Business Development Officer

iDE is an international NGO with over 35 years of experience in designing and delivering market based anti-poverty programs in 11 countries. We are a world leader in making markets work for the poor as well as the longest established market development specialist NGO in Bangladesh. iDE believes that markets can be a powerful force for improving smallholder prosperity by creating income and livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. iDE Bangladesh currently has eight projects in Agricultural Markets, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Access to Finance with a focus on women’s economic empowerment and climate-smart technologies.

iDE Bangladesh is looking for qualified Business Development Officers for its Scaling up Sanitation Market Systems Bangladesh- SanMarkS II Project. The goal of this project is to increase access to sanitation facilities in Bangladesh using iDE’s systems-based approach to sanitation.

The Business Development Officer (BDO) is responsible for implementing Project activities, building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders of the project at the local level. The BDO will also extend support to form linkages with local sanitation entrepreneurs, partners and Government stakeholders. In addition to this, the BDO will also scope and identify acceptance of improved latrine products among consumers. Additionally they will be supporting training, building linkage and rapport through different implementation activities including but not limited to demand creation, supply chain strengthening and enabling environments to ensure that last mile communities gain access to improved latrines.

Position
Business Development Officer
Number of Vacancies
01
Job Location
Chandpur
Reporting Line
Field Team Leader

Key Responsibilities and Tasks
The responsibilities of the Business Development Officer include but are not limited to the descriptions below.
 


General Responsibilities
  • Implement planned project activities within an assigned district, under the supervision of the Field Team Leader
  • Regularly follow up with all stakeholders for whom the BDO is a primary point of contact (PCO) for rapport building and market strengthening
  • Develop and ensure implementation of work plan and central instruction and perform accordingly to achieve the project goal
  • Prepare event, monthly, quarterly and all necessary reports and assist Field Team Leader for preparing the final report.
  • Maintain close contact and communication for project planning, extend support for operational strategy formulation and in resolving implementation requirements firstly with supervisor, peers and eventually with partners, counterparts, service providers, government, the private sector and project participants
  • Carry out responsibilities in financial management and administration at the local level and ensure the efficient use and maintenance of the project resources in consultation with supervisor

Programmatic Responsibilities

  • Implement a variety of market linkage, supply chain, technology introduction and business development activities within the scope of the Project
  • Assess and improve skills and competencies of sanitation entrepreneurs (latrine producers) and businesses on a diverse range of business skills such as product orientation, record keeping, marketing, supply chain linkages, public sector linkages, and technical capacity, etc
  • Build rapport and trust with sanitation and hygiene related entrepreneurs for effective communication and linkage development
  • Co-facilitate demand creation activities with sanitation and hygiene related entrepreneurs, stakeholders and other relevant partners
  • Identify potential market actors, sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs, dealers, retailers, lead firms suitable for collaboration for implementing Project activities
  • Facilitate  sanitation entrepreneurs and relevant sales agents  for product introduction and commercialization
  • Ensuring the successful commercialization of selected sanitation and hygiene technologies
  • Facilitate the development of business plans by the  sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs
  • Assess and improve skills & competencies of  sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs on a diverse range of business skills like finance, business planning, quality management, human resource management, etc.
  • Work together with the sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurs to ensure linkage of the  sanitation and hygiene Value Chain Actor
  • Facilitate  WASH entrepreneurs to establish and maintain business networks at upazila levels and linked with stakeholders and associations based in District, Regional & National level to build profitable business relationships between  wash entrepreneurs and others PSAs.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

  • Complete event reports in a timely manner for all project activities, ensuring necessary review, validation before submitting in the relevant monitoring system as supported by the Field Team Leader.
  • Complete relevant stakeholder check-ins in a timely manner for all project activities and upload to relevant monitoring system as supported by the Evidence and Analytics Specialist
  • Complete market insights and case studies as supported by the Evidence and Analytics Specialist in a timely and effective manner
  • Actively engage in initiating best practices, key learnings, unique cases and other relevant documentation to share with the wider team

Coordination and Support

  • Based on guidance from the Field Team Leader, support cross-program activities including:
    • Product innovation
    • Technology commercialization
    • Best practices documentation
    • Cross-project learning activities
  • Maintain close contact and communication for project planning, strategy formulation and other issues with supervisor, technical specialists and institutional support teams
  • Harmonize approach with other BDOs in the program through best practice sharing and feedback loops.

