Business Development Manager

Job Title: Business Development Manager (BDM)

Reports to: The Africa Regional Director (ARD) and Head of Business Development (HBD)

Based in: Nairobi- Kenya

Expected start date: ASAP

Organisation background

GVEP International (Global Village Energy Partnership) is a UK charity seeking to reduce poverty in Africa through accelerated access to modern energy products and services. To do this we support the development of a broad range of micro and small businesses and project companies in the energy economy, by providing them with high-quality financial, technical and business management support services so that they can growth and deliver access to energy in of grid areas.

To date, GVEP has supported the development and growth of 2,600 small and micro businesses in Africa, delivering energy access to over 7 million people in off grid areas and creating over 5000 jobs. Our ambition is that by 2020 we will have enabled 20 million people to access clean and reliable energy. GVEP’s total headcount is about 100 people, of whom, over 90 are energy and finance experts implementing clean energy access programmes in Africa, with a big emphasis on support & finding capital for off-grid energy projects. GVEP’s largest office is in Kenya, with local offices also in Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, supported by a small UK head office of eight staff in London.

GVEP’s current income is derived from major development agencies including Sida (Sweden), DfID (UK), World Bank, USAID, OFID, Vitol Foundation and the Energia Network.

Purpose of the role:

Under the guidance of the Head of Business Development (HBD), the aim of this role is to identify and secure new projects for GVEP, focusing on conceptualising and developing high quality bespoke proposals consistent with GVEP’s strategy, goals and objectives.

The BDM role will be central in securing income from donors that fund some of our most critical work. The BDM will be expected to support and lead on the identification of new funding opportunities for GVEP, ensure GVEP is well-positioned to bid, and play an important role in the submission of Expressions of Interest and Proposals.

The post holder will have to work with other teams across the organisations when developing proposals, such as the Communication team, Programme Management team, Country Managers and The Advisory team, as well as with GVEP’s potential bidding partners and implementing project partners. This is to ensure we are exploiting synergies within other functions in the organisation and ensure we are presenting the highest priority and most strategic work to our donors.

The BDM will have a double reporting line to both the HBD for technical support and guidance and to the ARD for coordination with the regional and country teams.

Key responsibilities

· To support organizational efforts to identify and pursue new prospective funding from a variety of donor targets while building and developing relationships with donors.

· Support and/or lead when required on the development and writing of convincing technical funding proposals with a lucid and compelling style of writing, illustrating technical rigor with donor friendly language and demonstrating a thorough understanding of objectives and requirements of the tenders/donors.

· Support and actively participate in the execution of overall BD and proposal development lifecycle which include: intelligence gathering/research/landscape analysis/gap and competitive analysis, mapping, relationship building, teaming agreements, gathering of administrative documentations, proposal writing, budget development and submission

• Write, proofread and finalize support documents for proposals including budgets, logframes, GANNT charts etc.
• Provide detailed and strategic analysis of Request for Proposal solicitations, instructions and other proposal-related information and ensure the proposal fit with donor guidelines and international standards.

· Work under the leadership of the HBD to support the development and execution a comprehensive BD strategy for the organization.

· Put a particular focus in enhancing BD in East Africa to maintain and expand our operation in the region by building a pipeline of funding opportunities and donor relationship.

· Keep the organization advised with maximum forewarning of upcoming calls for proposals from relevant donor funding programmes.

· Keep fully abreast of Trends, news & developments from outside GVEP in the renewable energy/energy poverty field, other initiatives by private companies and other NGOs so that BD efforts can be better streamlined and have more likelihood of success;

· Support and lead when required the development of strategic partnership or consortia for joint bids.

· Develop and create the necessary tools and infrastructure to support proposal and business development (proposal plan, proposal develop process, organization history, qualifications, executive summary sections and other relevant information and energy access data base)

· Support other staffs who currently work on resource mobilization in addition to their other responsibilities (such as country managers) in generating business for the organization by providing them the required support to develop winning bids and write high quality proposals.

· Support in maintaining our capacity to manage information about the BD process with regards to our: the status of current live pipeline of proposals/funding opportunities and a track record of successful and unsuccessful bids and existing and past donors relationship in order to support reporting status of pipeline to board & Senior Management Team, at global & country levels

· Develop presentations for external stakeholders and donors as required;

• Represent the organization in appropriate professional and prospective donor networking opportunities with the objective of generating new funding opportunities.
• Support and coordinate when required the proposal hand-over process from the proposal development team to the project implementation team,

Required qualifications:

• Graduate or Postgraduate in International Development studies/ Energy and Environment, Climate Change studies or other relevant subject
• Experience in Energy / climate change proposal development in an international development context, for bilateral, multilateral donors and/or foundations including clients such as DFID, EU, World Bank and USAID; especially on large projects (>£500k)
• Proven experience in proposals writing (including log frames) with track record of developing proposals that attract significant funding from major donors
• Good understanding of international development programmes including terminology and language. Effective at liaising with multiple stakeholders, meeting deadlines and budgeting.
• Excellent communication, writing and research skills
• Knowledge of donors and networks in the energy sector in particular at national and regional (Africa) level.
• Experience in summarising synthesising outcomes of energy projects/research/studies in a very user friendly language. Skilled at presenting complex project information in a clear and engaging way.
• Experience in preparing budgets for donor proposals particularly understanding of budgeting and financial requirements and reporting processes; and good skills in spreadsheet/budget preparation.
• High level of computer literacy (primarily in Microsoft Office packages).
• Excellent planning and time management skills and ability to meet deadlines
• Ability to work calmly under pressure to deliver as part of a team
• A high level of attention to detail and accuracy in working with numbers; strong analytical ability, able to evaluate and to appraise critically quantitative and qualitative information.
• Experience in formatting large documents in MS Word.
• Approachable, flexible, creative and with willingness to accommodate other people’s ideas
• Fluency in spoken and excellent written English is a must. Fluency in in French is desired.
• Ability to travel in country, regionally and internationally sometimes on short notice

· Empathy with GVEP’s mission, and values, with a high level of corporate commitment, demonstrated by an ability to take decisions and to act in the best interests of GVEP

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply please send your CV plus a cover letter (in English) outlining how your knowledge, skills and experience match the job specification to recruitment@gvepinternational.org to reach us by latest 20thApril 2015.