The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Overview of the Business Acceleration for Youth Project

BA4Y project is a multi-year innovative project funded by USAID Malawi and led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Framed around a resilience-led sustainability strategy, the project aims to leverage the power of the private sector to reduce the need for long-term humanitarian assistance. Its objective is to accelerate and invest in youth owned or youth-led enterprises or those entities that employ a significant number of youth to generate greater access to financing, diversified incomes, job creation, gender equality and women’s empowerment, a more inclusive private sector ecosystem, and improved resilience of communities in targeted vulnerable districts. The project has developed an investable pipeline of businesses, de-risked and mobilized capital, and built confidence in and leveraged the private sector to promote economic and social impact. The activities foster’s Malawi’s self-reliance, laying the much-needed foundation for a long-term approach of establishing an inclusive and diversified private sector ecosystem.

About the position

The Alliance Bioversity CIAT (ABC) is seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates for the position of Business Incubation and Acceleration Intern. The BIA Intern will be expected to actively support the projects partners and sub-grantees working in the area of business incubation and entrepreneurship. This position reports to the Business Incubation and Acceleration Officer.

Key duties & responsibilities

• Directly support BA4Y’s, implementing partners and or sub – grantees in the rollout of incubation and acceleration services to targeted enterprises.
• Contribute to the review and development of partner/ sub-grantee work plans to ensure appropriateness in terms of timelines and resource allocation.
• Monitor partner/ sub-grantee performance in terms of timeliness, value for money and quality of service delivery, providing guidance and mentorship as appropriate.
• Participate in periodic ground truthing, with project participants and beneficiaries to enable triangulation with partner and or sub-grantee progress reports and measure ‘client,’ satisfaction.
• Support collection of data relevant to project specific indicators.
• With colleagues support the project’s gender inclusion strategy for the project.
• Provide technical support to efforts targeting improved access to affordable finance for M/SMEs.
• Participate in the preparation of periodic reports to meet management and donor reporting requirements.
• Support the project’s communication strategy by providing information and ideas for the development of project communication materials, along with identification of success stories.
• Contribute to the implementation of periodic and annual monitoring surveys to assess project outcomes.
• Contribute to the identification, development and sharing of lessons learned for business incubation and acceleration activities.
• Any other duties as assigned by the Chief of Party and or business Incubation and Acceleration Officer.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent in economics, accountancy, marketing, business administration, or related fields.
• At least two years of progressive experience in business Incubation and Acceleration service delivery.
• Strong English writing and verbal communication skills.
• Familiarity with Malawi’s private sector landscape.
• Familiarity with Malawi’s finance sector in regard to M/SMEs.
• Excellent working knowledge of software such as word processing, presentation software and web-based meeting and conferencing applications.
• Demonstrated ability to handle multiple tasks and produce completed products on time.
• Self-motivated and excellent interpersonal and team skills and the ability to work with colleagues from diverse cultures.

Terms of employment

This is a nationally recruited position based in Chitedze (15km along the Muchinji road), Lilongwe, Malawi. The internship will be for a six months period, and is renewable for up to a further six months depending on performance and availability of resources

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number REF: Business Incubation and Acceleration Intern as the position applied for. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: 30^th October 2024

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:

                         http://alliancebioversityciat.org