Lead Venture Advisor West Africa at Persistent Systems Limited

Seniority Level: Director

Your role

• We are looking for an exceptionally entrepreneurial person to lead our venture building efforts in West Africa.
• You will be the senior representative of Persistent in West Africa and provide leadership to all our business activities in the region.

Responsibilities
You will:

• Identify and evaluate new investment opportunities following our human and financial capital investment strategy
• Work part of your time in operational roles in our partner companies
• Manage portfolio of venture companies against key performance and impact indicators
• Provide advisory work within the mandate of existing partnerships such as the EEGF and opportunistically to generate additional revenue, gain market insights and develop business opportunities
• Actively contribute to our investment process
• Support our ongoing fundraising
• Support recruitment, training and development of additional venture advisors and other West Africa based team members
• Provide industry thought leadership through research and by representing Persistent at conferences, other events and generally in the West African community
• Support and coordinate administration of our operations in West Africa. Your impact will be evaluated by the following KPIs: Value of – and impact generated by sweat equity positions added to Persistent balance sheet; value created through originated investments; people added and successfully integrated in the team; cash revenue from advisory and other mandates; thought leading articles published / presentations given.

Your Profile

• Entrepreneurial experience and mindset: You have been a founder or an entrepreneur in an early stage business and know the needs of startups in terms of know-how, experience and financial capital.
• Self-starter and allrounder: You are willing to take bold steps and to bring the organisation with you, resulting in new investment opportunities, sustainable performance of our portfolio, and highly motivated colleagues and portfolio entrepreneurs. You are willing to get your hands dirty and do not consider even basic venture building tasks beneath you.
• Business model design and financial analysis: You have the ability to build financial models for successful businesses, you are able to conduct detailed financial analysis generating actionable insights, and you have a sound understanding of corporate finance matters and accounting
• Building relationships and representing: You understand and have strong connections within the start-up ecosystems in West Africa. You are able to set up our West Africa presence on the ground and connect it to the relevant actors in the ecosystem Persistent operates in. You have the confidence and competence to be a public voice for Persistent in public speaking, writing and participating in industry groups and the community at large.
• Team player with strong leadership and management skills: You are able to set direction and to enable and empower colleagues within an organisation.
• Travel: You are able to frequently travel to spend time with ventures and the distributed Persistent team

Ideally, you will also have the following:

• Knowledge of the renewable energy sector in sub-Saharan Africa
• Experience working within the framework UN SDG 6-9

Build with us:

• Our culture at Persistent is entrepreneurial, collaborative and flexible. We seek talented people who are passionate about impact and have a drive for excellence.
• We offer a dynamic work environment that is required to work closely with our fast-moving partner companies that are located in more than a dozen countries in Africa.

Benefits
Join us at Persistent and benefit from:

• Impact: An opportunity to work directly with start-ups in underserved markets and create lasting social and environmental impact.
• Steep learning curve: You will join a small, but experienced team that will enable you to become a multi-skilled professional in a short period of time and build the confidence to embrace and tackle most business challenges.
• Opportunity to take initiative: Leverage your expertise to create practical and relevant solutions for companies on the frontline and see concrete outcomes of your work.
• Flexibility: Exercise a significant amount of discretion in determining what you do and how you do it.
• Persistent is a workplace that gives you the flexibility to balance the requirements of work and private life. While you will frequently travel to our partner companies and to be with your colleagues, you will also be able to work from home when necessary, and make use of flexible hours and family focused leave policies. We also offer attractive compensation that is designed to reward your performance and impact over the long term.