Business Development Manager-MENA (INT10104)

DIVISION: Engagement

TEAM: Business Development

LOCATION: Lebanon/ MENA region in a country where Oxfam GB has a presence, subject to Oxfam GB’s ability to employ in that location 

CONTRACT TYPE: Open-ended

GRADE: B2                                                                  

JOB FAMILY:  Fundraising

SALARY: Lebanon pay scale

$71,500 to $87,000 FTE

HOURS: Full Time

FLEXIBILE WORKING

We believe flexible working is key to building the Oxfam of the future, so we’re open to talking through the type of flexible arrangements which might work for you. We think this role would work particularly well as a partially home-based assignment.

DIVISION PURPOSE: This division exists to inspire, activate and raise resources from our partners, supporters, allies and friends.

TEAM PURPOSE: The Business Development Team sits within IFT and leads on identifying and securing funding and partnership opportunities that translate OGB programmatic ambitions. Delivering effective business development, the team is accountable for co-creation of OGB’s business development approaches and strategies, for shaping, informing and influencing all significant new engagements, for effective partnership identification and new opportunity development across OGB, for Oxfam Country’s long-term development and influencing interests. The team collaborates closely with actors across the global confederation and, by identifying our niche or value added, and by marshalling complementary resources of staff, partners and donors, leads on providing them all with a vision of success based on our competencies and experience to date

JOB PURPOSE: The purpose of the Business Development manager is to pre-position Oxfam towards emerging funding & partnership opportunities that are in line with our mandate and aspirations.

The BDM will be required to develop and implement a strategic vision for business development across their country portfolio that aligns new funding opportunities (multi-stakeholder consortia, commercial bids and negotiated contracts) and more traditional institutional partnerships with OGB’s geographic and thematic priorities. The BDM will play an important part in advancing OGB’s overall strategic position within their country portfolio in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) by supporting the growth of programmes, strategic partnerships, and influence with partners and donors alike.

The BDM will be able to work seamlessly within the architecture of the Oxfam confederation and its affiliates worldwide, positioning OGB as the partner of choice for resource mobilisation and new business development in the MENA region. Critical to the success of our ‘One Oxfam’ approach will be establishing effective working relationships with the OI regional platform in MENA, the OI Regional Business Development Manager, and with counterparts at country level and in other affiliates

POST HOLDER REPORTS TO

Head of Institutional Business Development

KEY MATRIX RELATIONSHIP

Regional Business Development Manager- MENA

JOBS REPORTING TO THIS POST

None

BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY

No

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

·       Contribute to corporate projects at impacting on own affiliate and possibly across OI.

·       Resolve complex unit problems and a limited number of wider reaching problems.

·       Work with information in varied formats/sources, but relating to unit or department.

·       Impact on income and reputation at unit level.

·       Influence and negotiate with a wide range of people on an infrequent basis.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

As a key funding representative of OGB in  MENA, the BDM will have responsibility for growing the OGB pipeline of programme funding from OGB priority donors in four ways: first, by supporting the development of relevant resource mobilisation strategies with programme teams at regional and country levels in OGB priority programme areas; second, by supporting a dynamic portfolio of strategic relationships; third, by identifying, qualifying, and capturing new business opportunities aligned to OGB programme priority strategies at county and regional levels; and fourth, by building capacity at country level for successful business development for OGB’s programmes.

Specifically, the BDM will be responsible for:

· Market insight development –The BDM will help connect OGB to the market through pro-active intelligence gathering, by monitoring relevant trends in both donor and partner organisations, and by tracking changes in donor policies that could impact current or future funding opportunities. The BDM will guide the negotiation of appropriate cooperation agreements that manage risk and deliver social impact. The BDM will follow established protocols for internal coordination and communication on partnership development within OGB and the confederation.

· Pipeline development – The BDM will ensure a continuous stream of potential growth opportunities for OGB’s programming aligned to country portfolio interest and OGB’s thematic priorities from traditional grant and emerging modalities / mechanisms. The BDM will be responsible for ensuring that the organisation identifies, creates, qualifies, and successfully captures new business opportunities that are suitable and strategically aligned for new and existing programmes. The BDM will hold specific responsibilities for identifying, analysing, tracking and preparing potential opportunities for programme growth that will enable better informed management decision-making. The BDM will contribute to ensuring that the BD portfolio generates consistent and standardised information in a presentable format to enable regular BD reviews, appropriate knowledge management and systems; and good quality management decision-making. The BDM will work collaboratively with functional specialists at country, regional, and affiliate levels to develop the supporting evidence and case for new bids.

