Summary
Date Posted: Monday, June 01, 2020 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Background
UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis. It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.
In 2019 UNCDF formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’. The strategy is based on 10+ years of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting inclusive digital economies. UNCDF aims to empower people through improved access and use of services that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
In partnership with BongoHive, UNCDF in Zambia, is implementing a FINTECH4U programme with a focus on unlocking and demonstrating the potential of DFS and support the growth of the digital economy and increase access to financial services for all Zambians, to improve livelihoods.
The Zambia FinTech4U Accelerator Programme is a 3-month accelerator programme designed for entrepreneurs who have recently started a fintech or digital financial services business that has the potential to grow throughout Zambia and the regional market.
The programme is aimed at supporting 10 FinTech/SME’s to navigate the regulatory, licencing and compliance requirements with relevant regulators such as, Bank of Zambia (BOZ), Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lusaka, Zambia.
The FinTech4U accelerator programme also intends to create a FinTech regulatory play book through an iterative process with the various stakeholders covering regulation, financing, product development and partnership that can simplify start -up /FinTech journeys from start to scale.
BongoHive seeks to catalyse the growth of Zambian entrepreneurship, innovation and technology through support programmes, workshops and events.
While the Digital Economy ecosystem in Zambia is much more advanced than in some neighbouring countries, there are still several critical challenges preventing the acceleration of the growth of the Zambian Digital Economy to address the Real Economy issues everyday Zambians face. The main gaps are:
1. Understanding the real challenges of the customers. Consequently, the solutions they develop are not aligned with the market needs and therefore fail;
2. Failing to have the opportunity to test-pilot their innovations with a reputable organisation / partner to iterate / fine-tune their innovations to better suit the market need;
3. Poor ability to “plug in” to bigger partners and DFS providers;
4. Navigation of regulatory gaps when products or services are new and/or unique to the market;
5. Matching existing and potential financing mechanisms and actors to help start-ups grow when reaching small-scale success;
6. A lack of local and global mentors to support the burgeoning Digital Economy SME ecosystem.
To address gaps within the Zambian Digital Economy and FinTech ecosystem, the UNCDF and BongoHive have partnered to create a platform for start-ups/entrepreneurs by bridging the gap between the regulators, technology platforms, financial service providers, and the market. The FinTech4U accelerator programme aims to achieve this by working with 10 Zambian FinTechs that offer innovative and effective digital financial products and services to all Zambians, especially those that are traditionally underserved or “left behind.”
UNCDF, having worked with various players in the DFS industry, has realised that FinTechs face various operational challenges which affect product development, testing and scaling of solutions. Whereas UNCDF has been involved in promoting digital payments, we realise that addressing the fundamental barriers that impact the growth of FinTechs has the potential to solve some of the other operational pain points that have affected the further adoption and usage of DFS in Zambia.
On the other hand, there are various actors e.g. regulators, established DFS providers, development partners, government bodies and donors who have various challenges, which have potential digital solutions. UNCDF and BongoHive will engage with various stakeholders in the Zambia start-up and innovation ecosystem to:
1. Support FinTechs and SMEs to develop relevant digital finance solutions for the market, with specific targets that improve women and youth customers;
2. Support BongoHive and potential partners develop “a menu of options” for the various partnership models that could accelerate growth of innovation;
To achieve the set-out objectives, UNCDF seeks the services of an individual Partnerships Strategy consultant, to conduct a scoping and analysis of the needs of potential partners to BongoHive including, regulators, donors, public and private organizations. The analysis will contribute to the development of the various playbooks, designed to support the Zambian FinTech journey, and will also highlight the needs of potential partners. .

Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work
1. Conduct a stakeholder mapping and analysis of the needs of potential partners of BongoHive including, regulators, donors, public and private organizations.
2. Develop of a draft Partnership Strategy for Donors, Public and Private Sector organizations interested in partnering with BongoHive.
3. Support the development of a Technical Assistance to FinTechs regulatory playbook to guide emerging FinTech companies from setup to scale.
4. Conduct an analysis on strategy & Technical Assistance performance, and recommendations on how the FinTech4U Accelerator platform could be “regionalized.”

Job Skills: Not Specified

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
• A Minimum BSc Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Law or related field with the equivalent experience is mandatory.
Experience:
• At least 8 years of professional experience in partnerships and/or business development is mandatory.
• At least 3 years of experience in a management position, including responsibility for building a business development or partnerships team is mandatory.
• Proven track record of building new business relationships and signing significant deals is mandatory.
• Familiarity with the key issues confronting the Digital Financial Services ecosystem will be an advantage
Language requirements:
• Written and spoken proficiency in English is mandatory.

Job Education Requirements: A Minimum BSc Degree in Accounting

Job Experience Requirements: At least 8 years

Work Hours: 8

{module 312}

Job application procedure
To apply for this job please visit https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=91949  
 
All Jobs

QUICK ALERT SUBSCRIPTION

{module 316}