Value Chain Strategy Lead (Fixed-Term)

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 9,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

About the Role

You will ensure that market access value chains are analyzed against the winner value chain framework thoroughly and accurately to 1) inform org resourcing decisions, 2) guide Market Access stakeholders on how to strengthen those value chains, and 3) deliver impact for smallholder farmers and especially youth and women.

Responsibilities

Value Chain Analysis

• Analyze our active market access businesses to drive shared understanding of performance and investment conviction across departments.
• Lead diligence on new market access businesses that can create significant demand for farmers' crops, opportunities for women and youth in program countries, and contribute to One Acre Fund's financial sustainability.
• Support financial analysis, including our budgeting cycle and investment cases for CapEx.
• Socialize recommendations with key stakeholders across the organization.

Value Chain Development

• Own a new market access pilot from end-to-end: diligence, design, and delivery in collaboration with country programs. Ensure these activities are aligned with the interests of smallholder farmers and youth and women in particular.
• Support country programs in their value chain development learning on operations, quality/technical management, and unit economics.
• Develop external expert networks to support market intelligence and strengthen execution on sales and market development.

Special Projects

• Contribute your analytical and entrepreneurial talents to critical projects in other market access businesses as needed.

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Entrepreneurial appetite and horsepower: you can learn new chains rapidly, navigate ambiguity, and balance multiple priorities.
• Excellent analytical skills: you can build and evaluate decision-grade financial models (especially P&Ls); you can use data coupled with sound business judgment to influence business decisions.
• Excellent interpersonal skills & stakeholder management: proficient at understanding teams' and leaders' priorities as well as exercising indirect influence to align stakeholders.
• Project management & organizational skills.

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Flexible: Rwanda or Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits

Contract Duration

3 Years

Eligibility

One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or candidates with extensive professional experience in) our countries of operation are preferred.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.