Business Incubation Officer

CONTEXT

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with funding from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) has awarded World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to implement the Climate Change Adaptation in Forest and Agricultural Mosaic Landscapes Project. The Project will use a landscape approach that engages and strengthens uptake and diffusion of technologies and practices for adaptive capacity through Forest and Farm Producer Organisations (FFPOs), Farmer Field Schools, viable cooperatives, and other community- based organizations within local communities, including community forestry. The Project will be implemented in four districts that are vulnerable to climate risks and hazards (droughts in particular) and have high rates of forest degradation and deforestation, and these are Petauke and Nyimba in Eastern Province and Sioma and Sesheke in Western Province.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Zambia will be responsible for executing the project, in close collaboration with the Zambian Forestry Department (FD), Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). WWF Zambia will coordinate activities with national bodies related to the different project components, as well as with the project partners. The project will use the existing Project Advisory Committee (PAC) as the main body linking the project to relevant national bodies. The project will also use existing Project Provincial Technical Committees (PPSC), one in Eastern Province and one in Western Province, as the main bodies governing the project activities undertaken in the respective provinces.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Business Incubation Officer will provide technical guidance in establishment and provision of business incubation services to the target beneficiaries. S/he will report to the Project Manager.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Establish systems for business incubator unit with clear input and output expectations.
• Identify and produce materials to support business incubation in four main areas:
• Physical space and infrastructure (e.g. office or storage space, experimentation space, cybercafé or helplines, communication and printing services)
• Business services (e.g. cooperative administration, market research and data services, business planning services, legal advice, marketing services)
• Financing (e.g. linking to financial services, seed grants, loan funds or joint venture equity with exit strategy)
• People connectivity (e.g. links to government authorities, banks, business trainers, market networks, technology suppliers, research institutions)
• Recognize that business incubation is a dynamic model that must evolve and improve over time – such that any starting brochure will soon be improved and replaced.
• Identify target communities from within which business groups will be selected for support and scope the existence of existing business groups within those communities and their entrepreneurial leadership (e.g. proactive passion, drive and flexibility, with high inter-personal skills that is reflected in technical preparation and detail, clarity of business management, and the capacity to use resources and information to advance business prospects).
• Develop criteria for selecting business groups whom the incubator will help and over what time frame.
• Develop an advisory board with members from each of the sectors listed above: land and legality (e.g. a Government official), finance and insurance (e.g. a bank or micro-credit provider), business support (e.g. a successful business person or trainer), markets (e.g. sectoral specialist in desired target market), technical advice (e.g. tree management specialist) social organisation (e.g. cooperative department) and research and development (e.g. university agronomy dept.). This board and a broader network of contacts is the incubators principal and most important asset.
• Develop a management information system – e.g. a database or spreadsheet that record information on each and every contact that is of use to the incubator or the prospective clients.
• Engage for each target community, using your selection criteria, the most promising business group in question to carry out a business risk analysis (using the ‘securing forest business toolkit). Identify priority challenges faced, and solutions proposed by the business group.
• Use the proposed solutions from the preceding analysis to design an appropriate and evolving programme of support for that business – that will grow and change as the business needs change and develop.
• Draw on the advisory board established to offer the services the business needs. This might involve: brokering discussions with Government officials over registration and tenure issues, or with finance agencies over credit, organizing exchange visits to see functioning models, training courses in many different areas, market research for particular products or sectors to find out who wants and is prepared to pay for what, organizational analysis, or collaborative technological prototype development and testing (for new processing ideas) etc. For each service document what the aim is, what is required and who is responsible within the incubator network.
• For each service carefully cost how much it will take to cover staff costs, transport and logistics – so as to know what the actual and relative costs of different types of support involve. Develop a business plan to ensure that business clients are either charged to cover those costs, or that there is sufficient project or grant funding to sustain them.
• Develop a responsible staff member and delivery mechanism for each services. Some may require face to face interactions, while others (such as market data, or training in specific issues, might be carried out through the internet or via mobile phones).
• Develop a monitoring system. This should involve both a mechanism to evaluate the quality of each service offered (e.g. through a detailed questionnaire) but also a system to assess the progress of the businesses that the incubator is serving (in terms of financial health, sales, employees, etc).

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal: Interacts regularly with staff within WWF Zambia under auspices of the Project’s PMU.

External: Interacts with Zambian government, primarily the Forest Department, FAO. Interacts with private sector entities.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree in Business management, Economics, and/or Political Science, International Relations, or other Social Sciences;
• Five years of progressively responsible professional experience, including development, management and / or Private Sector development;
• Experience in administrative and financial management of field projects and its monitoring processes;
• Experience in producer organizations and/or private sector is a plus;
• Experience in providing technical advice and support on social forest and producer organizations issues;
• Experience in working with international organisations;
• Experience in conducting gender analyses, advocating and mainstreaming gender equality.
• Good writing, presentation and communication skills; Fluent in English;
• Working knowledge of other languages commonly used in countries of the region is a plus.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Evidence of successful professional experience executing accounting functions in a fast paced environment.
• Experience working in a Program Management Unit (PMU) set up, working in support of multiple partners in the delivery of project outcomes.
• Experience working with a FAO or GEF funded Project will be added advantage.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND COMPETENCES:

• Exceptionally strong analytical skills with ability to set priorities, complete work with minimal supervision, and meet deadlines.
• Advanced computer skills, particularly knowledge of MS Excel software.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with fluency (spoken and written) in English.
• Ability to promote team synergy in a multi-cultural work environment.

How to Apply? 

All interested applicants must send their applications (Cover Letters and CVs) as one document to [email protected], with the subject line “Business Incubation Officer Application” by end of day Thursday 1st December, 2022.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

This job description is in line with WWF’s Values: Courage, Collaboration, Respect and Integrity