Job: Extended Term Consultant

Location: Washington, DC
Closing Date: Thursday, 21 November 2013

Background / General description:

infoDev is seeking to hire an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) for a period of 1 year to lead two components of its Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC). The first component relates to deepening skills and capacity in the Caribbean region for key stakeholders involved in innovation and entrepreneurship. The second component relates to enhancing seed stage finance for high growth entrepreneurs in the Caribbean.

Background

infoDev aims to promote the growth of technology enterprises to enhance sustainable inclusive growth, competitiveness, and jobs. It is a part of the Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Global Practice of the Financial & Private Sector Development (FPD) Network at the World Bank. FPD aims to help developing country clients create new opportunities for investments and jobs by supporting the creation of a more efficient, more competitive and more creative private sector, supported by safer, deeper and broader financial markets.

EPIC is a 7-year program funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by infoDev. EPIC aims to contribute to increased competitiveness, growth and job creation in the Caribbean region and a robust and vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem by focusing on growth oriented enterprises. EPIC is designed along three components. The first component focuses on the establishment of thematic accelerators which provide critical local support to start up entrepreneurs and enterprises. The second component focuses on growing the skills and capacity of a range of innovation ecosystem players, including the accelerators, a business incubation community, financiers, and policymakers. The third component is concerned with facilitating appropriate seed stage finance for growth-oriented enterprises.

While all three components of EPIC are integrally linked, these Terms of Reference seek a qualified expert to support the second and third components.

Duties and Accountabilities:

Scope of work

The selected individual will report to the EPIC Program Coordinator, and will work closely with other EPIC team members as well as the wider infoDev team. His/her tasks will include:

• Component II (Skills and capacity): Design, seek requisite approvals for, and begin implementation of a program of skills and capacity development in line with infoDev's overall mandate and the needs of the client countries in the Caribbean. A strong link must be made to the acceleration and access to finance components of EPIC; this program should underpin and support the other components integrally. In addition, the component should be designed with a view to forging partnerships with other relevant institutions and programs in the skills and capacity development space; demonstrating alignment with the World Bank's strategies in the Caribbean; and understanding where infoDev's relative value-add lies, based on its broader mandate and mission. The design and implementation of the component must combine a deepening of basic capacity and skills of innovation stakeholders with exposure and peer learning with good practice from other parts of the world.
• Component III (Access to Finance): Implement a program that has been recently designed and approved around the following pillars: (1) Developing a web-based startup financing marketplace, (2) Deploying a co-investment fund, (3) Catalyzing the local and diaspora angel investor community, (4) Establishing a Venture Finance Resource Center, and (5) Training entrepreneurs on crowd-funding. This component should be implemented with a view to forging partnerships with other relevant institutions and programs in the seed finance space, demonstrating alignment with the World Bank's and IFC's strategies in the Caribbean, and understanding where infoDev's relative value-add lies, based on its broader mandate and mission. The implementation of the component must combine piloting new mentorship-based capital approaches to see what works for the Caribbean region with improving the overall investibility of the Caribbean growth entrepreneur.
• Stakeholder engagement: Coordinate with stakeholders, ranging from client country counterparts, World Bank and IFC colleagues, angel investors, Caribbean diaspora members, training and skills development programs to development partners active in the Caribbean. The consultant will ensure appropriate coordination and maintain strong relationships with all relevant stakeholders, with a view to increasing the overall effectiveness of the program.
• Manage grants and other World Bank operational processes: Ensure that all relevant World Bank processes are followed with respect to overall project management, executing grants to local partners, and fiduciary obligations to donors. This will include managing selection processes, supervising local grantees, trust fund reporting, results tracking and monitoring, budget management, project management and any other operational requirements.
• Ensure coordination and complementarity with the broader EPIC, infoDev and World Bank agenda: Work closely with colleagues and counterparts to ensure that deliverables are linked to and support the broader goals of the EPIC program, infoDev's mission and mandate and the goals of the World Bank in the Caribbean region and the goals of the donor. This includes actively seeking out collaboration opportunities with like-minded partners; working closely with the infoDev Communications team to ensure that milestones and successes are properly publicized and showcased; creating links to infoDev activities in other parts of the world, and making efforts to codify and disseminate development knowledge and learning.

Selection Criteria:

Selection Criteria & Competencies :

These Terms of Reference call for a dynamic, independent and highly-organized professional with enthusiasm to learn, a passion for infoDev's mission, and an ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and in unique developing country markets. The selected candidate should have:

• Excellent oral and written communications skills in English.
• Proven superior project management and organizational abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple and competing demands while still paying attention to detail and ensuring high quality of products.
• Demonstrated ability to work in multi-cultural teams.
• Mastery in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which will be assessed as part of the interview process.
• A Master's degree in a relevant discipline and at least five years of professional experience in finance, project management, management consulting, or other related fields.
• Knowledge of World Bank processes; completion of the Trust Fund Learning and Accreditation Program (TLAP 2.0) is a plus.
  The consultant will perform the work requested on a full-time basis for one year, which may be extended for a second year, upon satisfactory performance. The position will be based in Washington DC. Frequent travel to the Caribbean region is expected. The selected candidate will be compensated in line with World Bank rates commensurate to his/her education and experience.
  
  
  
  
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