Entrepreneurship and Innovation Manager at Habitat for Humanity

Your role:

Located in Nairobi Kenya, as an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Manager in the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter (TCIS) department ,** you will lead, deliver and support interventions in developing and testing new/improved products and services along with new business models in as far as affordable housing in Kenya. Ultimately, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager will work with entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in affordable housing to ensure Habitat for Humanity’s works in low income housing is developed and expanded. This will include working with accelerators to identify, nurture and accelerate start-ups and early stage companies that are developing shelter solutions for low-income households, linking in with Habitat for Humanity’s shelter Venture fund, entrepreneurs, investors, business mentors, academic institutions, government, regulatory bodies, external consultants and the regional team. This role will interface with other TCIS initiatives in Kenya and the region in terms of supporting and or drawing out a pipeline of innovations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the development of the Kenya Venture Lab concept including working with the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, developing and managing relationships with accelerators, investors, academia, and other market actors.
• Identify and work with other entrepreneurship ecosystems and accelerators to influence uptake and adaption of shelter as a thematic focus.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of early stage companies focused shelter-related technologies for TCIS programs and the Shelter Venture fund.
• Identify relevant investors and business mentors to nurture start-ups and early stage enterprises as they grow to venture-backed companies in shelter.
• Support the due diligence and assessment of entrepreneurs and startups and develop proposals for the Shelter Venture Fund investment committee and other ecosystem investors where applicable.
• Liaise with relevant academic institutions conducting research into areas related to shelter e.g., technologies, business acceleration, impact investing etc., to support Habitat for Humanity’s work
• Assist in the research, strategy and planning of housing market systems and entrepreneurship programs.
• Identify, develop, mentor and support junior staff members in entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem programming.
• Lead monitoring and evaluation of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem work and ensure data is periodically captured and analyzed and report on progress and requisite technical and budgetary alignments.
• Facilitate internal learning activities based on feedback from the programs
• Collaborate with Terwilliger Center’s regional teams in Asia Pacific and Latin America to share emerging good practices and foster organizational learning.

Education & Experience:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Finance, Engineering or related field, MBA is a plus.
• 10 years relevant experience in business, social entrepreneurship, international development, housing, finance or similar field with progressively increasing responsibility.
• Significant experience working with accelerators, incubators, impact investors, venture capital firms in in the region, including knowledge of the accelerator ecosystem, and evidence of network of relationships.
• Experience founding or leading a start-up in an emerging market context is an added advantage.
• Capabilities & Technical Competencies:
• Entrepreneurial, persuasive and agile
• Strong inter-personal skills
• Quality and results oriented
• Consultative and communication skills
• Knowledge of the affordable housing sector or construction technologies is a plus
• Proposal development, Project Management, Monitoring and evaluation, Planning and budgeting, Team development and management.
• Willing to travel up to 50% of the time internationally and domestically.