Job Opportunities at Enviu

Job Description

Entrepreneur for agritech startup SokoFresh

We are looking for an experienced business developer to join the team of our new agri-tech start-up SokoFresh. A unique opportunity to be involved in this breakthrough venture, delivering cold storage as a service to smallholder farmers in Kenya (and beyond). Do you like being at the forefront of innovation? Are you entrepreneurial, a pro-active do-er, a strategic thinker and are you motivated to use your talents to work towards an inclusive economy? Well… then we are looking for you!

About SokoFresh

SokoFresh is an early stage social enterprise working towards a unique and financially sustainable business model to provide the large number of underserved smallholder farmers with access to cold storage and market linkage services.

The Kenyan agricultural sector is characterized by prevalent post-harvest losses that can exceed 50% of production. Losses are due to the perishable nature of crops, a lack of storage, poor market linkages a fragmented market and inefficient logistics. Since losses occur mainly during production and marketing of fresh produce, smallholder farmers are disproportionately affected.

With SokoFresh, a significant part of losses happening during harvesting, aggregation and transport can be prevented, as produce can be aggregated safely in cold stores in rural areas to be sold. SokoFresh manages the stores and links the produce to buyers. All parties are connected to each other via SokoFresh’s digital platform, making all flows of produce, information and money real-time and transparent. In the coming year, all efforts will be on validating the riskiest assumptions regarding the value proposition, business model, impact and scaling model, with 2 cold stores in the field.

You will…

• Start-up and run the daily operations of SokoFresh in collaboration with a dedicated team of Enviu Venture Builders and key partners.

• Validate and optimize the business model of SokoFresh, working towards investment readiness within 12 months.

• Recruit, train and manage a team of on-the-field staff.

• Manage relationships with key pilot-partners and involve new partners as we go.

• Work in build-measure-learn cycles according to the lean principles.

• Raise startup capital to launch and grow the business after the pilot year.

You have…

• A Master’s degree, preferably in agri business, MBA or agri economics.

• A proven track record of at least 8 years working experience, out of which at least three years as entrepreneur, co-founder of a start-up or part of the management team of a company.

• Experience in food-logistics, cold storage and/or technology as a service are a definite plus.

• Experience in working with smallholder farmers / agri-tech.

• Exposure to or experience in leading a team of field agents.

• At least 5-7 years of working experience in Kenya

• Passion for social entrepreneurship;

• A hands-on, can-do approach;

• Furthermore, the ideal candidate has excellent leadership and communication skills, is fluent in English and is driven to apply commercial skills to impactful solutions.

We offer…

• An opportunity to build and lead the start-up of a new impactful venture, with the potential to grow towards the CEO role.

• Competitive package with the opportunity to develop yourself in a truly unique and challenging international environment.

• An entrepreneurial start-up environment that gives you space to think independently and explore your potential.

• Working with a group of talented, passionate and fun colleagues who share the ambition to change the world.

• Work that matters.

go to method of application »

Job Description

We believe in an inclusive economy that serves people and planet. We build ventures that address social and environmental issues hands-on, and drive market development. In order to achieve this, we’re teaming up with the “best of the best”. We are looking for a full-time Venture Builder to join our East Africa team. The best Venture Builders are former entrepreneurs (or early-stage start-up leaders) that have the ambition to set up social enterprises that contribute to system change. Are you up for this challenge?

Let us introduce ourselves a bit more.

Hi, we’re Enviu

• We are a serial entrepreneur

• We dream big: a future that seems impossible. We take action ourselves and invite others to create the impossible.’

• We are passionate about changing the world for the better and bring an impact-driven entrepreneurial attitude to do so.

• We build social ventures, starting from the issue that needs a solution

• If we think we can do something on our own, we are not dreaming big enough: Together is more.

• We want to support you to discover what you deeply want to do, what you are good at, and what gives meaning to your life.

• We build – measure – learn

• We built 16 social ventures since 2004

• We work with ~35 great people in our offices in Rotterdam, Bangalore, Nairobi & Santiago de Chile.

About the Role

We are developing several businesses in the food value chain in Kenya. Post-harvest losses in the chain are still enormous, reducing these losses impacts farmer income, consumer health and food security in Kenya. Our ambition is to build a professional fruit and vegetable chain for the local market in Kenya. To achieve this we are working on business solutions like cold storage, market linkage, and providing healthy meals to low-income workers. In most cases, developing innovative business models through lean validation in pilots is key. We are looking for a venture builder with entrepreneurial experience who will develop our start-up projects into fully running enterprises at Enviu in Kenya, on a full-time basis.

You will:

• Work on 1 or 2 ventures, side by side with the cofounding entrepreneur of the venture

• Be the one challenging the entrepreneurial team to work as lean as possible. Build -Measure – Learn!

