Business Development Lead (East Africa)

• Help us end avoidable blindness
• Bring your skills and experience to make a positive impact, help us to build new business!
• Full time, Fixed Term Contract for an initial 12 months, based in Nairobi

The Fred Hollows Foundation, an international NGO founded in 1992 has been a driving force in the development and implementation of blindness prevention programs in some of the poorest and most isolated regions in the world. Currently operating in over 25 countries throughout Africa, South Asia, Australasia and South East Asia. The Foundation is working to end avoidable blindness.

About the Position

The Business Development Lead (East Africa) is a critical strategic role accountable for building new business in the East African region with bi-lateral, multi-lateral, foundation and corporate (‘Institutional’) donors. In support of the global institutional fundraising strategy, diversification of The Foundation’s revenue streams and, in the localization/decentralization agenda in the donor markets, this role will be part of the donor facing team responsible for identifying and securing institutional funds in the East African Region. The role will work closely with, and report to, the Head of Development UK, Europe, and Middle East, be supported by the Global ODA Programme Coordinator (based in London) in coordination with the East African Cluster Leads and our USA office (for US government and US foundation donors) to secure resources from institutional donors.

Specific responsibilities include (not limited to)

• Engaging diplomatic and technical leads in the embassies and/or offices of major bi-lateral donors
• Engaging directors and/or technical leads in major foundation donor offices, multi-lateral offices, and development banks in East Africa
• Engaging with directors and/or CSR leads in major regional private sector businesses & their foundations e.g. Safaricom, Barclays Bank, Equity Bank
• Support grant proposal development teams to produce high-quality, well-designed, winning funding proposals to secure and grow the institutional grants portfolio, including responsibility for advising regional & country donor needs, preferences and priorities.
• The scanning for, scoping of and partnering for funding opportunities in East Africa. This includes building a strong network with partners, managing agents (e.g. Palladium, Chemonics etc), bi-lateral donor offices and key contacts with donors to provide early market intelligence, pre-positioning and ensuring The Foundation is part of appropriate grant and contract bid consortiums;
• Working within the Public Affairs team to create a strong organisational profile in the East African region, build credibility and enhance our reputation and position The Foundation to access institutional funds;
• Other areas as directed by management, relevant to the Public Affairs Division and East African Cluster Countries’ Resource Plans**.**

About You!

You will be a people person, able to build working relationships both internally and externally across a wide variety of audiences. You will have strong interpersonal skills, able to influence and engage with external stakeholders. You will be a team player with a collaborative and consultative approach. Further, you will have excellent written communication skills, able to produce clear and articulate written content, as well as verbally communicating compelling propositions to external and internal stakeholders. You will have strong multitasking skills, with an agile approach and strong business acumen. Finally, you will be able to identify and build partnerships with external stakeholder, with a ‘shared value’ approach.

What you need to succeed: To be successful in this role, we are seeking someone with the following experience and skills.

• Proven experience initiating and developing institutional donor & corporate relationships with proven results securing significant financial resources
• Experience cultivating and closing institutional donor contracts, and managing and liaising with donors
• Demonstrated experience in identifying, cultivating and delivering institutional donor and corporate proposals
• Demonstrated stakeholder management experience both internal and external
• Knowledge of institutional donors across the public and private sectors in East Africa
• Existing network of contacts in a range of institutional donor offices

Highly desirable:

• Experience working in the not-for-profit sector, preferably in health, eye-health, economic empowerment, livelihoods and/or education areas;
• Cross cultural literacy – language skills a bonus however understanding of basic social and business norms in an international operating context are desirable.
• Demonstrated understanding of a business operations environment
• Demonstrated understanding of a sales environment
• Exposure working in a global context