Senior Program Officer- Business Development

Heifer International

Senior Program Officer- Business Development

Job ID 260

Business Development / Fundraising  India   Andhra Pradesh 

Description

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

Function
Heifer International in India is working with Women Small Holder Farmers to build sustainable livelihoods through agriculture and livestock value chains that would become an important part of their family income to close the Living Income Gap. Heifer International is working with private sector partners in a new project located in Andhra Pradesh, India aimed at strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), supporting their increase in revenue, and enabling women smallholder farmers to close the living income gap. Heifer is focused on the long-term development of inclusive, pro-poor, market systems in Andhra Pradesh.

The role of the Senior Program Officer- Business Development will be to lead Heifer’s project activities on connecting the producer-owned cooperatives and self-help groups with financial institutions. S/he will lead development and execution of the overall strategic vision, goal, and objectives of the access to finance component.

Essential Character Traits
Emotionally intelligent, honest, positive attitude, highly motivated and inspirational leader, superb listener and communicator, relationship builder, energetic and positive, team builder, strives for a shared vision, impact-driven and innovative, organized, having strong business acumen, pro-active, respect for procedures and norms, curious, analytical, committed to holistic sustainable development.

RESPONSIBILITIES & DELIVERABLES

A. Project Management: Support project partners in the effective implementation of the enterprise, market and value chain related activities, functions, and objectives of the project (35%)

• Assist project partners in staff selection and staff capacity building and orientation.
• Assist project partners in various trainings, farmer’s field trips, exchange visits, study reports.
• Assist project partner in the implementation of the project activities.
• Assist project partner to ensure quality passing on the gifts and other resources.
• Assist the partner in the implementation of the exponential POG with quality.
• Assist project partner to develop/produce market-oriented quality products.
• Assist partner in following PMD-pro tools and framework.
• Support the partner to implement the feedback/changes suggested by the Heifer team.
• Reviewing the project progress (physical and financial) with partner staff monthly.
• Participating in ongoing partner activities on regular basis for quality control and improvement
• Documentation and sharing of the best practices.

DELIVERABLES       

• Ensure staff selected are trained per Heifer’s process. Training is delivered following the training module schedule.
• Ensure project activities are completed on-time and on-budget as per the PIP.
• Ensure activities and training in the field are supervised and follow-up instructions are given.
• Exponential POG, and PSRP is completed following the process as per schedule.
• Ensure physical passing on of the gifts and assets are tracked, quality is ensured, and achieved within approved time period.
• Ensure PMD_Pro tools - project planning, designing, project charter, RACI, Issue Log, PIP, Gantt Chart, project closing - is used across the project.
• Ensure activity-based reforecast and fund request is jointly reviewed and submitted to RPO and CPO as per the schedule.
• Ensure all project progress reports (physical and financial) are reviewed and submitted as per the schedule.
• Participate in all field trainings on a quarterly basis and regularly at the initial stage of the project.
• Ensure internal and external field visits are organized following the organizational protocol.
• Ensure auditors are supported and audit is completed successfully.
• Ensure all project activity is at par in quality with project standards

B. Business Development and Marketing (30%)

• Develop market development and private/public sector engagement strategy for the project.
• Develop business relationships with retailers, processors, and other market actors (forward market linkages)
• Facilitate multi-stakeholder consultation meetings, workshops, and business-to-business (B2B) meetings to advance better market linkages.
• Organize B2B Meetings with potential Value Chain (VC) actors for stronger market linkages.
• Explore public, private and producer organizations for joint initiatives to establish viable and sustainable business ventures in forward linkages of goat meat and dairy value chain (i.e. abattoirs, meat processing, dairy units, live animal market, livestock/meat transport, high quality meat outlets etc.).
• Market Research: Carry out market research on demand and supply, value chain analysis, business venture feasibility study, stakeholders mapping, and so on for identification of viable enterprise establishment or strengthen the existing enterprises.
• Branding & Positioning: Identify branding options Heifer farmers’ products for market promotion (legal requirement, protocols to be complied, current practices etc.).

