Micro & Small Enterprise (MSE) Program Development Specialist

Purpose of the position

micro enterprising/business provide support to people with or without business background that aim to develop their livelihood through entrepreneurial activities, with focus on youth, women, and people living with disability or that are for other reasons socially excluded, provision of tailor made support package consisting of  soft and hard skills training, business planning and coaching, linking to market system actors like finance or marketing, working with MSE stakeholders like training institutions, finance and business service providers etc.

Job Summary

•  Professionally contribute to the programmatic vision for MSE development within the  Enterprising Livelihood urban programming of the consortium with connected effective implementation strategies;
•  Using a market systems approach, support entrepreneurs to design, start  or scale their businesses, support in access to finance or other business development services and support in adopting improved technologies and business practices.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Plan, organize and contribute to the further development of the vision and strategy for Enterprising Livelihood urban development programming for MSE.
• Plan, organize and contribute to regularly undertaken market assessments for MSE development in close cooperation with municipalities, trade or professional organisations and other (I)NGO actors.
• Design and implementation of the selection process of entrepreneurs with viable MSE business propositions for the Dorcas support.
• Coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs in business management skills, business practices and relevant life skills.
• Support activities related to improving the enabling environment for MSEs in Beirut like:
• Work with the government to improve incentives and mitigate risks associated with private sector investment in MSEs.
• Improve linkages between producers/service providers, buyers, banks and other market system entities.
• Improve the availability and quality of business development services.
• Coordinate technical support and engagements with government officials, business leaders, chambers of commerce, and the trade industry.
• Develop indicators for the MSE development component and support data gathering and analysis to track and report on progress towards objectives.
• Amend project objectives to reflect changing priorities.
• Supervise other long-term and short-term staff contributing to this component and align with other projects in the consortium portfolio for alignment and complementarity.
• Manage the ongoing and new consortium project activities, including monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Skills:           

• Strong relationship building ability with an eye for the soft skills required in MSE development.
• Knowledge of the local context as it relates to challenges facing MSEs in Lebanon in general and in Beirut in particular is a strong requirement.