Vacancy Announcement
ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
Position: Independent Contractor – EAAP Project Advisor
Term of Employment: 3 months, with possible extension
Duty Station(s): Addis Ababa
Required Number: One
Salary & Benefits: Competitive
Application Deadline: Feb 3, 2018
BACKGROUND:
The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) was established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development. The Agency does this through problem-solving, providing implementation support, and capacity building of key stakeholders involved in implementation of interventions that address the systemic bottlenecks. The Agency reports to the Transformation Council chaired by the Prime Minister and whose co-chair is the Minister of Agriculture.
Agriculture oriented enterprises essential to make value chains competitive are largely missing, in particular across the downstream end of the value chain In Ethiopia. A number of challenges have contributed to the absence of sufficient number of agriculture enterprises, chief among them is an under-developed business ecosystem “building blocks” such as access to appropriate and timely financial services, management and sector expertise, support businesses, and under-developed downstream processing/manufacturing capabilities. There is thus a need for targeted support to spur the growth of agriculture oriented enterprises that can address this gap.
In many other countries, well-designed and well-financed Agribusiness Accelerators have shown the ability to fill such gaps through comprehensive business development services and funding for start-ups and growth agro-enterprises. The Ethiopian Agribusiness Acceleration Platform (EAAP) project of the ATA will test and validate the accelerator concept for Ethiopia. The EAAP, in its initial years, will have both value chain focus as well as product and service offerings to demonstrate its impact. It will anchor its activities around identification and operational capacity building of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for investment readiness and scale up, and provision of matching seed grants to the most promising SMEs. The value chain focus for testing the accelerator model will be on Honey and beeswax given its agro-ecological strengths, strong existing demand sinks, high degree of investment attractiveness, strong government support, and other parallel investments that create opportunities for significant leverage.
The EAAP aims to support the transformation of businesses in the honey and beeswax space, and by extension the ecosystem within which they operate, through facilitating access to four Core Services: Finance, Markets, Expertise and Talent across three program tracks: Acceleration, Incubation and Ecosystem. The Incubation track aims to assist early-stage processors in the honey and beeswax industry. These companies are typically smaller, informal businesses, but with a strong track record of sales. The EAAP aims to professionalize incubatees by helping them grow their business via access to grants, management talent, and technical expertise.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The EAAP project is in the process of selecting businesses for its Incubation track and building out the 12-month service delivery model for participating businesses. Additionally, the EAAP project as a whole is currently in a “proof of concept” phase, piloting and testing its model. As such, the project believes that a Project Advisor with a deep understanding of how to structure, run and scale an incubator/accelerator, and who can suggest improvements to the EAAP’s model (particularly in regards to the Incubation track) will be of immense value to the EAAP and its participating businesses.
Thus the EAAP project is looking for an individual with significant experience in entrepreneurship, start-ups and business incubator/accelerators. The Project Advisor in close consultation with the EAAP project team is expected to provide guidance and support in problem solving on a range of areas that include, but are not limited to, selecting businesses for the Incubation track, designing and executing Incubation track service delivery model, and refining and executing the strategy and targets of the overall EAAP project.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES
EAAP Incubation Track
EAAP Wide
DELIVERABLES
EAAP Incubation track
A. Evaluation of EAAP Incubation track’s model, specifically on the track’s value proposition, strategy and structure
B. Evaluation of Incubation track selection process and pre-screening and due diligence criteria
C. (In consultation with other stakeholders) final selection of 5-8 companies for Incubation
D. Evaluation of Incubation track service delivery model, including input regarding content and sequencing of services, and frequency and modality of EAAP/service provider engagement with incubatees
E. Written report on strengths/weaknesses of recommended service providers, and if necessary and possible, list of other service providers to consider
F. Updated set of key performance indicators and targets for the Incubation track
G. Evaluation of EAAP/service provider efficacy in delivering services, frequency TBD but likely quarterly
H. Written progress updates on the performance and engagement of the ~1-3 incubatees the Advisor will be engaging with, frequency TBD but likely quarterly
EAAP Wide
I. Evaluation of EAAP’s strategies – set-up, growth strategy and marketing strategy – shape and socioeconomic impact
J. Updated set of key performance indicators and targets for the EAAP project as a whole
K. Marketing and promotion strategy for the platform as a whole