Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, January 10 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
JOB OVERVIEW
The Portfolio Associate evaluates possible and probable opportunities for paths to scale and impact for Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) that have entered/are entering the NSSF Hi-Innovator Accelerator program. The Portfolio Associate is expected to identify promising investment opportunities within specific domains, facilitate the pooling of knowledge and partners, and facilitate the co-development of scalable business models that maximize the impact of the Hi-Innovator seed-funding intervention. The role focuses on the startup advisory part of the business. We value in-person interactions with our portfolio of businesses, this might involve physical field visits to the businesses spread out across the country.

The NSSF Hi-innovator is an initiative of NSSF in partnership with Mastercard Foundation and implemented by Outbox that seeks to support small and growing businesses with high potential for growth with access to catalytic funding, technical assistance, mentorship and linkages to markets to help them become more competitive and investment ready.

What does success look like?
At least 2 out of every 10 SGBs entering the Accelerator Program of the NSSF Hi-Innovator have viable paths to scale, characterized by linkages to markets, funding partners, distribution channels, and proper operating systems.

Responsibilities and Duties
• Identify Viable Investment Opportunities: The Portfolio Associate takes a keen interest in the investment domains supported by the entrepreneurship program and brings contextual knowledge and perspective into the investment conversation to determine a narrow set of viable options/models for SGBs to develop pragmatic and scalable business models. This should be informed by exhaustive research on markets to identify trends. This will include getting to understand the businesses’ present situation (product, metrics, cap table, staffing needs, etc.) to identify the gaps and then help them fill them before the fundraising.
• Partner Engagement: The Portfolio Associate engages partners across the domains and keeps them interested in the Hi-Innovator. He/She facilitates engagements with Strategic Partners to co-create possible investment models with the participation of SGBs in the Accelerator Program. These will include potential investors & financial institutions.
• Pipeline Development: The Portfolio Associate develops a healthy and prioritized pipeline of SGBs for follow-on investment from the existing Hi-Innovator portfolio and through active recruitment activities through online channels research, networking events and referrals based on his/her engagement with Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs) and partners in the domain ecosystem. This will include undertaking and supporting the due diligence process, market research and competitive analysis.
• Transaction Facilitator: The Portfolio Associate develops innovative and appropriate financial structures for transaction closing. This will require active participation in the development of investment memos for businesses in the initiative, creating financial models, organising data rooms; use of negotiation skills to overcome impasses and finalize negotiations in contract closure.
• Portfolio reporting: Create reports and recommendations on investment performance and activity based on continuous check-ins done and other avenues of engagement.
• Program Improvement: Coordinate closely with the programme team to develop an accelerator and scale up plan for each cohort, and then own the overall responsibility for execution. Support the selection, coordination and management of mentors, anchor coaches & investors in the initiative. Support logistics of the accelerator calendar that includes scheduling mentors, investor meetups, any demo days, speakers, and partners. Develop relationships with entrepreneurship support organizations in the program network.
• Creating Documentation and Building Systems: The Portfolio Associate will work closely with the accelerator team to document, set up and implement a system for routine engagement with all internal and external stakeholders. This should include a good filing and retrieval system.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND SELECTION CRITERIA
Technical Skills
• At least 3 years experience in investment support/facilitation with a proven track record of sourcing, due diligence, structuring, and closing investments
• Masters in Finance or equivalent qualification is an added advantage.
• Knowledge of relevant industry sector trends and experience in transactions in Uganda (agriculture or agribusiness, light manufacturing, education, health, digital technologies, tourism)
• Research and writing skills, ability to read and to dive deep to find and make sense of data and present the information in a report.
• Strong financial and credit skills; demonstrated ability to structure a variety of financial instruments (debt and equity)
• Experience with spreadsheets, presentation, and documentation software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and cloud-based technologies that include Google Workspace (sheets, docs, slides) and Microsoft 365.

Social and Human Skills
• Business development and client relationship skills/ track record and ability to focus on clients’ needs effectively
• Ability to interact directly and independently with the senior management of potential clients, of financial and technical partners as well as senior government officials
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Ability to mentor and train ESO Partners and Staff
• Highly motivated, independent, and committed to the highest ethical standards
• Genuine commitment to sustainable development goals
• Willingness to travel extensively around Uganda. Travel approximately 60% of the time


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 36

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

Job application procedure

Please email your cover letter and resume to people@outbox.co.ug indicating "Portfolio Associate role” in the subject line. Interviews are conducted on a rolling basis and only successful candidates will be contacted for interviews. Deadline: 24th January,2024



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