Rapport Building

  • Coordinate with development, private and public sector partners at the national level for ongoing Project activities, current and potential partnerships
  • Coordinate and report to supervisor on a regular basis as per the annual coordination strategy and cross-visits
  • Travel to all assigned unions at as guided by designated supervisor for  supporting Project stakeholders, overseeing implementation of Project activities, problem solving and systems development using the CLEAR framework (Connect, Listen, Educate, Ask, Resolve)
  • Conversation with relevant supporting actors, partners and stakeholders
  • Visit Community Households adopting improved sanitation products for feedback collection

Other Responsibilities

  • Actively follow WASH initiatives in iDE, implemented by other Development agencies within Bangladesh and other countries for facilitating improved learning and networking
  • Actively learn and develop skills related to online platforms used by iDE including but not limited to: Smartsheets, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets and MS Office Suite
  • Maintain use of online platforms for sharing reports, documents and data
  • Represent iDE at external events and meetings as agreed with supervisor
  • Participate in all relevant meetings and workshops
  • Undertake additional tasks subject to workload and skill sets such as photography, cross-project trainings and evaluations

Skills and Experience
A successful Business Development Officer will have the following skills and experience and will be comfortable with the following conditions.

Education

Bachelor's in Business Administration/ Masters in Management, Economics, Development Studies, or Social Science.

Work Experience

  • At least 4 years of experience working on market system development in Sanitation, overall in WASH and other relevant field in renowned Global or Local NGOs in Bangladesh
  • Familiarity and experience with project management concepts such as Logical Frameworks, Impact Logic or Results Chains will be an advantage
  • Familiarity and working experience with market actors in Private and Public sector, relevant to WASH sector
  • Considerable understanding and knowledge of rural markets, trading relationships and rural service provision in WASH sector
  • Experience in business planning with sanitation and hygiene service
  • Adept understanding of business planning concepts  (e.g. Revenue, expenses, marketing, product development, business planning, micro enterprise development and financing)
  • Must understand the technical, social, and other relevant  constraints in the development field.

Programmatic Skills

  • Ability to responsibly manage implementation funds, monitoring and team progress
  • Ability to plan and implement iterative field level activities for market systems change
  • Understands the facilitative role of the market development approach
  • Good analytical and problem solving skills

Personal Skills

  • Energetic and focused approach to sales coaching and mentoring
  • Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills
  • Self-motivated, energetic and team player
  • Ability to work with various national and international team members and flexibility to adapt to different work conditions
  • Ability to interact and collaborate with a broad range of public, private sector and NGO partners

Physical and Language Skills

  • Ability to travel and undertake fieldwork in rural context
  • Ability to drive motorcycles and having valid driving license
  • Physical fitness required for frequent field visits and extensive travel.
  • Written and oral communication skills in English, including ability to present coherent and convincing messages to different audiences
  • Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite, e-mail and the internet
  • Skills in typing in English and Bangla
  • Familiarity with internet based software systems such as Google Apps

Other Information and Conditions

  • The position would be a regular employment of iDE-B
  • The remuneration package, work days and deliverables might be changed based on negotiation among iDE management and the contract
  • iDE reserves the right to terminate this agreement at any time with the consultation of the employee as per HR policy.

 

Women are actively encouraged to apply.

iDE provides a women friendly work environment with flexible work arrangements, appropriate skill development opportunities and good career development potential for high performing individuals. We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Employment selection and related decisions are made without regard to gender, race, age, disability, religion, national origin, color, or any other protected class.

Please submit your recent CV through bdjobs online application. Only short-listed candidates will be notified.

Deadline: 18 February 2021 COB (4:30pm Bangladesh time)