• Be a product manager who is responsible for defining the “market – value proposition – product” triangle

• Quickly prototype and test different business models or assumptions with the target group

• Perform in-depth primary and secondary research and root cause analysis into issues in food value chains

• Set up and structure new companies, including team, operational and accounting back-end, financial compliance, and so on.

• Analyze and improve the operations of an existing startup, together with the entrepreneur

• Plan and budget for your project(s)

• Analyse and control of revenues, costs and margin.

• Raise funds (both grants and equity); identify funders, financial modelling, prepare pitch deck, investor pitches and due diligence processes.

• Build key partnerships, with both large and small organizations

• Get the work of Enviu EA out there, on events, by building a network and sharing our work on the website

• Collaborate with the Dutch team. The job will include traveling to the Netherlands (once / twice a year).

You’d be perfect for the role if you have:

• A proven track record of at least 8 years working experience, out of which at least three years as entrepreneur, co-founder of a start-up or part of the management team of a company, preferably as social entrepreneur;

• Passion for and experience in the fields of agritech, food logistics, lean operation and the food value chain in Kenya;

• Experience with working with smallholder farmers;

• A relevant network;

• The right attitude to work with people with all kind of backgrounds, from small farmers to investors or CEOs of multinationals;

• Led teams of 10+ people;

• Passion for social entrepreneurship;

• Empathy and are inquisitive;

• A hands-on, can-do approach;

• A Bachelor’s degree at a reputed institute;

• Successful track record in multi-stakeholder project management;

• Experience in building partnerships and fundraising with commercial partners (investors, corporate, NGO, Government);

• Excellent leadership and communication skills;

• Substantial experience with Lean Startup and Human Centric Design methodologies;

Furthermore, the ideal candidate is a people manager, fluent in English, can work independently and has a good sense of humour. Although regular traveling is part of the job, the job will be performed in Nairobi, Kenya. Candidates who do not live in Kenya will not be considered.

go to method of application »

About the Role

We are developing several businesses in the food value chain in Kenya. Post-harvest losses in the chain are still enormous, reducing these losses impacts farmer income, consumer health and food security in Kenya. Our ambition is to build a professional fruit and vegetable chain for the local market in Kenya. To achieve this we are working on business solutions like cold storage, market linkage, and providing healthy meals to low-income workers. In most cases, developing innovative business models through lean validation in pilots is key. We are looking for an entrepreneurial lean operations manager who will develop our start-up projects into fully running enterprises at Enviu in Kenya, on a full-time basis.

You will:

• Work on 1 or 2 ventures, side by side with the cofounding entrepreneur of the venture

• Be the one challenging the entrepreneurial team to work as lean as possible. Build -Measure – Learn!

• Be a product manager who is responsible for defining the “market – value proposition – product” triangle

• Quickly prototype and test different business models or assumptions with the target group

• Perform in-depth primary and secondary research and root cause analysis into issues in food value chains

• Set up and structure new companies, including team, operational and accounting back-end, financial compliance, and so on.

• Analyze and improve the operations of an existing startup, together with the entrepreneur

• Plan and budget for your project(s)

• Analyse and control of revenues, costs and margin.

• Raise funds (both grants and equity); identify funders, financial modelling, prepare pitch deck, investor pitches and due diligence processes.

• Build key partnerships, with both large and small organizations

• Get the work of Enviu EA out there, on events, by building a network and sharing our work on the website

• Collaborate with the Dutch team. The job will include traveling to the Netherlands (once / twice a year).

You’d be perfect for the role if you have:

• A proven track record of at least 8 years working experience, out of which at least three years as entrepreneur, co-founder of a start-up or part of the management team of a company, preferably as social entrepreneur;

• Extensive experience in the fields of lean operation, agri-tech, and food logistics;

• Experience with working with smallholder farmers;

• A relevant network;

• The right attitude to work with people with all kind of backgrounds, from small farmers to investors or CEOs of multinationals;

• Led teams of 10+ people;

• Passion for social entrepreneurship;

• Empathy and are inquisitive;

• A hands-on, can-do approach;

• A Bachelor’s degree at a reputed institute;

• Experience in building partnerships and fundraising with commercial partners (investors, corporate, NGO, Government);

• Excellent leadership and communication skills;

• Substantial experience with Lean Startup and Human Centric Design methodologies;

Furthermore, the ideal candidate is a people manager, fluent in English, can work independently and has a good sense of humour. Although regular traveling is part of the job, the job will be performed in Nairobi, Kenya. Candidates who do not live in Kenya will not be considered.

What we can offer in return

• Competitive package with the opportunity to develop yourself in a truly unique and challenging international environment;

• A great opportunity to develop yourself both personally and professionally;

• A job with purpose and societal impact;

• The opportunity to build social enterprises;

• Working with a small group of talented, passionate and fun colleagues who share the ambition to change the world.