Wash Business Development Officer at Water For People

Job Description

Job Title:                   WASH Business Development Officer

Location:                 Rwanda

Reporting to:           WASH Sustainability Manager

Supervisory Duties:          –           

Annual Gross Salary range: Rwf 22,993,128 to Rwf 35,770,783.

Background   

Water For People is an international not-for-profit organization established in 1991. Our vision is a world where every person has access to reliable and safe Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services. We exist to promote the development of high-quality drinking water and sanitation services, accessible to all, and sustained by strong communities, businesses, and governments. We value accountability, courage, empowerment, partnership, and transparency.

Job Summary

Water For People in Rwanda is looking to employ a driven and detail-oriented WASH Business Development Officer to identify business growth opportunities and develop strategies to increase water, sanitation, and Hygiene business profitability and attractiveness to the private sector. The WASH Business Development Officer’s responsibilities include identifying and assessing business plans of companies involved in WASH business, water, sanitation, and hygiene products as well as services that are underperforming, developing an in-depth knowledge of private operators’ offerings, pricing, and policies, and improving existing service delivery business models. The officer will help the private operators to be able to achieve revenue targets.

To be successful as a WASH Business Development Officer, s/he should be adept at negotiating business deals and able to make sound recommendations that will benefit the private operators, districts, and WASAC. The WASH Business Development Officer should have strong business acumen as well as demonstrate excellent business coaching, management, communication, and analytical skills.

The successful candidate will develop and implement a market-based approach toward the provision of sustainable WASH services in Rwanda.

This will include but not limited to providing business development technical expertise to the program, carrying out due diligence through comprehensive assessments of potential business partners, developing and testing new business propositions/models for rural and urban management, creating financial service linkages for WASH businesses, identifying and providing technical support to service providers and WASAC in the districts where Water For People has programming, assisting service providers and WASAC in developing business plans, setting their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)  and tracking progress. The WASH Business Development Officer will conduct a business profitability analysis of private operators’ companies as a way of evaluating their performance and shall propose improvement accordingly.

Major responsibilities and duties  

1. Core Responsibilities

• Developing and sustaining solid relationships with districts, WASAC, water and sanitation private operators, and customers (users).
• Analyzing customer feedback data to determine whether customers are satisfied with water, sanitation, hygiene products, and services.
• Supporting districts, WASAC, and Private operators to analyze business challenges and recommend solutions to ensure the sustainability of WASH services.
• Providing insight into WASH product development and service delivery.
• Analyzing financial data and developing effective strategies to reduce WASH business costs and increase the profitability of WASH businesses.
• Conducting market research to identify new WASH business models that can boost the sustainability of WASH infrastructure.
• Collaborating with WASAC and Private Operators executives to determine the most viable, cost-effective approaches to pursue new business models.
• Meeting with potential investors/Financial institutions to present Private Operators’ offerings and negotiate business deals to boost water and sanitation profitability and capital investment.  

2. Participation to strategic and operational planning

• Drive innovation in the WASH business in line with the overall vision of Water for People and Rwanda Country Program and in coherence to Rwanda National Water and Sanitation Policies and their implementation Strategies.
• Provide business development technical expertise to the program staff and partners.
• Provide technical assistance on water and sanitation business strategies, business modelling and operational planning to partners/entrepreneurs.
• Conduct business landscaping studies, and oversee the management of market analysis work in all the district where Water For People has programming;
• Identify needs, opportunities, gaps, and constraints in potential water and sanitation markets, models, and service providers/entrepreneurs;
• Support partners to develop business growth strategies, operational plans, marketing and promotion strategies and plans, and working capital analysis for identified businesses.

3. Financing water and sanitation businesses

• Review opportunities for financing water and sanitation businesses, and developing market linkages;
• Undertake consultations with finance institutions (e.g. micro-finance institutions, Savings and Credit Cooperatives, banks, etc.) to evaluate financing mechanisms to elevate the capital investments of the private operators;
• Work with relevant institutions to develop and implement national and district wide strategy relating to improving co-financing for Water and sanitation services.

