Business Development Manager - ILCU Foundation

Business Development Manager - ILCU Foundation

ILCUF Business Development Manager

Job Title: Business Development Manager

Length of contract:2 years

Location:Dublin, Ireland with significant (up to 25%) international travel

Reporting to:General Manager

Starting:Immediately

Background to the organisation:

ILCUF’s mission is to alleviate poverty in developing countries by supporting credit unions, their representative bodies and other cooperative type organisations as a means for socio-economic development through the provision of financial and technical assistance. Over the last thirty years, ILCUF has worked to strengthen the role of credit unions and savings and credit cooperatives in developing countries by sharing the success of the Irish credit union movement and the experience of international partners. The specialist focus of ILCUF is long-term technical assistance and training, to improve the quality and efficiency of nascent credit union movements in programme countries. ILCUF uses its experience and expertise to provide contextually appropriate transfer of skills and expertise to our partners, helping them to develop sustainable structures, procedures and practices to alleviate poverty. The characteristics of ILCUF support include:

Delivery of technical support and training on a broad range of financial cooperative issues

Capacity building financial cooperative movements, including apex organisations

Maximising aid effectiveness through knowledge management, exchange programmes and the development of local capabilities to deliver technical expertise

Maintaining a poverty focus through our programme/partner selection process.

Over the last three decades, the Foundation has been heavily engaged in assisting its local partner social credit movements in Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. ILCUF also provides focused strategic support to programmes in Albania and Russia. ILCUF has a strong and long track record of working with a number of international institutional funders including, IFAD, FAO, ILO, Irish Aid and the EU.

Nature of the role:

ILCUF works in an environment that is undergoing structural change driven by a range of factors, including:

The continually evolving and maturing international development space, our overarching sector

Changing investment priorities and mechanisms adopted by traditional funders

Increasing importance of working collaboratively with new partners, often in different sectors and including the private sector if appropriate

The increasingly important role of technology within the financial services space

Over the next 5 years we expect that these dynamics will have a significant and permanent impact on our work at a strategic level, with possible evolution of the content of our work, the way in which we work and how we are funded.

We are looking for an exceptional candidate withsenior level experience of business development within the international development spaceto join our team to spearhead our work in determining how we should respond strategically and sustainably to these changes.

With a focus on our key countries of work, the overarching role will focus on exploring, developing and testing new ways of working with our existing and new operational and financial partners. The business development manager will use their business-minded acumen to identify opportunities, establish effective partnerships, design and test innovative working models.

This role will be a highly externally-facing role and, working with the General Manager, the emphasis will be on providing credible and compelling external representation for ILCUF with a view to establishing strong, entrepreneurial partner and donor relationships.

The business development manager’s work will be integrated into our ongoing in-country work wherever appropriate, and so in addition to the General Manager the Business Development Manager will be expected to work closely with ILCUF’s technical staff.

Key responsibilities (estimated percentage of overall time):

i) Relationship building (15%):

Work with ILCUF leadership and technical staff to identify key existing in-country partners and establish working relationships with the appropriate individuals to facilitate business case development (see below).

Identify, approach and build relationships with new partners who bring complementary skills and expertise to develop and pursue potential pilot activities. Partners may include other NGOs, social enterprises, government agencies and private sector companies.

Work with existing and new financial partners to secure commitment to supporting pilot activities.

Manage all partner relationships that are relevant to developing business cases and / or implementing pilot activities.

ii) Proposals and business case development (25%):

Undertake a research-based assessment of potential options for exploring and testing new working and financing models for ILCUF in selected key countries

Develop business cases, including financial budgeting and projections, for new pilot activities. These business cases will be developed in conjunction with the necessary existing and/or new partners

Present business cases to ILCUF leadership and technical staff to refine approach, secure buy-in and agree on integration approach

iii) Testing and piloting (50%):

Establish clear, measurable definitions of success for the pilot activities.

Manage pilot activities, in conjunction with technical staff and partners

Undertake an assessment of the pilot activities.

Continually monitor the pilot activities to consider ways in which they can be improved and to identify opportunities for scaling up in the future if and when appropriate.

iv) Strategic (10%):

Work with the General Manager and ILCUF staff to understand and articulate the conclusions that can be drawn from the pilot activities and their implications for ILCUF’s next strategic planning cycle, starting end of 2019.

Participation in the project team responsible for the development of ILCUF’s next 5-year strategy

Person Specification:

i) Qualifications and experience:

Experience in international development particularly in the financial services / financial inclusion space, and working at a senior management level.

A track record of helping organisations to respond to strategic opportunities and challenges through innovative ways of working and new income channels.

Significant experience in the key business development activities including strategy, partnerships’ development and deal making, contract negotiation and management, project design, proposal writing, budget development, managing donor and other partner (e.g. NGOs) relationships and project reporting

Extensive experience of networking at the senior levels of governments, foundations, industry or academia and proven ability to negotiate effectively with donors and partners

Experience of increasing organisational profile

Excellent communication skills, including strong technical/scientific writing skills

Educated to degree level

Knowledge of donor compliance, procurement and grant management, especially EU, IFAD & World Bank and other major bilateral, multilateral donors or foundations

Proven effectiveness in building capacity and working in cross-cultural settings

Proven ability to work productively and accurately under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment

Strong experience of managing, motivating and leading people

ii) Work-based skills:

Effective negotiator with proven ability to manage relationships and deliver results

Articulate writer with proven ability to produce successful project proposals

Established leadership skills and the ability to lead, co-ordinate and work with teams, as well as to work independently and take initiative

Proficiency with financial data, including budgeting, with close attention to detail

Proven ability to work collaboratively and effectively with a wide variety of partners and donors, build strong working relationships and foster open communications

Strong interpersonal and professional communication skills.

Solid analytical skills and ability to filter and distil critical information

Practical organisational skills with the ability to manage a fluctuating workload, prioritise and re-prioritise when necessary and meet tight deadlines

Advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

iii) Additional desirable expertise

Familiarity with the Credit Union movement - its principles, structures and procedures

Experience working in the digital financial sector

Previous business development role based in a developing country