· Strategic donor partnerships – The BDM will work with others, particularly the OGB Donor Partnership Managers and OI RDBM, Country Teams, to ensure that OGB is positioned with donors as a respected leader in the sector; to ensure good technical cooperation and policy dialogue between programme specialists in OGB and donor agencies; and to maximise potential opportunities for funding in order to sustain and grow our programmes. The BDM should have sufficient practical experience and theoretical knowledge of the full breadth of OGB’s global and country specific programming to enable conversations with donors at strategic and operational level.

· Partnership development – The BDM will, with others in the BD team, be responsible for identifying, establishing and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances with a wide range of stakeholders – including Development financial institutions, non-profit organisations, commercial consultancies, public utilities, and government ministries – in order to identify new areas of collaboration, consortium partnerships, and joint funding for Oxfam’s programming. The BDM will be responsible for the full range of partnership building activities – from identification and cultivation of new partners, commercial negotiation of agreements, and key account management. The BDM will also lead on develop of standard thematic capability statements that articulate OGB’s added value and help secure successful partnerships.

· Capacity building in new business development – The BDM will help set the standard for professional business development by contributing to building the capacity of staff and partners at country level for designing relevant resource mobilisation strategies, for building effective donor relationships, and for successful bid capture. At the request of country and regional programme teams, the BDM will contribute to capacity building through skills training, staff accompaniment and mentoring, and encouraging continuous learning and improvement in business development. Because this is a relatively new area of work, the BDM will also work with others in the BD Team in developing the BD Team’s core business processes, systems, and procedures building organisational capacity and define best practice.

· Bid development – The BDM will play an active supporting role in the development of new bids in order to help OGB capture new opportunities for growth in the market. This will require the BDM to contribute to and collaboratively work effectively with technical programme specialists, programme developers, and bid managers at different levels and at all stages of bid development. The extent of the BDM’s participation in bid development will vary depending on the opportunity and available resources and will require a high degree of flexibility in adapting ways of working with others in order to maximise benefits for Oxfam.

·       Team working – The BDM will be responsible for working with a high-performing BD team of Business Development Managers, coordinators, and Analysts, responsible for thematic and geographic business development within and beyond the MENA context. The BDM will contribute to strategic and operational planning processes; define and deliver an agreed set of team performance targets; and providing guidance, coaching and support in helping peers achieve optimum performance. The BDM will contribute towards establishing the core business processes of the team and ensure effective linkages with others throughout the system in OGB, and throughout OI.

· Donor Account Lead – The BDM will be responsible, where assigned, to act as donor account lead on specific institutional donors (IFI’s or other) and to carry out support and lead activities related to that function (advising country offices and other functions within OGB, providing insight and introductions that further Oxfam’s aims and strengthen relationships and understanding, reviewing project reports and proposals if necessary, etc.

For this role, we have selected two of the most relevant feminist Leadership practices for this role (which you can read more about here: Self-awareness is always mandatory, then you identify two of the most relevant practices for this role.

1 Relationship Building

2 Mutual Accountability

3 Systems Thinking

Essential

• Proven track record of success in new business development for a large international agency
• Prior experience in the design, delivery, or management of programmes in livelihoods, food security, gender justice, economic justice, humanitarian response, and water and sanitation, or hygiene; particularly in fragile contexts; and from a sustainable development perspective a sustainable development perspective
• Significant amount of experience in resource mobilisation for a large international agency like Oxfam, preferably at regional level
• Ability to design and coordinate winning bids and consortia partnerships
• Ability to influence, facilitate processes, and work with others without direct line management authority
• High calibre of networking, external representation, and negotiation skills
• High degree of discretion, tact, and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels
• Ability to adapt and work within a multicultural, multilingual, and multidisciplinary environment
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills in English with ability to analyse and synthesise complex issues
• Prior experience and knowledge of working in MENA.
• Excellent inter-personal skills and working as a part of a remotely based team.
• Willingness and ability to travel in the MENA region.

Desirable

·       Ability to draft and review legal contracts and partnership agreements

·       Knowledge and awareness of issues related to Oxfam’s strategic objectives and theories of change

·       Experience of skills coaching & training in relation to programme funding or related field.

·       Arabic language skills.