Senior Enterprise Development Specialist- SAY WEE

Job Title: Senior Enterprise Development Specialist

Project:Skilling Adolescents and Young Women for Entrepreneurship and Employability (SAY-WEE)

Location: Kano

Reports to: Program Manager SAY WEE Project

About TechnoServe:

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

Job Summary:

The main role of the Senior Enterprise Development Specialist reporting directly to the Senior Program Manager contributes to the strategic priority of scaling up the impact of our work through the development of a strong and sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem. Reporting to the Senior Program Manager, the Senior Enterprise Development Specialist will be responsible for ensuring that project participants have the knowledge and skills to develop and run successful enterprises, or take on decent employment. In close collaboration and coordination with the Project staff, he/she will ensure successful, innovative, efficient, and effective functioning of all entrepreneurship training and capacity building activities in the project through effective planning, and delivery of project activities in collaboration with other project team members towards achieving the common goal.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

The project seeks to address unemployment in Nigeria through four pathways namely: self-employment, micro and small growing business acceleration, job readiness and ecosystem development. With a strong learning agenda, the project will pilot methodologies that drive behavior change and successfully link women and youth to relevant and lasting jobs. To achieve its objectives, the project will leverage existing infrastructure, institutions, and organizations where possible. It will also apply lessons learned from other initiatives in the entrepreneurial ecosystem support space by adopting multiple proven approaches. The design will follow a common set of principles, such as being market-driven to help entrepreneurs tap into high-growth sectors, build youth skills, and facilitate linkages to drive job placement for targeted youth.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

Lead enterprise development activities under the guidance of the Project Manager. S/he will perform the following tasks;

• Identify, engage, and manage relationships with employers, business associations, and industry leaders.
• Facilitate partnerships that support internships, apprenticeships, job placements, and career exposure opportunities.
• Facilitate market linkages for emerging entrepreneurs, including access to buyers, suppliers, and mentorship networks.
• Support institutions to establish or strengthen career services, job placement units, or entrepreneurship hubs.
• Track partner participation, job outcomes, enterprise uptake, and industry contributions.
• Document promising practices, lessons learned, and success stories to inform impact measurement.
• Conduct career fairs and job clinics that coincide with key academic and industry events to maximize engagement and impact.
• Identify, recruit, and onboard female mentors, counsellors, and role models from diverse professional backgrounds, with a strong focus on STEM, leadership, entrepreneurship, and growth-oriented sectors.
• Develop and deliver a structured mentorship framework, including guidelines, tools, and training that equip mentors to provide gender-responsive support.
• Coordinate gender-responsive career counselling sessions, ensuring girls receive accurate information on career pathways, labor market trends, and opportunities aligned with their interests.
• Facilitate peer-support groups and leadership development activities, enabling girls to build confidence, communication skills, and decision-making capacity.
• Organize STEM learning and coaching opportunities—such as workshops, bootcamps, industry talks, and hands-on activities—to strengthen exposure and interest in high-growth fields.
• Strengthen mentor–mentee matching processes, ensuring compatibility based on interests, career goals, and developmental needs and provide ongoing support to mentors and counsellors, including periodic check-ins and refresher training.
• Monitor and track participation, progress, and outcomes, maintaining up-to-date records on the number of mentors engaged and the impact of their support.
• Collaborate with schools, TVET centers, community groups, and industry partners to expand access to female role models and real-world learning experiences.
• Identify entrepreneurs, lead identification and enrolment of qualified participants for the business acceleration track
• Ensure quality delivery of entrepreneurship training and capacity building activities in the project, including adequacy and suitability of training modules, aftercare, and linkages.
• Work with consultants to develop the curriculum and include a module on sustainable practices and ESG.
• Drive learning and knowledge training in the project.
• Supervise and support Business Advisors to ensure quality implementation of project activities;
• Ensure that all project reports relevant to her/his area of focus are promptly produced and submitted to meet project targets.
• Responsible for smooth implementation of the entrepreneurship activities and for providing the required relevant information to the monitoring and evaluation team for the effective compilation of results.
• Contribute to the programme team’s work on the timely and effective management and implementation of the project’s Enterprise Development activities.
• Contribute to the preparation of high-quality progress reports, updates and communication products for the project

The incumbent of the position will uphold the non-discriminatory behavior and ensure that:

• Human rights and gender equality is prioritized as an ethical principle within all actions;
• Activities are designed and implemented in accordance with “Social and Environmental Standards of TechnoServe and UNICEF”;
• Any kind of diversity based on ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, class, gender are respected within all implementations including data production;
• Differentiated needs of women and men are considered;
• Inclusive approach is reflected within all actions and implementations, in that sense an enabling and accessible setup in various senses such as disability gender language barrier is created;

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree with 5 years’ experience in Business Management, Sociology, Economics, or related field. Alternatively, Master's Degree with 3 years’ experience will be considered.
• A minimum of 2 years of experience with enterprise development, entrepreneurship training etc with special focus on micro-businesses, youth development, incubation/innovation, value chain or entrepreneurship is desirable.
• Professional experience with international donor projects in Nigeria would be an asset;
• Good IT literacy, i.e., MS. Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel is required.
• Experience should include displays of gender sensitivity and promotion of gender equality in all aspects of work.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable.

• Experience within a good network of private sector organizations in Nigeria.
• INGO Sectoral experience.

Required Languages Proficiency in English, additional Hausa and or Yoruba.

Travel: Moderate field visits.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Sound knowledge of systems for gender mainstreaming and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situation.
• Good leadership skills in commitment, excitement and ability to create new opportunities for the team.
• Good communication skills with ability to share ideas and positions.
• Ability to embrace complex challenges and opportunities for getting work done for timely delivery.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

Supervisory Responsibilities – The successful candidate will supervise 4 Enterprise Development Advisors.

Closing Statements for all TechnoServe Job Ads:

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.