Job Title: Microfinance Manager 

Duty Station: Mbale, Uganda 

Reports to: Managing Director 

About Mountain Harvest 

Mountain Harvest is a young, innovative coffee company that works to raise the quality of life for smallholder Arabica coffee farmers in Uganda by increasing incomes, helping build farm and household assets, and enhancing farmer resilience to shocks on a commercially and environmentally sustainable basis. The company was founded in 2017 with the core belief that change can only be achieved by unlocking and monetizingthe unrealized potential of the farmers’ coffee and farms. Our approach involves  three major interventions:

Elevating quality into the premium segment of the specialty coffee market; II. Disconnecting pricing from the commodity markets through a relationship-based trade with  roaster-retailers that pay substantially higher prices for quality and impact (social and  environmental);

And by using the additional margin generated from higher prices to invest at the farm level through an intense, service-oriented engagement with farmers.

Mountain Harvest anticipates starting a Revolving Micro Finance Project with support from the United  Nations Development Programme under the Global Environment Facility. The Integrated Resilience  Financing Facility will offer farmers revolving credit, combined with financial literacy training, access to quality inputs, technology, training, post-harvest processing facilities, marketing, and branding of their coffee to specialty buyers.

Job Summary: 

The Microfinance Manager will provide overall leadership and development of Mountain Harvest’s and the project’s performance goals/objectives. These objectives majorly include financial literacy training for farmers, loan portfolio growth and quality, savings portfolio growth, profitability, outreach, efficiency, quality of service delivery, compliance to policies & procedures and regulations, and integration with other core Mountain Harvest initiatives, among others. The position will play a major role in implementing Mountain Harvest’s Gender Strategy which aims at achieving gender equality in our business model.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:  

• Develop and implement project implementation plans in line with the company and project objectives.
• Plan and ensure field staff is fulfilling strategic and operational objectives related to the project. b)
• Design and implement microfinance training for Mountain Harvest staff and identified beneficiaries at the farm level.
• Plan and monitor the implementation of the loan disbursement processes as per set disbursement standards.
• Plan and monitor the implementation of the savings performance indicators in farmer groups.
• Plan and monitor loan portfolio growth, quality, and outreach as per project targets.
• Conduct other administrative roles regarding operational activities.
• Compile, analyze, and provide weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance reports to management as per reporting requirements.
• Enhance compliance with policies and procedures.
• Ensure risk mitigation measures are implemented to control identified risks.
• Develop and implement strategies of delinquency management as per standards set by management.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience: 

• The ideal candidate for the micro-finance Manager job placement must hold a University Degree, preferably in commerce and accounting (B.Com), Business Administration (B.BA/ Banking), or related discipline. Possession of a Master’s Degree in any Business related discipline is an added advantage.
• A minimum of five years’ experience in a recognized microfinance institution with at least two years in a supervisory capacity.
• Sound knowledge of microfinance/banking accounting computer systems with the comfortable operation of Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, etc) as a requirement.
• Sound knowledge of micro-finance, principles, and practices of banking.
• Proven ability to train and implement programming with groups of varying capabilities and cultural backgrounds.
• Experience in working with, and developing or integrating database systems is an added advantage
• The successful candidate will be required to ride a motorcycle. As such, a valid rider’s license is essential.