Background

The Ministry of Urban Development and Construction and the Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency (FeMSEDA), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ethiopia, launched the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) in February 2013. The programme’s aim is to foster the emergence of a robust and competitive private sector through micro and small scale business sectors.

To oversee effective and successful implementa­tion of the EDP, the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) was established in Addis Ababa in May 2013. EDC is a semi-autonomous organization which spearheads the implementation of innovative entrepreneurship skills training and provision of customized business development services to new and existing MSEs and entrepreneurs in the country. EDC has regional offices in Amhara, Tigray, Oromia and SNNPRS.

Duties and Responsibilities

EDC is seeking the services of qualified personnel to assume the following posts:

Scope of work

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Coordinators of EDC Regional Offices, the incumbents will be responsible for coordination of the EDP Business Development Service (BDS) related activities in the assigned region and its catchments, and assist in disseminating the relevant information to existing and potential EDP beneficiaries in order to achieve the field-level project outputs.

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • The Regional BDS Coordinators are expected to carry out the following duties;
  • Under the overall supervision of the Regional Coordinator, coordinate and promote business advisory and business development activities for target beneficiaries of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) Regional Office as follows;
  • Establish Business Advisory and Business Development strategy that will promote the activities of the EDC with approval of the Regional Coordinator;
  • Implement activities that promote the objectives of the EDC;
  • Establish and control budgets for Business Advisory and Business Development activities;
  • Identify, and maintain a roster of consultants who provide business development and advisory services to the project in the region;
  • Establish and maintain a database of local consultants /business advisory service providers;
  • Supervise and monitor local consultants engaged to provide business advisory and development services to the project in the region;
  • Coordinate negotiations with financial institutions to ensure opportunities for credit sourcing for MSEs;
  • Undertake quality assurance monitoring visits to the MSEs receiving BDS for consultants/business advisors on a regular basis to ensure service delivery as well as provision of necessary technical advice to the advisors;
  • Working closely with the Training Coordinator, design training courses and programmes necessary to meet business development needs of clients;
  • Collect relevant information and data on business development best practices and lessons learned from the trainers, participants of the programme and other interventions and disseminate to the business advisors timely, as part of the knowledge sharing and capacity development efforts;
  • Prepare quarterly and annual reports for the attention the regional coordinator;
  • Review and approve monthly reports submitted by the BDS Advisors under their jurisdiction;
  • Any other duties assigned by the Regional Coordinator and other tasks as the job role may demand from time to time.

Reporting:

  • The Regional BDS Coordinators will directly report to the Regional Coordinator’s assigned in each region and work closely with other project personnel, regional offices, regional government and other stakeholders.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Team work;
  • Ability to work with minimum supervision;
  • Consistence and reliability;
  • Sound communication skills;
  • Interpersonal Skills;
  • Analytical Skills.

Skills and knowledge:

  • Knowledge of stages of business growth processes for MSE’s and ability to analyze and advise on complex business growth challenges of MSE’s;
  • Supervisory skills and capacity to be a member of a multidisciplinary team to provide advice and recommend actions;
  • Excellent analytical, technical and conceptual knowledge about management and grasp of business management principles and practices;
  • Adherence to integrity and confidentiality;
  • Good knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (particularly Word and Excel);
  • Good presentation skills;
  • Sound communication skills;
  • Intercultural sensitivity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Masters’ degree from a recognized University in marketing, business management or other related disciplines;
  • A certificate course in business advisory services/entrepreneurship development will be considered an advantage.

Experience:

  • Minimum of 4 years’ experience in a related post, in providing and coordinating business advisory services and donor funded programmes;
  • Relevant experience in organizing MSE’s business development programmes and in the promotion of organizational objectives and activities.

Language:

  • Excellent written and spoken Amharic and English languages.

Interested and Qualified Individuals can also submit their CV and Tesmimonials through the following address:

Application for Regional Business Development Service (BDS) Coordinator for SNNPRs

UNDP/EDC

P.O. Box 5580

Addis Ababa

Ethiopia