Program / Department
Summary: Mercy Corps has been operational in Kenya
since 2007 and currently implements programs in Rift Valley, Central and Wajir
districts with funding from USAID, Gates Foundation, ICDF and private Horn of
Africa drought response funds.
Mercy Corps’ efforts are
focused on supporting youth so they have a voice and opportunities for growth.
We are also helping drought affected communities recover and be more resilient.
Social Venture Customer Development Internship - Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: The Social Venture Team has three phases (assess, prove and scale) for ideas that receive grant funding from the Social Venture Fund and can become a sustainable social business.
Each phase must meet
certain criteria to be eligible for the next phase with the ultimate aim of
spinning the business off on its own as a successful social business.
The team is in the early
stages of the assess phase testing a youth employment social enterprise of an
online and mobile marketplace for short term and repetitive jobs.
The aim of this marketplace
is expand the networks of youth to allow youth to become more productive and
hire additional staff to meet growing needs as well as stimulate job creation
for new services to capture latent demand by the growing lower to middle
class.
This business functions
both via mobile and web, leveraging SMS and mobile payments to link youth to
individual employers for specific jobs followed up by individual reviews.
You will be a part of a
cross-functional team working on new products development, in a startup-like
environment, following Lean Startup methodology.
You’ll bridge technical and
business worlds as you participate in the design of new products using rapid,
customer-focused iterations. You will also take part in brainstorming,
evaluation and development of ideas gathered through internal company
innovation pipeline.
The intern(s) will support and participate in the work of the social business.
Areas of focus may
include:
1. Supporting program in
recruiting customers and validating profiles.
2. Supporting field tests
and interviews documenting key learnings and summaries.
3. Supporting business team
in developing business models and measuring key metrics.
Learning Objectives:
During the internship you
will have a chance to get familiarized with following concepts
- Lean Startup
- Customer
Development
- Business
model design and prototyping using business model canvas.
- Idea
brainstorming,
- Idea
evaluation
- Marketing
research
Deliverables:
The Intern will support the
team through the following activities:
1. Support the design of
monitoring and database indicators, forms, and tools of data collection
instruments.
2. Work with team to
organize, summarize and utilize data and data findings.
3. Assist in preparation,
participate and coordinate pilot development, business product development, and
trainings.
4. Supporting program team
in incorporating social media into business.
Ideal candidate should possess the following qualifications:
- Last year
students with strong interest in entrepreneurship and new emerging
technologies.
- Excellent
organizational and analytical skills with strong technical abilities
- Excellent
written and oral communication skills
The
following skills will be considered as advantage:
- Programming
- Experience
with Agile Software Development
- Experience
developing Internet products and technologies
- Experience
with Google analytics or similar analytics tool
- Online and
social marketing
Mercy
Corps interns and volunteers represent the agency both during and outside of
work hours and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and
respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all
times and in all in-country venues.
Social Venture Junior Consultant - Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: The
Social Venture Team has three phases (assess, prove and scale) for ideas that
receive grant funding from the Social Venture Fund and can become a sustainable
social business.
Each phase must meet certain
criteria to be eligible for the next phase with the ultimate aim of spinning
the business off on its own as a successful social business.
The team is in the early stages of the assess phase
testing a youth employment social enterprise of an online and mobile
marketplace for short term and repetitive jobs.
The aim of this marketplace is expand the networks
of youth to allow youth to become more productive and hire additional staff to
meet growing needs as well as stimulate job creation for new services to
capture latent demand by the growing lower to middle class.
This business functions both via mobile and web,
leveraging SMS and mobile payments to link youth to individual employers for
specific jobs followed up by individual reviews.
Purpose / Project Description: Working
with the Social Venture Consultant, an entrepreneurial minded consultant is
needed to help support the assess phase of this business concept.
This consultant will help coordinate field tests,
collect and organize information, design and build tools and forms to manage
dashboards and data collected.
Work will include validating marketplace clients,
interviewing and collecting feedback from users, developing presentations and
tracking key metrics.
Consultant Objectives: The aim of this 3 month consultancy is to validate the business model and refine as needed to move into successive phases.
The consultant shall:
- Create tools and processes to collect and manage client data from
the various tests keeping data up to date and organized.
- Develop a dashboard for key metrics such as revenues, customer
loyalty, retention, referrals, customer acquisition costs, productivity,
quantitative and qualitative customer feedback
- Create presentation material for weekly and monthly reviews
- Respond to enquiries from phone and email within 24 hours.
