Open Roles at GrowthAfrica

About the role 

• GrowthAfrica is seeking a dynamic, experienced and proven senior programme leader to drive the delivery of a flagship multi-country entrepreneurship programme. As Head of Programme, you will hold overall accountability for the delivery, quality and impact of a complex, multi-country initiative supporting young women entrepreneurs across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda. 
• The position is strategically vital and operationally demanding. You will be the unambiguous operational leader of a high-visibility programme that GrowthAfrica intends to set as the benchmark for how we, and the wider African entrepreneurship support sector, deliver excellence at scale. It is about catalysing innovation at scale across four countries, leading a programme that supports over 1,600 aspiring entrepreneurs, 200 innovation teams and 80 early-stage businesses to build the next wave of African market infrastructure that benefits young women in some of the most overlooked corners of the continent. 
• It is about turning ambitious design into operational reality, translating a bold vision into well-orchestrated delivery across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda, building the systems, the team and the partnerships that make consistent excellence possible cycle after cycle, country after country. It is about backing entrepreneurs in places that are typically overlooked, ensuring the programme's primary focus on young women in rural and peri-urban settings translates from intention into authentic, life-changing engagement, with the discipline to refuse compromise on the target persona even when it would be easier to do so. 
• It is about leading a high-calibre team across borders, building, coaching and managing a 24-strong programme team plus a wider network of partners, mentors, technical experts and capital providers, fostering autonomy at country level while maintaining unity of purpose and quality across the whole. It is about building a case study GrowthAfrica grows from, making this programme a deliberate demonstration of African-led, evidence-based entrepreneurship support, generating the learnings, methodologies and stories that will shape our practice for years to come.  

Key responsibilities 

• Lead end-to-end delivery of the programme's three core components, covering innovation and ideation, incubation, and acceleration, plus the events and ecosystem engagement stream, across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda. 
• Own quality and impact across all programme activities, ensuring 1,600+ aspiring entrepreneurs, 200 innovation teams and 80 early-stage businesses are supported to international best-practice standards and authentic local relevance. 
• Provide strategic oversight of a significant grants facility, working with the Grants Coordinator to ensure rigorous due diligence, compliant disbursement and effective utilisation by entrepreneurs and businesses. 
• Build, lead and develop a 24-strong programme team across one headquarters and four country offices, fostering high performance, learning and increasing country-team autonomy as the programme matures. 
• Serve as the principal point of contact for key institutional partners, owning donor relationships, reporting, contractual compliance and visibility commitments to the highest standard. 
• Build and steward the programme's wider ecosystem, partnerships with co-working spaces, technical partners, mentors, investors, capital providers and government stakeholders across all four countries. 
• Champion the programme's commitment to gender equity, inclusion of forcibly displaced persons and disability inclusion, ensuring targets translate into authentic operational reality rather than demographic compliance. 
• Ensure rigorous monitoring, evaluation and learning practice, working with the M&E Coordinator to generate evidence that drives adaptive management and case-study-quality knowledge products. 
• Manage the overall programme budget, ensuring value for money and rigorous financial discipline across components, countries and years. 
• Drive a culture of safeguarding, ethics and accountability across all programme activities, with particular vigilance during direct engagements with beneficiaries in the field. 
• Position the programme as a flagship demonstration of African-led, evidence-based entrepreneurship support, generating learning, methodology and case-study material that shapes GrowthAfrica's future practice. 
• Contribute as a senior member of GrowthAfrica's wider leadership, sharing expertise across the organisation and building institutional capability to deliver future programmes of comparable scale and ambition. 

Qualifications and requirements 

• Master’s degree in business administration, Development Studies, Economics, Social Sciences, Entrepreneurship or a related field. 
• Minimum 8 to 10 years of progressive professional experience, with at least 5 years in senior programme leadership roles in entrepreneurship support, SME development, innovation or private sector development. 
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-country programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, ideally spanning both 
• East and West African markets. 
• Proven track record managing donor-funded or institutionally supported programmes with rigorous compliance and reporting requirements. Direct experience administering grant disbursement to beneficiaries is essential. 
• Strong people management credentials, including building and leading geographically dispersed teams across diverse cultural contexts and operating environments. 
• Deep working knowledge of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in at least two of the 
• programme countries, including incubation and acceleration models, startup support methodologies and early-stage finance. 
• Sharp financial and budget management acumen, including managing significant grant facilities, multi-year budgets and value-for-money discipline across multiple jurisdictions. 
• Excellent communication skills in English, written and spoken, with the ability to produce high-quality reports, strategic documents and presentations. Working proficiency in French is a significant advantage given the programme's country coverage. 
• Genuine commitment to gender equity, women's economic empowerment and inclusion, backed by demonstrable experience operationalising these in programme design and delivery. 
• Membership of relevant professional bodies and familiarity with human-centred design methodologies are advantageous. 

