Jobs at African Leadership Academy

Responsibilities: 

• Drive our Rhythms, Planning & Prioritisation: The CoS PD will work with the CPO and other program leaders to define the strategic, annual and quarterly objectives of the division and its programs. The CoS will leverage a calendar of rhythms to ensure the CPO and program leaders are reviewing performance and focused on the most important results. The CoS will build visibility and transparency into these rhythms through effective agenda-setting and simple reporting. They will be responsible for coordinating the critical rhythms of the division: planning, budgeting and performance management.
• Align our Tracking & Reporting: The CoS PD will sit at the centre of coordination efforts between program teams and our shared business service teams – finance, impact measurement, people. The CoS PD will be responsible for identifying and improving the approaches, processes and tools required to deliver on internal and external tracking and reporting requirements with excellence. In doing so, CoS PD will be able to quickly answer questions related to the planned vs actual performance of program activities, finances and impact indicators.
• Accelerate our Shared Infrastructure: The Programs Division depends increasingly on an evolving, common technology stack and set of policies to deliver our hybrid model. The CoS PD will accelerate the pace of the evolution of this infrastructure by improving the relationships with key service providers and coordination between internal and external teams. The CoS strengthen this work by providing strong research and recommendation inputs into procurement and implementation choices while ensuring a repository of documentation exists to track decisions made and enable effective use by team members of all levels.
• Build our Culture & Community: The CoS PD will have the unique opportunity and responsibility to identify ways to improve the ways teams understand and support each other, fostering inclusivity. You will design and execute a calendar of activities that has the highest community yield with the smallest commitment of time, including a division-wide onboarding program, in-person annual retreat and set of activities that engage the faculty and students of the Academy.

Ideal candidate:

• The ideal candidate is exceptional at the synthesis of information and coordination of people and work. Being fundamentally curious about the practice and evolution of education, entrepreneurship and leadership development in Africa will heighten your motivation to maximise the outcomes that could result from your efforts. You enjoy different and varied work and get as much reward from supporting the success of others as you do from the projects you deliver independently.

Qualifications/Ideal Candidate: 

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years’ experience in a relevant field.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.
• Proven experience in managing projects and developing financial models/budgets.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented individual.
• Ability to work with diverse groups and build collaborative relationships.

Passion for our mission of supporting young leaders across Africa.

• Proficiency in MS Tools: Excel and PowerPoint, as well as workflow and performance management tools, such as: Trello, Planner, Air table etc.
• A competence with technology will be advantageous for managing the division’s digital infrastructure (websites, databases etc).

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Position Responsibilities:

• You will own the ACN Affiliates program and be responsible for recruiting exceptional organisations into the program and then designing, managing and reporting on our support to them, ensuring they deliver upon our shared targets for improved career outcomes.
• You will foster community and shared learning among representatives of the Affiliate organisations while providing policy guidance and impact monitoring tools to ensure youth safeguarding and effective impact data collection.
• You will own the ACN Ambassadors Program, recruiting and then equipping 50 ambassadors annually to drive program enrolment and brand reach for ACN's 7 sector networks as well as your Affiliates. You will collaborate with our communications, institutional learning and technology teams to create creative campaigns and enable the tracking of performance.
• You will own the ACN Peer Coach program, coordinating volunteer capacity within our sector communities to support those around them to access their next career step. You will ensure you and your team have direct and growing relationships with partner universities and youth network members to attract people to and drive this work.
• You will participate directly in program design and delivery, providing coaching, program and event facilitation and coordination as necessary for program success and as a means of engaging network members.
• You will lead your team and role model ALA as a great place to grow by assuming accountability for their work, guiding their performance and success within the wider team, division and organisation. You will own the budget and planning responsibilities for your three programs, meeting your reporting requirements on time and with excellence.
• As someone engaging important external stakeholders, you will be an ambassador for ALA and ACN, advocating for the time, treasure, and talent required to build our programs to deliver upon our larger mission for Africa’s prosperity.

Profile of the ideal candidate:

• Partnership builder: you build win-win partnerships and ideally have had grant-making or fundraising experience.
• Project manager: Can define project outcomes clearly across multiple project streams, with increasing degrees of project complexity and task uncertainty. Track record of effective planning, prioritisation, and organisational skills.
• Program Management: Ability to design or create initiatives, events and programs that will drive the desired social impact or outcomes.
• Existing Network: You have a strong existing African network that you can draw on and are passionate about building and sustaining relationships on the African continent.
• Communication skills: Presentations and report writing skills are essential. Has confidently worked with multiple stakeholders at different levels to advance progress and execute ideas, both internally and externally.
• Team management: Experience managing a small team to deliver results.
• Technology use: Experience working with software systems to aid and automate work. Prior experience with Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Customer Relationship Systems (Salesforce CRM) exposure would be beneficial.
• Collaborator: A bias for structured sharing, ensuring best practices and approaches are shared between the Affiliates and the other sector networks.
• Facilitation: Ability to convene and manage events and workshops to drive network engagement
• Must be willing and able to travel

Desired Experience:

• Post-grad degree in training and development or a related discipline.
• 7 to 10 years of working experience, especially in any organisational and talent development or in an education-related field.
• Partner Management experience and supervisory skills are essential.
• Must have a broad understanding and knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing the African continent and be dedicated to shaping the future of Africa.
• An awareness of career opportunities and pathways through the lens of leadership development and being passionate and eager to engage in continuous learning and networking in the field.
• Competency framework and assessment experience is an advantage
• Contract management skills are essential
• Grant and budget management skills and reporting are essential
• Community network-building skills are an advantage
• Any DEI or safeguarding experience is an advantage
• Multilingual - French, Portugues or Arabic speaking would be an advantage

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Position Overview

• The Anzisha Selection Analyst will have the opportunity to read, review, interview and select Africa’s brightest entrepreneurs for the 2024/2025 season. They will work in a team of 5 other analysts led by the Selection lead with a focus on identifying very young entrepreneurs from across the African continent. Specific core responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Carrying out activities to ensure the selection of top finalists for Anzisha-led programs. This includes:

• Reading and rating a minimum of 400 applications.
• Phoning and evaluating a minimum of 100 semi-finalist candidates.
• Using ALA processes, tools and systems to capture, share and present information on applicants and finalists during the selection process. This includes packaging applicant data for the application reading and review of our VBF Team.
• Creating corporate books/ profiles for each of the selected finalists.
• Administrative processes around finalists selection such as communication with applicants, compiling reports, sharing insights and attending weekly meetings.
• Identifying key applicant stories to write about and share on Anzisha platforms. 

Profile of Ideal Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree required and/or 3-5 years related experience in specific sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, retail, marketing, sales, finance, operations, tech, project and process management or human resources
• Pursuing an MBA or is an AL Alum.
• A positive, can-do attitude with a focus on results.
• Competence in other languages spoken widely in Africa (e.g. French, Portuguese or Arabic) is a plus.
• Ability to work and build strong relationships with senior managers, leaders, partners and customers.
• Ability to work independently, handle multiple projects in a fast-paced environment, and negotiate and collaborate effectively
• Highly analytical - ability to understand business models, and gather insights and trends.
• Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, and cross-group collaboration skills; the ability to build and deliver effective presentations.
• The aptitude to work with and engage a wide range of internal and external stakeholders; from end users, and senior management/executives to very young entrepreneurs