Business Incubation and Commercialization Coordinator - Lilongwe, Malawi
Land O'Lakes Venture37
Malawi
Posted on Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Project Description:
Land O’Lakes Venture37 (V37), the University of Minnesota (UMN), Stellenbosch University (SU), and Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) have forged an innovative partnership to establish the Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT) as the central hub to catalyze Malawi’s agricultural growth. CAT is the flagship project of the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI) funded by the Foundation for a Smoke Free World (FSFW). By leveraging our core partners’ scientific, technological and agribusiness expertise and deep regional connections, the CAT will forge integrated research-to-impact pathways that reduce productivity gaps between men and women and foster diversified, resilient and healthy smallholder households, particularly those transitioning from tobacco farming to alternative livelihoods. In essence the CAT project objective is to increase the prosperity of Malawian smallholder farmers in a world with a declining tobacco demand by accelerating their diversification into the production of alternative crops with similar opportunities for food and financial security.
The CAT will be a world class hub for creating, piloting, and scaling appropriate science, technology, and business models that transform smallholder tobacco farmers’ lives and Malawi’s agriculture sector in general. This centre of excellence aims to uniquely combine research, smallholder farming, and large-scale commercialization in a manner that facilitates transformational agricultural development in Malawi. We envision the CAT as an anchor institution in the global ag-tech innovation ecosystem, where imagination, experimentation, and refinement of new ideas take place through the intermingling of cutting-edge research and development (R&D), market research, evidence-based decision making, new business models and product pilots, and entrepreneurs.
CAT activities will drive and accelerate the transformation of Malawi’s agricultural economy and foster farmers who are prosperous, resilient, diversified, and food secure. By the end of 2023, we will establish the systems and infrastructure to scale CAT activities both within Malawi and regionally, setting a strong foundation for future growth.
Position Summary and Primary Responsibilities:
The Business Incubation and Commercialization (BIC) Coordinator is part of the CAT Business Incubation and Commercialization team and will be responsible for the successful incubation and commercialization of agriculturally focused businesses; participate in identification of scalable technologies; support business growth and investment resulting in adoption of incubated technologies by farmers across Malawi, and facilitate processes to monitor, track and report on progress. The responsibilities are categorized underneath the following initiatives:
Business Incubation & Commercialization
- Guided by the Senior Portfolio Managers, the BIC Coordinator will assist in monitoring, reporting and performance evaluation of supported grantees, and verification of milestone completion prior to any payment to grantee.
- Assist the Senior Portfolio Managers to flag opportunities within the portfolio of supported grantees for collaboration with other CAT work streams; e.g., Science Technology and Innovation (STI), Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL), and Communication and Outreach among others.
- Draft reports for showcasing successes of select BIC partners.
Business Development Support Services
- Facilitating business development support services for innovators and financial management mentorship for entrepreneurs.
- Assist the Senior Portfolio Managers in designing, implementing, and managing the Residential Accelerator Program and Entrepreneurs in Residence program.
- Facilitate entrepreneurs/innovators with training in Human Centered Designed methodology.
- Assist the Senior Portfolio Managers in the implementation of the rural community and academic institution programs to nurture science, technology, and innovation for and amongst smallholder farmers in Malawi.
- Assist the MEL Specialist on designated MEL work.
Entrepreneurship Academies
- Supporting the facilitation of the science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship programs for University Students.
- Supporting the facilitation of Human Centered Designed methodology, business, and financial management for innovators.
- Supporting the organization of events for the exhibition of promising innovations developed by University Students to public and private sector stakeholders.
Collaboration with Other CAT Components
- The BIC Coordinator will assist the Senior Portfolio Manager in the technical implementation of CAT’s BIC activities that leverage interventions of the Science Technology and Innovation (STI), Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL), and Communication and Outreach teams for effective achievement of project goals and targets.
Reporting: The position will report to a Senior Portfolio Manager.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- 1+ years’ relevant experience in Malawi or similar market
- Experience in facilitating business development support service trainings for small- and medium-sized businesses.
- Experience in commercialization, agricultural value-chain systems, technology transfer, and/or early-stage investment
- Demonstrated ability to establish productive, inclusive relationships with regional bodies, government officials, the business community, diverse civil society groups, development finance institutions, and/or regional trading partners
- Degree in agriculture or business-related field.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls will be accepted.
Land O’Lakes Venture37 never requests money or payment from candidates for any position type. Please report any such requests to Land O’Lakes Venture37.
Land O’Lakes Venture37 is an equal opportunity employer and an organization striving to help global communities thrive through agriculture. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status, among other factors. Our culture values a diversity of voices. So, bring us your unique experiences, your workstyle, and your dreams — they’ll only make us stronger.