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About the role 

• As Programme Lead, you are accountable for the day-to-day execution of all programme activities within your country. At least two thirds of your time is dedicated to hands-on delivery. You will lead a small country team and be the primary face of GrowthAfrica for local stakeholders, partners and participants. 
• You know your country's startup and innovation ecosystem from the inside. You have credibility on the ground, relationships with the right people and the operational discipline to translate energy and ambition into results that can be measured and built upon. You figure things out. If something is not working, you fix it. 

Key responsibilities 

• Translate the master programme plan into a rolling country operational plan with monthly milestones and clear task ownership. 
• Oversee the full participant pipeline from outreach and recruitment through incubation to acceleration, within country targets. 
• Directly facilitate or co-facilitate workshops and participant sessions when required, maintaining programme quality standards throughout. 
• Line-manage and develop the country team, conducting regular check-ins and performance reviews, and creating a culture of accountability and high performance. 
• Manage relationships with local ecosystem partners, co-working hubs, mentors, investors and government stakeholders. 
• Think creatively about how to identify and reach the right women entrepreneurs, particularly in rural and peri-urban communities that are easy to overlook. 
• Ensure country-level compliance with grant disbursement procedures, safeguarding policies and reporting requirements. 
• Report to the Head of Programme weekly and contribute data and narratives to quarterly and annual reports. 
• Support the recruitment, onboarding and induction of country team members in coordination with the Head of Programme. 

Qualifications and requirements 

• You have 8 to 10 years of experience in programme or project management, preferably in entrepreneurship support, incubation or accelerator programmes. 
• You hold a degree in Business, Development Studies, Social Sciences or a related field. A postgraduate qualification is an asset. 
• You have a demonstrated track record of hands-on delivery in a multi-stakeholder programme environment in sub-Saharan Africa. 
• You have a strong understanding of the local startup and innovation ecosystem in the country of 
• assignment. Named networks, hubs and relationships matter. 
• You have experience managing small teams and fostering a performance-oriented culture. 
• You have excellent facilitation, communication and relationship management skills, with participants, partners and senior stakeholders alike. 
• You are resourceful and solutions oriented. You do not wait for perfect conditions. You make it work. 
• You have a genuine commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs and understanding of what authentic engagement with that community requires. 
• Local language proficiency is a strong advantage. 
• You must be based in your country of application with valid right to work documentation.

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About the role 

• As Programme Associate, you are the operational backbone of the country team. You will play a critical role in ensuring the successful delivery of programmes by coordinating logistics, managing data, supporting participants, and overseeing the day-to-day operational details that keep everything running smoothly. You will 
• ensure that all moving parts come together effectively to achieve programme objectives and deliver an exceptional participant experience. 
• This role is more than administration. You are curious, well-read and connected. You follow what is happening in the startup and entrepreneurship space in your country and across the continent. You know how to find people, through research, networks and initiative, and you apply that instinct to helping identify the right 
• women entrepreneurs in communities that are easy to overlook. You notice things and act on them without being asked. 
• This is an early-career role with a real development pathway. You will learn fast, be stretched and grow alongside a programme that is doing important work across four countries. 

Key responsibilities 

• Provide logistical and administrative support for all country programme activities, including event and workshop logistics, travel and accommodation, venue booking, materials preparation and participant communication. 
• Support the identification and mapping of women entrepreneurs in rural and peri-urban areas through active online research, network engagement and a strong knowledge of what is happening in the local ecosystem. 
• Support participant outreach, registration and application management for all programme cohorts incountry. 
• Coordinate data collection from participants and field activities, ensuring data is captured accurately and 
• submitted on time in support of monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements. 
• Act as the country safeguarding focal point for participant-facing activities, referring concerns promptly to the designated safeguarding lead in line with programme policy. 
• Manage in-country petty cash, expense claims and activity retirement documentation in coordination with the finance team. 
• Maintain organised country activity files, participant databases and partner contact records, ensuring 
• information is always current and accessible.
• Support the Programme Lead in preparing country activity plans, updates and reports, and step in to support the wider delivery team during peak periods. 

Qualifications and requirements 

• You have 2 to 4 years of experience in programme administration, project coordination or operational support within an NGO, development organisation or entrepreneurship programme. 
• You hold a degree or diploma in Business Administration, Social Sciences, Development Studies or a related field. 
• You have strong organisational skills with a high level of attention to detail and an ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously without things falling through the cracks. 
• You are genuinely curious about the world around you. You read sector publications, follow what is happening in the startup and innovation space and you stay informed. 
• You are a networker and relationship builder. You are comfortable reaching out to new people and finding 
• your way into new communities and spaces. 
• You have strong online research skills. You know how to use what you find to open doors and surface opportunities. 
• You are comfortable with data collection tools, digital and paper-based, and proficiency in Google 
• Workspace or Microsoft Office. You learn new systems quickly. 
• You have a proactive, self-starting attitude. You notice what needs doing and you do it without waiting to be asked. 
• You have empathy and interpersonal skills to engage respectfully with diverse youth participants, including safeguarding awareness. 
• You are ready for pace. This programme moves fast and the team needs someone who can keep up, stay 
• sharp and deliver under pressure. 
• You must be based in your country of application with valid right to work documentation.