financial/analytical skills related to financial planning and analysis
• Experience creating and/or working with financial and operational models
• High degree of work ethic and motivation
• Expertise with Microsoft Office applications including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• A track record of taking initiative
• A demonstrated proficiency in problem solving and project management
• A strong interest in and understanding global real estate fundamental