Board Member – Treasurer / Finance Specialist

Summary

The Flowminder Foundation is looking to appoint a new board member (non-exec) to act as a treasurer and to provide leadership and expertise within the Board on issues relating to finance and financial management in the Organisation.

We seek individuals excited by the prospect of improving the lives of millions of vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries through the use of novel data sources and high-quality science.

Board members are expected to attend six board meetings per year, and to participate in the life of the organisation between board meetings, including advising the staff team and acting in an ambassadorial role for the Foundation. The total expected contribution per board member is on average 1 day per month.

Board members can be located anywhere in the world. Our board meetings are generally online and participation is remote. We look for opportunities to meet physically but not being able to do so, is not a blocker to becoming a member of the Board

About the Flowminder Foundation

Flowminder is a Swedish operational, non-profit, foundation with 38 staff across our three offices in Stockholm (Sweden), Southampton (UK) and Geneva (Switzerland), and with team members in Africa and the Caribbean.

Flowminder seeks to improve population well-being among vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries by providing high-value decision support through data science in the development and humanitarian sectors. Flowminder utilises new types of large-scale digital data sources, such as de-identified mobile operator data and satellite data, combined with traditional population surveys and robust data science to develop and implement solutions that can positively impact the lives of millions of people.

Flowminder was founded in 2012, building on pioneering work by Drs. Bengtsson, Lu and Tatem to use de-identified mobile operator data to monitor and predict population displacement after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and to understand population mobility to assess malaria transmission dynamics between Zanzibar and the Tanzanian mainland in 2008. Flowminder has since expanded to work with mobile operators and to support governments, intergovernmental and national organisations across a number of sectors and countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. Flowminder has also developed several additional pioneering data products based on data sources other than mobile operator data. The organisation is currently scaling services to support placement of public services in low- and middle-income countries and improve the sampling of household surveys (www.Gridsample.org).

Flowminder is active in a number of countries, including Haiti, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

Flowminder receives grants and sells commercial services within its focus areas. Flowminder’s largest donors and clients include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control, International Organisation of Migration, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), UK FCDO, Swiss FDFA, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The organisation’s work has been featured in media such as New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, CBS, Le Monde and many others.

Flowminder’s financial team is currently composed of a Head of Finance and a Finance Manager, both in the UK.

What we are looking for

We are looking to create a strong board team to support the scaling of our impact through new partnerships with end-user organisations, mobile operators, and funders, as well as to expand the success of our commercial products and increase their value to end-users.

Our first priority addition to the Board is a board member with senior finance expertise (other roles we will also seek to fill in the Board after this initial recruitment are listed on our website).

We seek individuals who have senior finance experience having previously worked as CFOs or in similar positions.

We are especially interested in applications from individuals with the backgrounds below.

1. Individuals with senior finance experience, having worked as CFOs or in similar positions, who can act as treasurer and guide Flowminder’s financial strategies and operations.
2. Individuals with senior experience in development or humanitarian organisations, with good connections to both end-users and donors who can support business development, product and programme design.
3. Individuals with senior experience as CEO or in similar roles in tech-focused companies who can advise on the efficient running of our business units, how to best prioritise in scaling our work and how to improve the success of our existing and future products.
4. Individuals with senior experience at mobile operators, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with a deep understanding of the needs and internal workings of mobile operators who are able to support the development of Flowminder’s business models and partnerships with operators, as well as supporting Flowminder’s managerial development.

Experience, knowledge and skills of value

Below are other types of characteristics which may be very valuable to Flowminder’s board, especially if you have several.

Experience and attributes which are valuable include the following:

Experience within:

• both commercial and non-profit organisations,
• the telecom industry or development finance,
• organisations comparable to Flowminder
• Board work, ideally at a charity or company of a similar size and sector to Flowminder.

Skills:

• Strategic planning skills
• Risk management skills
• Analytical skills
• Management/project management

In addition, we seek the following attributes in all candidates:

• Commitment to the objectives of the Foundation
• Willingness to act as an ambassador for Flowminder
• Willingness to fulfil the duties and standards of conduct required of a board member of a not-for-profit organisation with a focus on improving population wellbeing
• Understanding of equality and diversity issues
• Integrity and being able to share one’s view, even when it is not shared by others on the board
• Ability to operate well as part of a team, nurturing the development and accomplishment of the Board

Compensation

Compensation at a rate of USD 500 per full day worked will be provided for board meetings and for reading the material distributed before each meeting. Board meetings with preparation will typically consume half to a full day of work, depending on the subject matter involved. Other work for the organisation by board members is generally not compensated for.