Regional Strategic Business Development Manager (ESA)

Marie Stopes International (MSI) is a global organisation providing personalised contraception and reproductive health services to women and adolescents. Our local teams of professionals are passionate about the work they do in communities across 37 countries. The services we provide give a woman the power to choose when she has children so that she’s free to pursue her plans and dreams for herself and her family. The primary responsibility of this role is to further MSI’s Goal: The prevention of unwanted births and its mission of ensuring an individual’s right to: children by choice, not chance.

The International Operations (IO) Department plays a critical role in the work of MSI’s country programmes which deliver family planning and reproductive health services to our clients around the world. IO is responsible for ensuring that country programmes are positioned to deliver results, drive growth, achieve programmatic and operational excellence, are committed to implementing best practices at scale, while simultaneously adhering to core programmatic and operational standards.

The East and Southern Africa (ESA) region within IO is a diverse and dynamic region facing particular challenges of sustainability. With decreasing levels of traditional donor funding, there is an urgent need to transition programmes and teams in the region towards greater sustainability. The Regional Strategic Business Development Manager ESA, led by the Regional Strategic Business Director ESA, will provide critical support, operational guidance, and capacity building to drive the sustainability of, and the true social business standing, of MSI’s high quality family planning and safe abortion services across the region: with programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In so doing, under the direction of the Regional Strategic Business Director and in collaboration with MSI technical teams, you will contribute to the region’s transition to, and implementation of, the MSI2030 strategy.

With support from the Regional Strategic Business Director ESA, the Global Programmes Unit (GPU), the Programme Design and Development (PDD) team, and relevant technical departments, you will be expected to partner with targeted ESA country programmes as they move towards achieving more self-sustaining programmes.  Specifically, you will support the development and operationalization of an engagement plan for the effective positioning and accessing of domestic financing ranging from direct government contracting and increasing public and private health insurance contributions to service income levels in targeted ESA country programmes. You will also support the packaging, positioning, and contracting of MSI global and MSI country programme skills as a contracted supplier and/or the establishment of additional commercial focused enterprises in targeted ESA country programmes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Regional Strategic Business Director ESA in the implementation of a sustainability, future-proofing agenda and contribute to conversations with targeted ESA country programmes and GPU and PDD to increase funding opportunities; with support from relevant technical teams
• In collaboration with the entire ESA Regional Support Team, support targeted ESA country programmes as they implement domestic fund raising strategies, leverage commercial and contracting opportunities, and maximise income streams from public and private health insurance schemes
• In conjunction with country programmes and the ESA Regional Support Term, contribute to the development of new business development strategies and appropriate traditional donor proposals (with a particular focus on programme sustainability) including contributing to, editing and reviewing ESA concept papers, and proposals to donor specifications and a high standard
• Drive sustainable change through building the capability and skills of country teams to embed sustainability strategies and the implementation and monitoring of sustainability plans.
• Provide remote and in-country technical assistance and capacity building to all ESA country programmes to support the successful embedding of the sustainability plans for the region. Participate and advise on strategies to regionalise technical assistance where this adds value and/or increases effectiveness
• Support the Regional Strategic Business Director ESA in the collection and dissemination of data that provides detailed information and helps all ESA country programmes track their progress in meeting the region’s sustainability plans
• Support all ESA country programmes in the articulation of sustainability related inputs to their annual business plans
• Coach and ensure strong collaborative relationships across the ESA region and MSI partnership, identifying, documenting and sharing examples of sustainability learning, good practice and innovation across the region and promote programme to programme exchange across the region
• Demonstrate and facilitate the use of data generated through MSI-systems including client information systems (CLIC), SUN financial system, Info-BI etc. to strengthen the country programme culture of data driven sustainability decision making

Skills & Experience:

• Proven track record of driving operational improvements and efficiencies in health systems in Africa
• Proven track record in driving improvements in health financing (public and private insurance), and positioning & securing of domestic funding for service delivery in Africa
• Proven track record in driving the successful contracting of services and technical assistance by national governments in Africa
• Proven ability to analyse complex sets of variables and market assessments to identify and understand risks and build on opportunities for business development opportunities
• Proven ability to develop convincing business cases, including articulating return on investment (ROI), and presenting/pitching for investment
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills and ability to build rapport quickly with complex and diverse teams
• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively and manage a heavy and fluctuating workload
• Experience of building capability of teams for sustainable change, demonstrated coaching ability essential
• Highly developed relationship development and communication (oral and written) skills
• Highly developed problem solving, diplomatic, networking and negotiation skills
• Skills related to organisational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
• Demonstration of ‘making things happen’, operating at pace and delivering effectively through others

Qualifications:

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent
• Post-graduate qualification in business administration, public health, public management or related field (desirable)
• Health Financing qualification e.g. WHO e-Learning Course on Health Financing Policy for universal health coverage (UHC) – desirable

Candidates who meet the required qualifications should send their detailed curriculum vitae to [email protected].

Deadline for applications: Monday 28th September, 2020. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Note: MSI takes a zero tolerance approach to fraud and bribery, terrorism, money laundering, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or any safeguarding issues. Applicants will be subjected to a Police Clearance Check and Reference Checks.