Manager, Enterprise Development

Role Overview

This position leads the design and delivery of enterprise creation and acceleration initiatives within FSD Africa’s Employment and Social Finance (ESF) team, with a primary focus on the Agri-Tech Venture Launcher under the AFIYA programme. You will manage the full lifecycle of venture support projects, from sourcing and selecting early-stage companies to providing structured technical assistance and helping them graduate to more mature programmes. Your work directly strengthens climate-resilient agribusiness across multiple African markets, supporting financial inclusion and sustainable job creation.

Key Responsibilities

• Shape the strategic direction of venture development efforts, translating high-level objectives into multi-country workplans, budgets, and implementation frameworks that align with ESF priorities.
• Manage the end-to-end delivery of a portfolio of incubation and acceleration projects, including the Agri-Tech Venture Launcher, ensuring milestones are met and risks are proactively addressed.
• Design and operate venture sourcing and selection mechanisms, including open calls, targeted outreach, and clear onboarding processes that bring high-potential agri-tech startups into the portfolio.
• Oversee technical assistance delivery to portfolio ventures, maintaining structured support plans and coordinating expert consultants to ensure quality and impact.
• Develop and implement referral and graduation pathways so that ventures can transition into programmes for more mature companies, while capturing feedback to improve future venture design.
• Partner with the Development Impact team to embed monitoring, evaluation, and learning into all initiatives, ensuring data collection and reporting consistently track poverty reduction, gender equality, and climate resilience outcomes.
• Build and manage relationships with ventures, implementing partners, public and private ecosystem actors, and internal teams, while handling consultant performance and alignment on safeguarding and donor requirements.
• Lead advocacy and communications for venture building programmes, representing FSD Africa at relevant forums and contributing to ecosystem-level knowledge sharing and influence.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A Master’s degree with at least six years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor’s degree with at least eight years of relevant experience; postgraduate qualifications in a relevant field are strongly preferred.
• At least six years of hands-on experience in venture building, startup acceleration, or agribusiness innovation programmes in emerging markets, particularly in Africa.
• Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise development initiatives, ideally spanning agri-tech, climate resilience, or financial inclusion; familiarity with early-stage finance and innovation ecosystems is essential.
• Demonstrated expertise in project cycle management, including adaptive planning, result-based management, and a track record of steering multi-country programmes or project portfolios to successful completion.
• Strong financial acumen, with the ability to manage budgets, forecasts, expenditure tracking, and donor compliance across a complex portfolio.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, capable of aligning diverse partners and managing consultants or technical delivery teams to produce high-quality outcomes.
• Strong digital literacy, including comfort with data management systems, documentation platforms, and performance tracking tools.
• Exceptional written and spoken English; working knowledge of French, Portuguese, or other African languages is desirable, as is prior experience with FCDO-funded programmes or multi-cultural environments.