Senior Business Advisor

**About TechnoServe**:
Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of businesses 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 can access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

**Program Overview**:
TechnoServe is collaborating with the Anglo American Foundation and partners with aim of enhancing the livelihoods of vulnerable workers while creating new quality opportunities for youth in the country’s recycling sector, providing target beneficiaries with access to more, better quality and higher-paying jobs in the circular economy. TechnoServe’s ambition is to develop a center of excellence in a targeted geography, that will demonstrate the viability of an integrated approach to enterprise development along the circular economy value chain and which, will become an example to be scaled across other townships in South Africa and regionally.

The initial 15-month Phase A of the programme will focus on the townships of Soweto in the City of Johannesburg municipality and the City of Ekurhuleni. TechnoServe and RLabs will deliver a set of interventions to achieve youth empowerment objectives and address gaps observed in the plastic and paper recycling sector. This first phase will be a learning phase to inform a potential follow-on 36-month programme, contingent on co-financing.

The conceptualization of this programme follows a diagnostic study that was conducted, by TechnoServe in 2023, with the objective to validate the potential to create jobs and improve workers’ livelihoods by building capacity of waste recovery businesses. The diagnostic study identified three priority interventions to create lasting impact in South Africa’s circular economy: 1) direct enterprise support, 2) micro businesses creation, 3) strengthening of support ecosystem.

TechnoServe and consortium partner, RLabs have collaborated with GreenCape (the Secretariat of the South African Plastics Pact) to engage with relevant stakeholders in the value chain and validate the scope and high-level design elements of the interventions, and to get buy-in for operational collaboration.

**Job Summary**:
Working closely with the Implementation Manager, the Senior Business Advisor will play a critical role in the programme by overseeing advisory services and conducting all program activities and training services to beneficiaries. TechnoServe pillar, will provide customised capacity building to small and medium growing recovery businesses and promote connections among market participants in targeted recycling routes. TechnoServe will directly develop the capacity of opportunity-driven business-owners through training, advisory, mentorship, and aftercare including access to finance and access to markets interventions, gather market intelligence and monitor performance. This pillar is complementary to Pillar 1 as recovery businesses have a critical role to enable and support micro business creation in communities they operate in while facilitating formal and informal networking and linkages with various stakeholders.

In close collaboration and coordination with the program staff, he/she will ensure the successful, innovative, efficient, and effective functioning of all participants’ training and capacity-building activities in the program through effective planning, and delivery of program activities in collaboration with other project team members towards achieving the common goal.

The tasks outlined below are the key responsibilities of the business advisor, however, the employee will be expected to perform any tasks that are necessary within the context of the evolving needs of the project.

**Primary Functions & Responsibilities**:

- Project implementation_
- Provide strategic direction and expertise in designing a detailed and implementable program work plan, incorporating insights from the inception report analysis, and ensuring alignment with program goals.
- Set guidelines and criteria for beneficiary selection, collaborating with the Business Advisors to implement an effective and inclusive recruitment process
- Working with the Business Advisors ensure, effective delivery the digital strategy, leading to beneficiary