Fresh Jobs at Mercy Corps

Purpose / Project Description:

The Consultant will provide advisory services to companies and support on the programs below:

ECAP1 & 2

• The Energy Catalyst accelerates the innovation needed to end energy poverty. Through financial and advisory support, and by building strategic partnerships and uncovering new insights, Energy Catalyst supports the development of technologies and business models that can improve lives in Africa and Asia. Energy Catalyst is an Innovate UK programme with co-funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Global Challenges Research Fund, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 

Other advisory programs and projects as required

Consultant Objectives:

• Provide advisory services to companies supported by ECAP 1&2 and other programs (such as PREO, Get.invest and other programs) to help them to raise finance and develop their business models in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe mostly.
• Provide inputs on the energy sector into Mercy Corps and E4I business development concept notes and proposals.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

ECAP and other advisory programs

• Conduct research including desk-based literature reviews, field surveys as needed, key stakeholder interviews, transcripts, data analysis etc. in the energy sector and other sectors as needed.
• Conduct environmental analysis including energy consumption and pollutant emission calculations.
• Advise companies on structuring business models, identifying rider preferences, creating a value proposition for the offering etc.
• Build models and analytical tools such as cost-benefit analyses, emission profiles, carbon saving calculators etc.
• Contribute to knowledge management products such as vetting the theme and structure for reports, ensuring that they are market-reflective, drafting sections of reports, reviewing report drafts etc.
• Develop transaction pipeline as required by the Client for executing technical assistance, grant funding opportunities and other program level partnerships.
• Conduct other ad-hoc requests falling within the expertise of the Consultant as needed by the Client.

Business development concept notes and proposals

• Conduct research to support the design of concept notes and business development proposals for both multi-sector and energy-sector programs
• Write relevant sections of concept notes and business development proposals.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will:

ECAP and other advisory programs

• Literature reviews, field surveys, stakeholder interview transcripts.
• TA support and reports to SMEs (models, analytical tools, emissions profiles, carbon savings calculators)
• References for pipeline opportunities.

Business development

• Summary of research findings
• Relevant sections of concept notes and proposals

Timeframe / Schedule: 

Up to 8 days a month for the period from August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024

The Consultant will report to:

• Regional Director of programs and advisory for ECAP
• Director of Global Advisory, E4I, and Program Director for Get.invest and ECAP for any other programs

The Consultant will work closely with:

• Other ECAP consultants
• Other project managers

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field (required)
• Extensive knowledge of energy markets in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

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The Position 

• Whether you have a burning desire to dive into venture investing or you already have some venture investing experience and are looking to hone your VC craft, this role is for you. Join one of the most active global, early-stage impact venture firms, and help them find and back the most disruptive trailblazers in fintech, web3, climate-tech, and ag-tech across Africa and around the world.

This is the role for you if:

• You are excited to dive deep into the impact investing industry and advance your journey into VC with a top-tier investor that is actively deploying and will give you significant transaction exposure
• You are passionate about entrepreneurs and share the belief that high-impact startups are the best engines for driving sustainable, equitable, and resilient impact at scale
• Mercy Corps Ventures is looking for an Investment Officer to join its growing Investment Team. You will play a supporting role in building out MCV's portfolios and be integrated into all aspects of the investment process from origination to closing.
• In this position, you will work with the team's other investment professionals to screen, perform due diligence, negotiate, and close seed and early-stage direct investments.

Essential Responsibilities

PIPELINE ANALYSIS & DUE DILIGENCE (80%)

The Investment Officer will support the investment team in progressing investments through the entire investment cycle, from initial screening to due diligence and closing. This includes:

