Reports to: Country Director
Location: Abuja with domestic travel to Northern Nigeria, as required
I. TechnoServe Background:
TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. We are a nonprofit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital and markets. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs and wealth for their families and communities. TechnoServe operates in more than 30 developing countries with over 1,000 employees.
II. Program Description:
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has initiated a Rural Agricultural Markets Program focused on Northern Nigeria entitled PrOpCom Mai-Karfi. This five-year program aims to increase the incomes of 500,000 impoverished Northern Nigerians by 50%, with half of program recipients being women. PrOpCom uses a Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach, which aims to accelerate pro-poor growth by strengthening markets and achieving greater fairness for poor men and women within those markets. Key markets of intervention include soap and seeds, as well as cross-cutting markets such as fertilizers and tractor services.
III. Job Responsibilities:
The Market Sector Manager will provide strategic guidance and management for a set of key target markets identified for their potential to increase incomes for the poor, particularly women. He/she will identify and design potential market interventions that address key market constraints, develop strategies for implementing those interventions, and develop and manage relationships with partners and stakeholders to achieve programmatic goals.
Specific responsibilities of the Market Section Manager include the following:
IV. Core Competencies
Communication: Confidently delivers tailored messages to various audiences using various media and tools. Asks insightful questions, validates the speaker's feelings and points, and encourages the speaker; leaves the speaker feeling 'heard'. Reports concisely and proactively with observations, analysis, and implications of the observations on project work and has the ability to present such findings to a variety of stakeholders in a concise and effective manner.
Relationship Builder: Quickly develops trusting relationships with others; proactively assesses and manages trust with others. Maintains industry, government and corporate networks and consistently forges new business relationships to fit strategic priorities. Identifies shared goals and develops effective strategies around those goals; follows-up on connections to catalyze positive relationships. Demonstrates neutrality and helps parties come to creative agreements and solutions, while keeping ownership with the parties.
Business Person: Understands the idea of the marketing mix; can gather market info and give advice on marketing strategy; Advises on building and keeping good customer relations. Keeps records in more complex business environments; Advises on basic finances; Identifies and considers the financial risks of decisions; considers the economic value for the markets before making financial decisions. Delivers training workshops; Advises on selecting and recruiting staff; appreciates the importance of incentives for performance
Coach: Regularly engages with market actors and stakeholders to uncover and identify specific needs; builds desire in the coachee to address the needs. Offers specific, constructive feedback to others; leaves the coachee feeling empowered to improve; actively seeks out feedback to improve; uses feedback in reviewing intervention strategies. Creates buy-in from the coachee to improve; helps develop action plans; provides support, while ensure coachee ownership over the process
Innovator: Tests out new ideas on an ongoing basis; failure encourages greater future effort; often demonstrates creative thinking; uses innovative approaches in the execution of work; actively searches for solutions beyond traditional boundaries. Makes time to reflect and codify learning; seeks out sources of learning; regularly adjusts actions based on comparing expected results against actual results; makes informed decisions based on lessons learnt from other interventions within the sector. Proactively shares both successful and unsuccessful endeavors; actively identifies issues that may hinder effective collaborations and devises means of minimizing these; takes a leadership role in a team
Political Economist: Critically analyses institutions using a visual model, objectively allocating roles and functions. Can prescribe an agenda to improve the institutional arrangements for the benefit of poor people. Rigorously analyses the way power and politics affects markets and poverty; can model the power relations; and can prescribe improvements for the benefit of poor people. Collects and arranges complex evidence within an Excel workbook; cost-benefit analysis of economic options; prescription and argument for pro-poor improvements in markets.
V. Qualifications
VI. Application Instructions
Qualified and interested applicants should submit a Word-formatted single document consisting of cover letter, resume and salary history to tnsngrecruit@gmail.com. Please identify the position for which you are applying in the subject line. Only applicants meeting minimum qualifications will be considered or contacted. No phone calls please.
