Business Development Specialist

At Bloom we are pursuing our mission of making world class entrepreneurship education and support universal. As part of that effort, we’re looking for an experienced Business Development Specialist to help us engage new partners and clients. 

The Business Development Specialist should have prior experience with proposal writing and business-to-business sales and a demonstrated ability to achieve sales goals. Experience in project management, entrepreneurship, enterprise development, or investment/investment readiness are critical. Previous leadership experience, the ability to work independently, work within groups, lead groups, and contribute to strategic planning and organizational development are all great strengths that we look for. 

Geographic focus: We are exploring potential growth and impact opportunities in MENA, Europe and the US, and so we are particularly encourage people with business development experience in any of those geographic areas to apply.

Responsibilities

• Researching and identifying potential clients
• Developing and maintaining client relationships, with the goal of building towards positive, long-lasting relationships with current and potential clients
• Developing and submitting proposals
• Developing our organizational systems and templates for business development to improve our collective processes, and training/supporting other team members in effectively using and improving them
• Negotiating contract terms with clients and communicating with stakeholders
• Monitoring project teams to ensure contracts are executed as agreed
• Gathering useful information from customer and competitor data to help us continually improve our offerings
• Preparing project reports for existing clients / partners
• Making and giving presentations to prospective clients and internal executives
• Creating content (presentations, blog posts, etc) that can be shared during webinars and on our website to support business development efforts
• Leading and/or facilitating webinars and online discussions that support business development efforts

Requirements

• Deep knowledge of and connections in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, including private sector and public sector actors
• Demonstrated ability in proposal writing and/or business-to-business (B2B) sales
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English (French and/or Arabic a big plus)
• Familiarity with entrepreneurship/enterprise development and project management methodologies
• Problem-solving skills to propose mutually beneficial solutions
• Proficiency with online collaboration tools (Google Docs/Drive, Slack, project management tools), spreadsheet tools, presentation software, and CRM (customer relationship management) tools
• Ability and willingness to travel for meetings with prospective and existing clients
• Good time management and self-management skills
• Creative / innovative thinking and problem-solving, and helping come up with creative ways to connect with our broader community, develop creative solutions, and help us, our partners, our clients, and the teams in our programs have fun while pursuing entrepreneurship and enterprise growth!

Job Details

• Part-time ok to start (minimum 3-4 days/week availability), with preference towards full-time availability in the near future 
• Remote work / partial remote work is ok
• Initial contract is as a “consultant/contractor”, with potential for shifting to a full-time position in the future
• All positions can be paid into accounts in Lebanon (fresh money accounts) or abroad
• Compensation will include a base salary plus success-based incentives (depending on project)