Job Opening at Founders Factory

We are looking to hire a Senior Venture Sourcing Lead to support our efforts in sourcing and qualifying early-stage startups in Africa. The successful candidate will co-lead our ecosystem engagement efforts to source and identify promising startups, as well as lead the investment process which culminates into Investment Committee approvals. The candidate will need to have a good understanding of technology and business models and have existing networks and exposure to the startup world within Africa. 

Responsibilities

• Sourcing new investment opportunities and leading ecosystem engagement efforts
• Support in developing and maintaining an active partnership referral network within the African Tech ecosystem 
• Conduct market analysis and keep up to speed with sector trends and market performance
• Lead deep dives, industry analysis, and market mapping
• Source, identify, and evaluate new investment opportunities - startups and founders 
• Attending, participating, and hosting industry events to promote FFA venture programs, working with the rest of the sourcing team. 
• Screening, Qualifying, and presenting opportunities at the Investment Committee- Lead on converting investment opportunities 
• Take responsibility for all aspects of the sourcing process (initial screening, negotiation, qualification process, due diligence, and stakeholder socialisation) 
• Conduct thorough opportunities assessment, including market and competitor analysis, technical due diligence, impact modelling, and financial model review
• Prepare documentation to present and sell new investment opportunities internally and to the Investment Committee

Portfolio Support and monitoring

• Work with the portfolio and ventures team in strategic planning for company growth, business model design and critical support areas

Candidate Profile:

• Have a minimum of 3  years of experience in a similar venture capital fund leading the end-to-end investment process 
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, able to build a network, source companies, and develop relationships with top African entrepreneurs and other tech/entrepreneurship ecosystem players in key markets across Africa 
• An analytical mind able to qualify and understand different concepts and business models
• Independently be able to form views around investment decisions, make recommendations, and present deals to senior colleagues and the investment committee
• Be proficient in Excel and comfortable manipulating data and building financial models
• Knowledge and experience building financial models
• Extensive knowledge, enthusiasm for, and interest in technology and start-ups 
• A self-starter who thrives in an autonomous role, with excellent prioritisation, self-organisation, and execution skills

Benefits:

• The role is in a fast-moving company, with a startup culture - this offers lots of opportunities to learn, be hands-on, agile, and have the freedom to develop strategy and execute it without bureaucratic constraints
• This is an exciting opportunity to join one of Africa’s largest venture development and investment companies, to help shape the future of Africa’s startup ecosystem
• Growth and Learning: work with and meet exceptional talent and learn faster than you ever have before. We are in a startup environment, not corporate 9-5, so you determine where you want to grow and how quickly you want to do this. 
• Variety: Opportunity to work on hundreds of different products across a variety of sector
• Health and Wellness: Comprehensive extended health care coverage 
• Network: Founders Factory Africa is part of the strongest global network for startup founders.
• Our relationships with corporate executives, established entrepreneurs, and funders are unparalleled.

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We are looking for a VC Analyst Intern for a 3-month period from February to May 2023.

About the role

As a member of the investment team, you will contribute to building the investment department’s broader capabilities to support portfolio companies. This will involve ad-hoc projects as required.

Your tasks will include:

• Building relevant internal databases which involves:Reaching out to ecosystem players for interviews, Developing surveys for founder and investor feedback, Leveraging tools to scrape the web for data points, Consolidating and synthesising information for reporting
• Market research and analyses
• Other investment-related support

Preferred Profile

• You have passion and existing knowledge of VC in Africa (ideally with experience on the continent).
• Outstanding analytical and strategic thinking skills combined with strong judgment, a sense of responsibility, and curiosity.
• A self-starter, able to operate independently and take on tasks as required.
• Fluency in English is essential.

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This is a full-time position and will be required to work in London, Johannesburg, Kenya, or Nigeria. We operate a hybrid model where you will be required to be in the office at least three days a week 

Responsibilities:

• Developing a Entrepreneur Academy strategy that leverages FFA’s unique experience and expertise in building tech start-ups and is informed by the complex challenges driving youth unemployment across the markets we work in
• Leading the design and execution of iterative experiments/pilots aimed at creating, validating, and refining all aspects of FFA’s Entrepreneur Academy program
• Overseeing qualitative research using methods such as qualitative interviews, experience mapping, service blueprints, and user journeys
• Build up a support team and manage a dispersed team across our key markets
• Representing FFA in the broader Entrepreneur Academy ecosystem to ensure that our program reflects emerging best practices and to identify opportunities for collaboration, partnerships and for amplification of our work
• Working with our Community & Communications team to develop effective branding and marketing materials and strategies for recruiting high-potential learners
• Working with our Embedded Impact and Learning team to design and implement a monitoring and evaluation framework that tracks the impact of the program, distils insights, and creates feedback loops that drive continuous improvement in programming.

The ideal candidate is or possesses…

• Leadership experience and ability that translates into execution. Likely demonstrated by previous experience leading the successful creation of a company or program that scaled
• Demonstrated ability to clearly distil a problem and subsequently identify solutions through iteration(e.g., by following the data and pivoting the approach) rather than charging forward with an initial hypothesis
• Digitally savvy, with a keen sense of the importance of tech in creating scalable delivery channels as well as the risks posed by poorly designed, tech-for-tech’s sake solutions
• Performance-focused in their approach to work. Comfortable with setting ambitious targets and managing to these, including the desire to be incentivized based on performance
• A  passion for education in Africa, The candidate may not be an expert but views Entrepreneur Academy as a critical problem to solve and has empathy for the target market
• Experience working across markets in Africa
• Preference for candidates with a deep network in E4E or Venture Design that they would be able to tap into
• Preference for candidates that have: led a startup, worked in the impact space, or have worked in an Edutech context

Candidates should meet the following minimum requirements:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience building companies or programs in Africa
• Undergraduate or honours graduate degree in a related discipline
• Adept in developing and implementing  cross-functional projects
• Strong collaboration and project management skills are a must.