4. Partnerships

• Build trust and relationships with key local entrepreneurs and gain an understanding of the private sector and water and sanitation businesses in the districts of Water For People interventions.
• Identify and maintain regular contact with partners, including private sector organizations and government bodies supporting water and sanitation businesses.
• Engage with local government to understand and, if necessary, improve the monitoring and operating environment for emerging water and sanitation businesses.
• Engage with the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority – RURA to understand and if necessary, influence the review of the licensing mechanism and regular inspection to ensure that Private operators meet/comply with obligations to deserve the license for water and sanitation business.

5. Capacity building and learning

• Promote POs’ entrepreneurial development by coaching and mentoring them in WASH businesses to build their entrepreneurship capacity and ability to innovate, market their products/services and run successful businesses.

• Document successes, failures, and lessons learnt, and share knowledge both internally and externally.
• Develop a capacity-building plan for private operators on the analysis made to their performance and support its implementation for a continuous improvement of their businesses.
• Actively collaborate with Water For people strategic partners and other sector players to promote a marketing approach for sustainable Water and sanitation services.
• Support Districts, Private Operators, and WASAC to develop a WASH maintenance/capital replacement plan and ensure that it is part of the annual budget of districts.
• Undertake any other duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the supervisor.

BEHAVIORS AND COMPETENCIES:

• Connects to Mission – Understands and embraces the mission of Water For People; works to connect day-to-day tasks to mission; can explain Water For People’s purpose
• Manages through Ambiguity – Can recognize problems or opportunities when they arise and act to resolve them; readily formulates multiple solutions through a problem or issue analysis; is comfortable making and defending recommendations.
• Demonstrates Cultural Awareness – Demonstrates a global mindset; values cultural differences and takes into consideration in any given situation; moves easily between people from different backgrounds and cultures; can work outside the comfort zone and is ready to deliver at high expectations with minimum supervision.
• Action-oriented – Recognizes additional actions that will improve quality or facilitate achievement of outcomes; does not hesitate to do more than expected but may overextend; sees opportunities beyond job description and recognizes those they can be seized immediately and those that require higher level input; thinks outside the box, anticipates how actions affect the team.
• Sense of Team – Builds effective working relationships at all levels of the organization; aligns own behavior with the needs or priorities of the team; promotes teamwork among groups; discourages “us versus them” thinking; knows and considers the capabilities of coworkers.

QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE, & SKILLS REQUIRED:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Business Management/ Administration and professional courses (ACCA, and CPA)
•  A postgraduate degree/Master’s degree in Business Administration related courses will be an added advantage.
• Proven five (5) years’ experience in charge of Business Development or similar role, previous experience in a WASH sector will be an added advantage.
• At least five (5) years of experience in Business Development, financial analysis, business coaching, and commercial marketing approaches or any other related field,
• Extensive experience in business plan development, financial projections, and analysis to assess business viability and profitability.
• Extensive experience in small and medium enterprise development, coaching, and training.
• Extensive experience in a banking environment would be an added value.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and management skills.
• Strong business acumen.
• Detail-oriented.
• Excellent report writing, documentation, and presentation skills.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, networking, and negotiation skills.
• Good analytical skills and the ability to extrapolate lessons to other situations.
• Experience with running or investing in a business, would be an added advantage.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/WORKING CONDITIONS:

• This position is based at Water For People in Rwanda office.

• Trips within and outside Rwanda will be required from time to time.
• Flexibility to work outside regular business hours to meet with team members located in other time zones.

Note:  This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job.

Salary Range:  

Rwanda expected annual gross salary range is Rwf 22,993,128 to Rwf 35,770,783.

The actual salary will be determined based on experience and other job-related factors.

Benefits:

Benefits are one of the ways we encourage healthy living for you and your family. Our generous package includes medical and life insurance, annual leave allocation equal to one month of salary, and other benefits in accordance with the Rwanda labor law.

Method of Application

Submit your CV and Application on Company Website : Click Here
Closing Date : 28th February, 2023.