Position Description

Making Cents International is looking for senior-level small and medium enterprise (SME) development and entrepreneurship experts to support the design and delivery of SME and entrepreneurship development strategies and interventions for projects funded by USAID and other clients. We seek experts with demonstrated experience and expertise firm-level assistance, competitiveness, SME development within specific value chains, access to finance, growth-oriented entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial ecosystem development, and business development service provision.

Experts will be expected to provide support in the following areas

SME development:

• Design strategies and approaches for providing firm-level assistance to SMEs operating in a range of industries to increase sales and investments, generate jobs, and scale businesses
• Provide sector analysis, market research and analysis, and benchmarking/gap analysis for SMEs and business start-ups
• Analyze constraints and opportunities for women-, youth- and the disabled-led SMEs in targeted sectors and support SMEs in reducing barriers to and increasing hiring of women, youth, and the disabled
• Design approaches to assist SMEs access financing from financial institutions and investors
• Support Business Development Support (BDS) providers working with SMEs to improve their service offerings

Entrepreneurship:

• Develop methodologies to improve the ability of BDS providers, including incubators and accelerators, to support start-ups
• Create business skills training for aspiring growth-oriented entrepreneurs
• Design curriculum and approaches to train start-ups in business planning, marketing, and pitching to investors
• Design approaches to assist entrepreneurs access financing
• Develop innovative approaches for strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a related field and at least 12 years of relevant experience
• Working proficiency in French, Arabic, Spanish, or Russian preferred