Bahirdar, Amhara
MEDA-Mennonite Economic Development Associates
Position:           Rice Business Development Specialist-Analytics Reports to:       Rice Value Chain Senior Specialist                   Location:          Bahir Dar                        MEDA’s Overview Mennonite Economic Development Associate (MEDA) is an international non-governmental organization incorporated in Canada and registered in Ethiopia.  MEDA is currently carrying out EMERTA project which stands for Ethiopians Motivating Enterprises to Rise in Trade and Agri-business and means ‘to leap to great heights’ in Amharic by focusing specifically on women.  The project will be committed to increasing sustainable employment and income generation for women and men in Amhara region of Ethiopia in rice, vegetables and gems sectors, with a focus on women.  MEDA is committing to identify and mitigate the social and economic barriers that limit women’s participation in the selected market sectors and constrain their participation in household decisions and control over resources       Job Overview: The primary objective of the Rice Business Development Specialist-Analytics is to assess the needs of target businesses, both at a micro and SME level, and develop creative and innovative tools and strategies to address these needs in the promotion of rice from Amhara Region. This may include, but is not limited to, the following key activities focused on the analytics and metrics of business success: Develop and use simple tools for rice businesses to monitor basic metrics (sales, expenses, profits, etc.) Develop business cases to demonstrate cost vs. benefits of undertaking innovations to show the profitability of MSMEs and producersAssist the rice sector team in tracing benefit flows for rice producers and others in the rice value chain: tracing increased sales, prices, employment Conduct market research in relevant sectors benefitting rice and identify key constraints in for businesses involved in rice Collaborate on design of capacity building program for target clients on trainings, experience sharing visits, forums and workshops for MSMEs, producers, service providers and stakeholdersSupport partners to develop business development training materials for target businessesSupport technical research, and build capacities of MSMEs to research productivity and operational efficiencies.   The Rice Business Development Specialist-Analytics coordinates closely with EMERTA technical team specialists in rice and other sectors to develop tools for better understanding the rice business in Amhara Region and constraints to improving business in rice.  The Rice Business Development Specialist-Analytics helps provide tools that partners can use to better direct their business endeavors and provides evidence of approaches that can bring profit and benefit to the sector for throughout the value chain. He/she facilitates informational links between rice value chain actors, ensuring that producers realize increasing benefit from production in the rice sector.  The Rice Business Development Specialist-Analytics should have an awareness of the roles that gender and environmental considerations play in successful rice-related business; demonstrated ability to apply these themes to the work of this position is considered an advantage. Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities: ·       Assist with market analysis, assessing threats, strengths and opportunities to the rice value chain, involving rice value chain clients based on their inputs, products and business growth prospects.        ·       Work with the rice value chain team to develop and implement appropriate tools that partners in rice can use to analyze their businesses and introduce improvements. ·       Assist in the development of business cases that demonstrate the risks and rewards inherent in introducing innovative approaches throughout the rice value chain. ·       Develop a Market Information System to include various types and sources of market data, important market destinations, and regular updates for both input markets and segmented end markets for rice. ·       In conjunction with other MEDA project staff, provide training and/or ongoing identification of BDS services, and workshops. ·       Assist in monthly or quarterly reporting to the donor and internally on project performance by defined statistical and narrative categories. Take the initiative to compile and document standard reports indicating achievements, challenges and lesson learnt ·       In collaboration with MIM team develop a database of private sector enterprises in input markets and segmented end markets and organize beneficiaries list who received supports from the project. ·       Support existing, or developing new, market consulting services to support the rice value chains. ·       Track the delivery of environment activities as per the annual work plan and support the Beneficiary Service specialist in measuring progress on environmental indicators as required. ·       Working closely with MSMEs, identify emerging challenges and promote best practices in gender-equitable participation, contribute to improving the business environment for MSMEs, as well as bring gender perspectives to business risk mitigation. ·       Work with public and research institutions, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, business community to build sector-wide, mutual benefits on the rice value chain, including reduction of transaction costs, reduced waste, reduction in risk, and to increase market opportunities, i.e., volume and/or profit. ·       Act as a key member of the innovation and guarantee fund oversight committee, providing expert input of criteria, award, accountability and reporting of funds, and leveraged investments. ·       Work with gender and environmental specialists to ensure project MSME’s, producers and partners are addressing the gender equality and environmental friendly issues ·       Closely work with partner organizations to provide better support for project beneficiaries to ensure they are working based on agreed terms ·       In collaboration with financial services team, support MSMEs and producers for loan access and innovation matching grant fund ·       Perform other duties as assigned by immediate supervisor.