• Landscaping & Pipeline Analysis: Support the mapping of investment opportunities in specific priority sector(s) for Mercy Corps Ventures. 
• Screening: Support on screening investment opportunities through review of pitch decks, participation in live demo days, meeting entrepreneurs, pouring through data rooms, and management of our inbound deal flow.
• Due Diligence: Support the investment team to conduct detailed data room analysis and interviews with relevant industry experts and partner investors to review and analyze business plans, validate assumptions, stress-test financial forecasts, gain an in-depth knowledge of a company’s unit economics, and address key due diligence inquiries and investment risks.
• Investment Research: Conduct and present research as needed in areas such as analysis of market opportunities, threats, competitive differentiation, and potential headwinds to emergent sectors or markets, as necessary to support investment decisions.
• Investment Documentation: Attend all investment team meetings and investment committees and support investment professionals to lead deals through our investment process, including drafting investment memoranda, identifying and explaining key investment risks, coordinating legal and financial DD, structuring and negotiating transaction agreements, and presenting investment opportunities to senior decision-makers.
• Investment Recommendation: The opportunity to support the investment team in making recommendations on and presenting investment opportunities to the Ventures Team, Investment Committee, and Board for debate and approval.
• Deal Structuring and Execution: Assist in the preparation of investment documentation and other transaction documents, as applicable, and support the coordinated onboarding of closed investments into Mercy Corps Venture’s investment portfolio with applicable handoffs to the Platform Team.

RESEARCH & INSIGHTS (10%)

• Content Generation: Support the investment team and work with Mercy Corps Venture’s Communications team to develop curated content through insight pieces to be shared externally.

PIPELINE & PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (10%)

• Work with the investment team to grow and foster new relationships with strategic partners such as incubators, accelerators, peer investors, and other ecosystem actors in target geographies and sectors.

Supervisory Responsibility

None
Accountability

Reports Directly To: Director, Investments, Mercy Corps Ventures

Works Directly With: Investment team members, entrepreneurs, co-investors, and ecosystem partners, with exposure to the broader Mercy Corps Ventures team
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. 

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• 3-5 years of business experience with a background in corporate finance, investment banking, management consulting, startup operations, or venture building.
• Financial Analysis Ability: A Foundational grasp of finance and financial modeling - comfortable navigating and summarizing complex financial models in excel. 
• Fluency in fundamental financial terms, understanding of financial statements, and ability to evaluate a company’s financial performance and dissect a financial model with minimal oversight and guidance.
• Comfort assessing valuation methodologies and running valuation scenarios, stress testing model assumptions and running scenario analysis would be ideal.
• You should possess an insatiable curiosity (and ideally some experience) in problem sets and solutions within fintech, web3, agtech, and/or climate-tech as well as a strong interest in venture capital in Africa. Knowledge of fundamental business concepts and a foundational grasp of the venture capital model is a plus.
• Some connections with investors, angels, accelerators, and startups in Africa are a plus but not required. You should be interested in supporting MCV in building our network of partners over time.
• Fluent in written and spoken English (French is a plus)

Success Factors

• The ideal candidate will have a superb track record as a fast learner, quick starter, and action-oriented problem solver. We are a low-ego, collaborative team and these traits are essential for any candidate. A candidate needs to have strong strategic thinking skills and be able to navigate complex environments and develop a clear, focused, and ambitious vision. The ideal candidate must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be able to articulately craft an argument and defend a position. They will have the desire and ability to be part of a highly collaborative, dynamic, mission-driven, and team-oriented culture. 

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Consultant Activities:

The SCC Senior Resilience Curriculum Consultant will:

PROGRAM APPROACH DESIGN AND STRATEGY (75% of consultancy efforts)

• Facilitate the team to review and own USAID Nawiri’s operational definition for “Resilient Livelihoods” and related conceptual framework that articulates the relationship between resilient livelihoods and nutrition security. Use those as tools to facilitate joint planning and decision-making across USAID Nawiri sectors and disciplines. 
• Review market systems, labor market, household economy diagnostics and other research conducted during Phase 1 of the program and support the team to assess current implementation progress including relevance, effectiveness of interventions, efficiency of implementation strategies and sustainability of interventions based on prevailing economic, social, environmental and political conditions. 
• Based on the “Niaseku diagram”--a program diagram that utilizes the socio-ecological framework for behavior change to illustrate the multi-dimensional package of assets and services an individual and her household require for nutrition security-- facilitate team thinking and joint planning processes on capacities households and communities need to develop resilient livelihoods and draw linkages with market actions to be undertaken by the program. This will lead to designing the strategy with its package of interventions for households and Wards.
• Use analysis to provide comprehensive recommendations and set the vision for systemic change within selected market and labor sectors that will contribute to household nutrition outcomes. This vision and its translation into a written Resilient Livelihoods strategy and implementation plans must ensure continuity between life-saving short-term interventions and longer-term resilience building interventions. The strategy will also include a scaling plan for the interventions.
• Support the team in developing zone-based work plans with packages of interventions relevant to households needs. 
• Support intervention leads in defining partnership strategies (internal, with other program’s components, and external), including an advocacy and influence plan for strengthening the capacity of local systems and institutions
• Design tools and questions for USAID Nawiri teams to liaise with county officials and Ward Development Committees to ensure strategy is co-designed and relevant to context and scenario (failed rains, floods). 
• Facilitate relationships with market actors (including government, other NGOs, private sector, and community partners) to revise plans and promote partner acceptance/buy-in.
• Upon request, support developing concept notes for shock-responsive economic interventions for USAID Nawiri to pivot as the context evolves.

