Director of Partnerships – Agriculture Director of Partnerships for Financial Inclusion

Job description
The Opportunity:
Arifu, a high-growth edtech company in Nairobi, is looking to hire an ambitious Director of Partnerships for Agriculture, to fuel the growth of our platform and content design services with large organizations in the Agricultural sector across Africa and globally. This is a full-time position with equity participation and an optional sales incentive program based at Arifu’s headquarters in Nairobi.
Job Description:
As the Director of Partnerships for Agriculture, you will lead regional and global expansion ensuring millions of farmers get access to high impact agronomy training, information, and services through strategic partnerships with private and public organizations in the agricultural sector. You will be a key part of the leadership team reporting directly to the CEO with responsibility for:

Generating and implementing an agriculture sector growth strategy including what content, partnerships, and products to focus on for maximizing impact and profitability;
Building, managing, and training the team needed to implement the growth strategy;
Generating new leads and developing a pipeline through use of your networks, attending events, and liaising with industry experts and stakeholders.
Designing a theory of change for impacting farmer livelihoods and informing a research agenda to collect strong evidence around it;
Identifying, securing, and nurturing partnerships with leading buyers, suppliers, donors, and government ministries to drive digital advisory services for farmer livelihoods regionally and globally;
Overseeing and contributing to the production of client proposals and grant applications;
Generating new product and feature ideas for the Arifu Platform that will enhance value to both “learners” and institutional partners;
Informing the pricing strategy for validated products and features such as farmer alternative data for credit scoring and propensity scoring;
Contributing thought leadership and building brand awareness through blogs, PR, and case studies;
Reporting on KPIs to the leadership team, Board, and investors.

Qualifications:
To deliver successfully on the above responsibilities, you bring to the table:

10+ years of professional experience with at least 5 years in the agriculture sector;
Deep domain knowledge of smallholder challenges, solutions, and trends;
Ability to build and nurture new relationships and close deals with institutional executives;
Existing relationships with decision makers at regional organizations delivering agricultural products and services or otherwise innovating in the agricultural space;
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, resource-constrained, early stage work environment;
Fluency in English required; fluency in Swahili is preferred;
Ability to live and work in Nairobi, Kenya;
The preferred candidate will have strong analytical skills and an MBA.

Compensation and Benefits:
Arifu offers a competitive compensation package including participation in the Arifu employee share program. An optional commission-based incentive and compensation model will also be made available. Benefits include a comprehensive health insurance package, work permit for foreign staff, monthly airtime allowance, extra leave, a stocked kitchen, and plenty of ping-pong and foosball

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