FOOD ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS (FES) SEEKS CONSULTING EXPERTS WITH PRIVATE SECTOR EXPERIENCE IN AGRIBUSINESS, SUPPLY AND COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS, AND FOOD SAFETY
OVERVIEW
Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) is on a mission to energize the global food system to better balance global needs and profit. We leverage the powers of business, entrepreneurship, and innovation as key drivers in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition. We work in partnership with businesses and organizations to provide safe, nutritious, and affordable foods through supply chains that are commercially viable and environmentally sustainable. FES offers expertise in partnership development, market analysis, project design and management, training, and specialized technical assistance to strengthen capacities of - and linkages among - key actors within food systems.
About Business Drivers for Food Safety (BD4FS)
Inadequate food safety undermines the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people across the globe each year. Improper food handling practices and poor infrastructure across supply chains increase health risks to consumers, in addition to being root-causes of pre-consumer food loss in the overall food system. BD4FS is partnering with local agri-food actors – growing food businesses (GFBs) – to co-design and implement incentive-based strategies, thereby strengthening their capacities and enabling them to be agents of positive change in the effort to improve food safety, reduce malnutrition, mitigate pre-consumer food loss, and shrink overall hunger. By focusing on the role of GFBs in improving food safety, the FES team contributes to USAID’s knowledge base, strategies, and methodologies for business-level assistance in food systems. The BD4FS mission is to provide technical assistance and capacity building, develop best-practices and lessons learned, and generate success for entrepreneurs working to improve food safety.
PURPOSE
Our approach to addressing these challenges begins with an assessment of factors that impede GFB adoption of food safety practices and technologies, what FES calls the Food Safety Situational Analysis (FSSA). These factors can include the lack of supporting infrastructure, unreliable supply chain logistics, uncertain regulatory and enforcement framework, poor access to food testing services, and lack of information, among others. Along with stakeholders we utilize the results of the FSSA to design capacity building strategies and incentives for accelerating the adoption among GFBs of food safety practices and technologies. We consult and collaborate with supply chain actors to design workable solutions that may include training and technical support to promote sustained technology and practice adoption.
EXPERTISE BEING SOUGHT
For our work in Ethiopia, FES will be targeting perishable, nutrient-dense foods such as fruits and vegetables, and animal source foods. At this time, we are inviting experts in Ethiopia to submit their qualifications for consideration to work on a consulting basis – with potential for a permanent position, based on performance – to support the FSSA or other technical assignments that may arise on the project, which is currently scheduled to run through mid-2024.
Expertise we are seeking includes:
Business management experts with private sector experience working in food systems development from farm to consumer
Private sector value chain experts with experience in perishable foods that are important to consumer diets in Ethiopia
Food science and nutrition experts
Financial services specialists with knowledge of the financial landscape serving the food and agriculture sector in Ethiopia
Food safety experts on Ethiopia’s food safety policy and regulatory framework, standards, and certification services
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning specialists
Program Administration/Project Management/Finance Specialists
Job Requirement
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in agribusiness management, business finance, agribusiness, agro-processing, food technology, food science, agricultural economics, agriculture, business, or a related subject area
Minimum 10 years’ business and relevant work experience
Ability to communicate clearly in English in both verbal and written form
Computer use proficiency and internet connectivity