DELIVERABLES

• Identify potential Value Chain (VC) actors/stakeholders (forward market linkages) and facilitate new ventures.
• Functional relation established with market actors to overcome bottlenecks in the market system.
• Goat market investment plan developed and implemented on public, private, producer partnerships.
• Prepare Market Development strategies and roll out plans and tract progress periodically.
• Develop digital interactive platform with Product-Price Market Information System (in goat meat VC) for the use and benefit of all VC Actors and stakeholders
• Identify and recommend the best suited market (promotion) strategies, pricing system for the business ventures,
• Identify new businesses ventures (medium and large-scale business ventures) in the selected value chains and coach/facilitate entrepreneurs.
• Provide technical assistance through formal/informal trainings, coaching, exposure, and other possible ways,
• Guide, coach and facilitate the Smallholder Farmer Organizations (SFOs)/other VC actors in the process of branding the products.
• Document strategies and procedures for the facilitation of branding heifer farmers’ products

C. Access to Finance (30%)

• Support to develop bankable business plans (both at start-up and growth stages) and connect with relevant financial and non-financial service providers (medium and large-scale business ventures).
• Explore, assess, and identify appropriate financing providers and opportunities and float those opportunities to potential clients (individual/cooperative/corporates MSMEs)
• Collaborate with banks and financial institutions to develop, improve, and scale-up appropriate financial product and services for all possible type of MSMEs.
• Assist bank staff in identifying potential clients (MSMEs) among the target groups and building a pipeline of loan deals.
• Identify new opportunities such as mobile banking, mobile money, ICT based solutions, BLB etc. to improve the accessibility of financial services and efficiencies.
• Expand access to risk mitigation products such as agriculture/livestock insurance.

DELIVERABLES

• Advocacy at different levels to enhance the access to finance for smallholders.
• Develop a dossier of potential service providers, products (including risk mitigation products) and clients for continuous updating.
• Regular communication with service providers to build rapport and good relationships.
• Appropriate financial products available in selected value chains.
• Develop awareness and training materials for banks and financial institutions to encourage Agri-friendly products.
• Develop templates to help assist banks and financial institutions in identifying potential clients.
• Carry out policy research on value chain financing gaps and create/implement corresponding advocacy plan throughout the project life.
• Documentation of potential new opportunities for improved financial accessibility.
• Planning and mobilization of parallel co-funding in the form of financial support to the value chain.

D. May perform other duties as assigned (5%)         

 

Minimum Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university in Business Administration, Rural Development, Enterprise Development, Social Work or other related field and minimum of seven (7) years of experience with an international organization in a similar context (with 2-3 years of “grass-roots” experience) is required.

Preferred Requirements

A Master’s Degree or equivalent from a recognized university in the fields of Agriculture Economics, Business Administration, Rural Development, Enterprise Development, Social Work or other related field and a minimum of five (5) years of field and technical experience with the commercial sector, agribusiness development in a mix of economic growth/trade, value chain competitiveness, investment promotion, or agriculture development.

Most Critical Proficiencies

• Clear understanding of the goat, vegetable, Agri-product value chains.
• Innovative, analytical, and solutions-oriented.
• Knowledge of enterprise development and linkages to poverty alleviation.
• Strong interpersonal/people management skills and excellent oral and written communication skills a must.
• Excellent organizational and leadership skills.
• Proficient knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, presentation tools, electronic mail (Microsoft Office preferred), and Internet.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Hindi, English, and other local languages, both oral and written. Fluency in Telugu preferred.
• Significant experience in building public/private partnerships
• Experience working with farmer group programs.
• Experience in the commercial sector with skills to develop and evaluate investment opportunities and promote such opportunities to financial institutions.
• Strong consumer marketing, financial analysis, and management skills.
• Excellent command of Report writing, analysis, and presentation skills using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Experience in supporting and monitoring field-based programs in the country.
• Proven experience in building the capacity of partner institutions to document and disseminate industry information, manage knowledge, measure progress, and plan and advocate within the industry.
• Track record of building strong client and stakeholder relationships
• Ability to generate innovative solutions in work situations.

Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands

• Preparing and presenting documents in a well-designed and attractive format with superior attention to detail.
• Ability to understand, appreciate and implement Heifer’s Value Based Holistic Community Development.
• Demonstrated creativity, ability to think systematically, willingness and ability to incorporate innovative solutions.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively throughout India.
• May require constant sitting, working at a computer and focusing for extended periods and performing office environment activities while on the road and/or in remote conditions.
• Working with sensitive information and maintaining confidentiality.
• Ability to manage and execute multiple tasks with little supervision while meeting sometimes inflexible deadlines.

For more information and online application click here