MENTORSHIP AND CAPACITY STRENGTHENING (25% of consultancy efforts)

• Provide training and on-going coaching to Resilient Livelihoods team members in resilient livelihoods foundations and MSD/poverty economics approaches.
• Provide guidance on applying market and economy driven-thinking and systems based approaches within and across sectors and other technical areas.
• Liaise with Resilience Advisors on Humanitarian - Development - Peacebuilding coherence, and Mercy Corps’ resilience program practices to ensure the strategy targets critical resilience capacities.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING (5% of consultancy efforts)

• Under the lead of the Strategic Learning Lead, provide strategic input into the development of the USAID Nawiri Learning Agenda related to Resilient Livelihoods for Nutrition. 
• Identify key learning needs and scope for case studies and learning documents.
• In close collaboration with the Monitoring & Evaluation Lead, provide strategic input into the Monitoring & Evaluation Plan to ensure it aligns with the strategy.

Consultant Deliverables:

• Written review of current Resilient Livelihoods draft framework and strategy, assessing relevance, effectiveness of interventions, efficiency of implementation strategies and sustainability of interventions based on prevailing economic, social, environmental and political conditions. (Est. Level of Effort (LOE) 5 days)
• Written practical zone-based implementation strategy and related implementation plans for supporting and strengthening Resilient Livelihoods for nutrition security. (Est. LOE 28 days)
• Joint design of scale up plan from 12- 35 wards helping to plan staff resourcing and saturation of Resilient Livelihoods interventions within targeted implementation zones. (Est. LOE 4 days)
• Inputs to learning questions and plan (Est. LOE 1 day)
• Proposed (amendments to) M&E approaches and indicators to monitor success of Resilient Livelihoods approaches and strategies (Est. LOE 2 days)

Timeframe / Schedule: 

• This consultancy is for 40 days from October 1st, 2022 through January 15th, 2023. 

The Consultant will report to:

• USAID-Nawiri Technical Director

The Consultant will work closely with:

• USAID-Nawiri Alternative Livelihoods & Market Advisor
• USAID-Nawiri Climate Smart Agriculture Advisor
• USAID Nawiri County Resilient Livelihoods team members
• USAID-Nawiri Strategic Learning Lead
• USAID-Nawiri Monitoring & Evaluation Lead
• Africa Resilience & Food Security Senior Advisor (Mercy Corps Africa Region)
• Agriculture & Livestock Senior Advisor (Mercy Corps Global)
• Sr. Resilience Advisor (Mercy Corps Global)

Required Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree required. M.A, M.S., M.Sc., or equivalent in economics and/or market systems development. 
• At least 10 years of experience providing increasingly proficient technical support in the relevant field of expertise that includes:
  • Analyzing economics trends in countries/regions with extreme poverty and protracted crises
  • Producing poverty economics and market development strategies
  • Training/mentoring of staff in relevant technical areas
  • Demonstrating strong applied knowledge of the field of expertise
  • Using integrated approaches and applying systems thinking.
• Experience in working on programs aiming at layering short-term emergency response with longer-term market development
• Experience in designing and implementation of social protection mechanisms.
• Deep understanding of poverty economics and Market System Development methodology, frameworks and their operationalization with - at least 7 years of experience advising or managing market-based programs, at least 5 years in senior advisory or management roles.
• Practical field experience including, if possible, emergency response assignments or other crisis response work that demonstrates the ability to successfully adapt support and assistance methodologies to real-world complexities.
• Delivering training in relevant technical areas to Senior Management and Staff.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to USAID Nawiri program field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required.
• Prior experience in Kenya’s ASALs is strongly preferred, in arid and pastoralist environments a minimum.
• Fluency in English required.