Organization Description:
Village Enterprise is an innovative microenterprise development organization working in East Africa to reduce poverty with the mission – “*To end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation.”* Village Enterprise provides business training, seed capital/start-up funds and mentoring to entrepreneurs annually to start new and sustainable businesses.

Project Overview: Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems (DREAMS) for refugees provides an innovative solution that will drive refugee self-reliance. Working in Uganda and Ethiopia–home to 10% of the world’s refugee population–DREAMS will provide 150,000 of the most vulnerable refugees with the security and dignity that comes from providing for one’s family. The program will integrate two proven models –poverty graduation and Market Systems Development –layering these approaches in a new way that will ensure that the poorest refugee households are able to improve their income and well-being significantly. Graduation will provide the capital and skills to support refugees as they establish their businesses, and Market Systems Development will help build market access pathways to ensure those businesses can be successful. Through rigorous evaluation, we will generate evidence that DREAMS’ approach to self-reliance is not only possible, but also more cost effective than long-term food assistance.
Position Overview: Full-time staff member, expected to work 40 hours per week. The individual might be required to work on some weekends and occasionally on holidays depending on the magnitude of work. A Village Enterprise Business Mentor is passionate about alleviating poverty in their region and dedicated to their roles as trainer, mentor and community leader.

Job Description
Key result areas
1. Micro Enterprise Development
2. Training and Disbursement
3. Business Saving groups formation
4. Business and Business Saving Groups Mentoring
5. Regional Exposure and analysis
6. Program Reporting
7. Safeguarding
Micro Enterprise Development:
• Develop micro-enterprises according to the Village funding cycle, start microenterprises in your region.
• Fill in forms (both on soft and hard copies) for each micro enterprise as specified in the Business Mentor manual.
• Mobilize qualified households to participate in Village Enterprise program
• Responsible for quality Village Enterprise Program implementation in a village level.
• Training and disbursement:
• Properly train all new Village Enterprise business owners according to training process detailed in the Business Mentor Manual
• After pre-funding training sessions are complete, work with the office staff to carry out grant disbursement for all business groups
• Conduct supplemental training sessions and evaluate micro-enterprise performance after grant disbursements
• Works closely with the E&S Lead, RM and FA to ensure that Private Sector Actors (PSAs) activities are effectively and efficiently integrated into the VE program implementation.
• Business Savings Groups (BSGs):
• Organize Business Savings Groups for each set of 10 businesses funded during a cycle
• Train business groups on BSG formation for self-directed savings and loans
• Attend Monthly Savings Group Meetings for the first nine months providing assistance as needed.
• Provide information and material, which may be of used by the business owners for marketing, value addition, business development, motivation and value chain maintenance.
• Mentoring:
• Provide mentoring on choosing and running a business using methods outlined in Mentoring Manual. Mentoring will require at least one visit to each business per month
• Provide advice and support in designing business-mentoring methodologies that are the most appropriate for the type pf enterprises supported.
• Prepare a monthly report detailing progress of business groups including successes and challenges, general observations and changes to business groups (industry, composition)
• Help Business owners in producing credible business and marketing plan including how to balance positive cash flow and maintain accounts.
• Connect enterprises up and down the value chain by identifying relevant stakeholders, suppliers etc. and creating sustainable commercial relationships between the parties.
• Regional Exposure and Analysis:
• Assist Field Associate, Regional Manager, and the Country Director to introduce Village’s program to local government agencies
• Work with Regional Manager to help identify most viable businesses in your region
• Consult with other Business Mentors to determine best practices and share information
• Attend Business Mentor Training and participate in regional Business Mentor meetings, usually on bi-weekly basis
• Organize business visits as requested by the Country Office.
• Train and show business owners how to conduct engaging presentations to visitors.
• Organize and facilitate peer to peer and lesson learning exchange events between the different enterprises supported in the program.
• Reporting:
• Submit a Monthly report according to the Village Enterprise form in the BM training manual
• Submit Business Profiles once a quarter.
• Safeguarding: “Safeguarding at VE is everyone’s responsibility”
• Continuously sensitize program participants about possible risks of child abuse, sexual/financial exploitation, prevention and response mechanisms.
• Ensure compliance with VE’s safeguarding policies and Code of Conduct in all programs, operations and practices.
• Report any incident of child or adult safeguarding in program operations for appropriate action and follow up.
Living Our Values
Ubuntu: We serve people living in extreme poverty with respect, empathy, and dignity regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, or education level, and value our common humanity.
Passion: We believe passionately in our mission and the ability of people living in extreme poverty to improve their lives.
Integrity: We operate with the highest levels of integrity and trustworthiness.
Innovation: We value innovation as a means to reduce poverty and treat new ideas, new technologies, and new partners as opportunities to grow our impact.
Sustainability: We are committed to ensuring that our businesses and our organization are sustainable in the long-term.

Qualifications:
• Minimum qualification of diploma in the fields of Social work, development studies, Agriculture, animal husbandry, education, project planning and Management, Entrepreneurship, business management or any other related field.
• Experience of 2 years in adult teaching, community training, business mentoring and/or community service.

Key competencies:
• Competent adult trainer and change agent
• Ability to deliver content to adult/ semi illiterate learners in Local languages. Fluency in Lugbara and/or Arabic is a MUST.
• Ability to coach beneficiaries to be able to identify, start and manage viable and sustainable businesses within the domain of VE policy and relevant Government regulations.
• Attention to details including detailed and timely feedback on program progress as of when required
• Should respect community/beneficiary values and belief systems and be able to strike a balance between those values and VE policies and program expectations.
• Strong communication skills
• Strong information technology skills in the use of digital data collection tools, internet application, google documents and Microsoft office applications.

Please send your application and CV in single attachment to

ugandajobs@villageenterprise.org 

addressed to the

Human Resource Coordinator,

P.O BOX 274,

Soroti-Uganda.

Email subject should read ‘’BUSINESS MENTOR’’. Your cover letter should explain why your experience and background make you the ideal candidate for this position, and should be no more than one page. Note: Please do not contact Village Enterprise to enquire as to the status of your application. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.