Business and Investment Specialist Consultant
Job Description
Title: Business and Investment Specialist Consultant
Company Name: Development Alternatives Inc (DAI)
Vacancy: Not specific
Job Location: Anywhere in Bangladesh
Employment Status: Full-time
Educational Requirements:
∎ Bachelor's or Master's degree in the business or other relevant field is preferred
Experience Requirements:
∎ 3 to 5 year(s)
Job Context:
∎ Contract Name : USAID/Digital Frontiers
∎ Status: Short Term Technical Assistance
∎ Period of Performance : December 5, 2022 - May 31, 2023
∎ Total Level of Effort : 52 days
∎ Supervisor : Country Lead
∎ Project Background: Digital Frontiers is a $90 million buy-in mechanism available to USAID Bureaus and Missions from 2017- 2023. DAI implements the Digital Frontiers project, which works closely with USAID`s Global Development Lab (GDL), the Center for Digital Development (CDD), USAID Missions, the private sector, and international and local development organizations to identify successful and sustainable digital development approaches and scale their impact globally.
∎ As the U.S. Government`s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future (FTF) works to give families and communities in some of the world`s poorest countries the freedom and opportunity to lift themselves out of food insecurity and malnutrition. By equipping people with the knowledge and tools they need to feed themselves, the program is addressing the root causes of poverty and hunger, helping people end their reliance on aid, and creating important opportunities for a new generation of young people-all while building a more stable world. Over the past eight years, over $300 million of US Government investment has been used to implement FTF activities within the program`s Zone of Influence (ZOI) and Zone of Resilience (ZOR) in Bangladesh, which have an estimated population of approximately 30 million people. However, the maximum number of beneficiaries reached over this period has been less than 3 million and the sustainability of these FTF interventions beyond the cessation of USAID funding is yet to be fully proven.
∎ USAID/Bangladesh, working with Digital Frontiers, therefore seeks to promote the efficient and effective use of digital tools and technologies to build the capacity of value chain actors (e.g. livestock service providers, market vendors, artificial inseminators, and feed dealers/distributors) under a market systems approach. These value chain actors should then be able to use the same tools to sustainably and effectively build the capacity of their clients/customers (smallholder farmers, pregnant/lactating women and vulnerable households) during and beyond the period of Activity implementation.
∎ To enable the interventions of FTF activities to reach more beneficiaries and to better ensure the sustainability of these interventions beyond the period of USAID-supported implementation, this Activity will pilot existing digital tools and scale up those that are proven to be effective to build the capacities of value chain actors. The Activity will also motivate these value chain actors to use digital tools to build the capacities of their clients and customers towards improving their agricultural productivity, resilience and household nutrition. Increased agricultural productivity will sustainably increase the competitiveness of value chain actors` agricultural products and services, and enhance domestic, regional and international trade, increasing the country`s foreign exchange potential and making it less vulnerable to malign influence. Finally, this Activity will also sustainably increase the number of clients and customers reached by FTF activities as these value chain actors will continue building the capacity of new and existing clients and customers during and beyond the period of USAID supported implementation.
∎ This is anticipated to be a three-year Activity with the possibility of extension.
∎ Position Objectives: Digital Frontiers seeks a Business and Investment Specialist for the USAID-funded Feed the Future Bangladesh Digital Agriculture Activity. With the support of other Activity staff in Dhaka and three regional locations, Digital Frontiers, and a pool of short-term technical advisors, the Business and Investment Specialist will oversee the facilitation of partnerships with private partners, including investment firms and venture capital, etc. as well as design and technology firms to provide resources to sustainable business planning around promising digital agricultural tools that address the challenges of improving food security in the ZOI and ZOR.
∎ Digital agriculture tools offer significant potential to improve yields, input efficiency, farm gate prices, and access to nutrition, but the viability and effectiveness of these tools can be inhibited by nonresponsive design, limited capacity on the part of potential customers, flawed business plans, and lack of investment. The Digital Agriculture Activity aims to bridge some of these gaps to help put more digital agriculture tools usefully into the hands of farmers and other value chain actors.
∎ The Business and Investment Specialist will work with other Activity staff in country with support from Digital Frontiers, technology partners, and consultants to:
∎ Identify and facilitate partnerships with potential investors, including investment firms, venture capital, etc. Maintain an ongoing relationship with the investment community,
∎ Work with technology partners and innovators to design and validate business plans, analyze business model, conduct need and market assessment
∎ Engage stakeholders in scaleup, sustainability and partnership discussions
∎ Identify gaps and needs in partner business plans and provide market expertise and/or supervise external consultants or subcontractors to do so
∎ Work closely with the Digital Tools Manager to ensure selected tools are user- and marketcentric.
∎ Other duties as required
∎ Reporting: The Business and Investment Specialist Consultant will report to the Country Lead.
∎ Qualifications: Local Bangladeshi candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.
Job Responsibilities:
∎ The Business and Investment Specialist will lead and/or perform:
∎
∎ Business planning, scaleup strategy support to the tool owners of the piloted tools
∎ Assist the implementing and private sector partners under the technical assistance component in business model analysis, need and market assessment, and sustainability roadmap development
∎ Carry forward the ongoing investment webinar series by deciding on themes, electing participants and invitees and arranging 2-3 more episodes
∎ Maintain ongoing relationships with the investment community, facilitate an investment forum and eventually an investment conference to showcase a number of investment ready agtech tools.
Additional Requirements:
∎ 3-5 years of relevant experience related to private sector partnerships, investment analysis, with a preference for experience in the agriculture sector. USAID-funded program experience will be a plus.
∎ Experience with gender sensitive development approach will be a strong plus.
∎ Skills:
∎ Ability to communicate/collaborate effectively across cultures, including with team members based in other countries.
∎ Critical thinker, self-starter, and able to work with minimal supervision and within established deadlines.
∎ Flexible, willing to perform assigned and additional duties and work under unpredictable conditions.
∎ Professional fluency in English and Bengali.
Salary: Negotiable
Job Source: Bdjobs.com Online Job Posting.
Application Deadline: 20 Dec 2022
Company Information:
∎ 24 Nov 2022
∎ Development Alternatives Inc (DAI)
Category: NGO/Development
Source: bdjobs.com
Deadline Expired on 20th Dec 2022
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