Specific capacities of the consultant
include:
- Entrepreneurial experience, with either a business or social
enterprise
- Ability to get things done with minimal supervision
- Customer service skills
- Experience creating web forms and managing data collection
- Experience with Access, Excel and Power Mockups
- Multi-task oriented, strong organizational skills
- Social media experience a plus
- Commitment and passion for social change
- Familiarity with mobile or web marketplace a plus
- Fluent in English and Kiswahili
Consultant Activities:
The Consultant will:
- Work with the Social Venture Consultant coordinating and tracking
by:
- building and updating dashboards for key success criteria and
metrics
- building tools to track and manage data from market research, proof
of concept and limited pilots
- validating information from clients and updating profiles
- Collaborating on weekly and month updates
- Develop marketing material as needed
- Manage data and provide customer service support through multiple
channels
- Assist on conducting and monitoring pilots as needed
Consultant Deliverables:
Timeframe / Schedule:
The Consultant will report to: Social
Ventures Lead Consultant
The Consultant will work closely
with: Other Social Venture team members
Social Venture Consultant -
Nairobi
Program / Department Summary: The
Social Venture Team has three phases (assess, prove and scale) for ideas that
receive grant funding from the Social Venture Fund and can become a sustainable
social business.
Each phase must meet certain criteria to be
eligible for the next phase with the ultimate aim of spinning the business off
on its own as a successful social business.
The team is in the early stages of
the assess phase testing a youth employment social enterprise of an online and
mobile marketplace for short term and repetitive jobs.
The aim of this marketplace is expand the networks
of youth to allow youth to become more productive and hire additional staff to
meet growing needs as well as stimulate job creation for new services to
capture latent demand by the growing lower to middle class.
This business functions both via mobile and web,
leveraging SMS and mobile payments to link youth to individual employers for
specific jobs followed up by individual reviews.
General Position Summary: An
experienced social entrepreneur is needed to lead the assess phase with a
potential opportunity to extend to later phases pending successive funding
gate.
This consultant will have multiple roles as an
evangelist, strategist, financial modeler, integrator, scaling partner and
implementer with a goal of making this social business succeed.
In the assess phase, it is proving the viability of
the business model optimizing value creation and in the prove phase gaining
traction with numbers while continuously refining and adapting the model based
on feedback to show business can scale.
Work will include market research, conducting
mini-pilots, leading focus groups, developing the business model, refining the
model as needed.
Pending the results of the effort and contingent
upon funding, the work could continue through each successive stage to a full
pilot reaching at least 10,000 users to scaling beyond.
Consultant Objectives:
The aim of this 3 month consultancy is to validate
the business model and refine as needed to move into successive phases.
The consultant shall:
- Lead the Assess phase work to test business model through multiple activities
from simulations to small pilots to test key hypotheses
- Establish and monitor key metrics such as revenues, customer
loyalty, retention, referrals, customer acquisition costs, productivity,
quantitative and qualitative customer feedback
- Present results of Assess phase for approval for additional funding
- Contingent on funding and quality of results, lead work in Prove
and Scaling phases
Specific capacities of the consultant
include:
- Entrepreneurial experience, with either a business or social enterprise
- Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to get things done
- Financial modeling and keen analytical skills
- Ability to work collaboratively, build trust and facilitate change
in organizations
- Sales and promotion
- Proven leadership experience with management and operations, and a
successful record of implementation (startup experience a plus)
- Designing field tests and iteration using lean methodologies
- Understanding of industry and competitive trends
- Team management skills
- Commitment and passion for social change
- Familiarity with mobile or web marketplace a plus
Consultant Activities:
The Consultant will:
- Focus in the assess phase is to set achievable proof of concepts to
test key variables including:
- proving out the financial mechanics of the business model
- defining and testing 3-5 key success criteria identified including
willingness to pay and ability to achieve quality results
- Defining and executing a plan to test via market research, proof of
concept and limited pilots
- Determining drivers and metrics to prove hypotheses
- Brief Social Venture team on a weekly basis progress, risks, and
issues
- Build a business plan and present to team to secure grant funding
for the Prove Phase
Consultant Deliverables:
The Consultant will report to: Social Ventures Architect
The Consultant will work closely with: Other Social Venture team members
Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit on or before August 5, 2014 a cover letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) listing three professional references to hrkenya@ke.mercycorps.org
Applicants must clearly indicate on the email subject the job title they are applying for eg “Social Venture Consultant”.
Applications without the right subject heading will
automatically be disqualified.
Please do not attach any certificates.
Only qualified short-listed candidates will be
contacted.
NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
 - Mercy Corps){kind=link}