Senior Manager, CASA Kenya Program Job in Nairobi Recruiting by TechnoServe

About TechnoServe

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off. 

Programme and CASA background

The Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusinesses (CASA) Technical Assistance Facility Programme is an £8M FCDO funded programme that forms part of FCDO’s Inclusive Green Growth Centre of Expertise which aims to support a climate resilient and inclusive global agriculture sector (see additional context in the Appendix). Since 2021, CASA TAF has also been providing technical support to FCDO missions based around the world.

In late 2023, TechnoServe was asked to conduct a study by FCDO Kenya to investigate the potential for a specific programme aligned with the CASA-TAF methodology but reaching a larger number of businesses and using this as a leverage to change the way business is done in Kenya at a broader scale. The team was able to find significant interest and availability of businesses that would fit such a scope. As a result, TechnoServe has submitted a proposal for a new agribusiness support programme in Kenya.

Programme Overview

TechnoServe anticipates a 2-year programme in Kenya starting April 2024 funded by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in to support agribusinesses with developing new inclusive, climate-smart business models. The ultimate objective is to reduce poverty and increase climate resilience of smallholder farmers. TechnoServe has already conducted a study to “pre-select” a short-list of agribusinesses, which include aggregators, inputs and service providers operating across many different value chains and geographies.These businesses have high potential for (a) scale (b) increased investments and (c) increased impact on smallholder farmer incomes and climate resilience.

The programme will divide agribusiness support in two ways: (1) “Post-investment” support for agribusinesses that have already been backed by debt or equity from an impact investment fund; and (2) “Pre-investment” support for agribusinesses that could benefit from future impact investment, but have not secured financing yet. The technical assistance and support is tailored accordingly. Post-investment agribusinesses will receive support in developing inclusive business plans (IBPs) to identify challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in their supply chains to improve climate adaptation and livelihoods under a model of sustainable business support. Following the IBPs, the programme will provide direct project management and specific technical support in implementing such models. Pre-investment agribusinesses will receive support in packaging and marketing their business and growth plans to investors, with financial and impact business case development. They will also benefit from support on “core” business innovations (optimizing teams, processes and operations, feasibility testing and certification, route-to-market expansion etc).

The programme will also have a strong learning and influencing agenda. For pre-investment businesses, the programme will work closely with a select 3-5 impact investors to help understand their challenges and build their pipeline of investible agribusinesses. Across the broader portfolio, the programme will develop and package learnings on best practices for inclusive, climate-resilient business models and share nationally and even internationally. It may also choose to support agribusinesses on select influencing agenda items with national-level stakeholders including the Government of Kenya. Lastly, the programme will promote direct sharing of experiences between the partner agribusinesses in its portfolio.

Job Summary

TechnoServe is seeking a Senior Manager that will oversee the delivery and quality execution of technical assistance projects to agribusinesses, support to impact investors to expand their pipelines and a learning and influencing agenda that promotes inclusive, climate-resilient business models in Kenya. The Senior Manager is responsible for the management of a broad range of stakeholders, including FCDO Kenya.

This position will be accountable for overall finance and operations management of the anticipated programme activities implemented in Kenya. The Senior Manager will ensure efficient and effective implementation of programme components, compliance with all donor and local legal requirements as well as TechnoServe policies and regulations. The position will be supported by a central resource (part-time) from the CASA Technical Assistance Facility Programme as well as the TechnoServe Kenya Country Director and country platform resources (HR, Finance, Operations).

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

Programme management:

Stakeholder management of agribusiness partners:

Management of technical assistance providers and projects:

Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and influence of other stakeholders:

Basic Qualifications:

Travel: This position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya and requires local travel only (20%)

Preferred Qualifications:

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Supervisory Responsibilities include: Inclusive Business Managers, Learning Manager and Technical Analyst.

This position is contingent on donor funding.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

Appendix

CASA TAF description

TechnoServe was competitively selected by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to lead part of a five-year programme – Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusinesses Technical Assistance Facility (CASA TAF). The CASA Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) Programme is an £8M funded programme and forms part of FCDO’s Inclusive Green Growth Centre of Expertise (COE) which aims to support a climate resilient and inclusive global agriculture sector through technical assistance to a variety of stakeholders including impact investors, agribusinesses and FCDO country missions. Technical assistance ultimately aims to change how investors, donors, and governments view and invest in agribusinesses that build smallholder resilient supply chains.

CASA TAF operates across all FCDO priority countries across Africa and Asia. It is working with seven investor partners, and to date has supported 27 agri-business investees of these partners to design and implement new business models to improve the resilience of farmers. By 2025, the programme will have supported the increased resilience and food security of ~90,000 smallholders and demonstrated the impact of these models to catalyse additional investment into agriculture.