Business Advisor Manager

Position: Business Advisor Manager

Enterprise: Acceso El Salvador

Supervisor: Programs Director, El Salvador.

Location: El Salvador

Contract: Fixed term (1 year) with possible renewal

About Acceso

Acceso (www.acceso.org) is a social enterprise that is revolutionizing food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean to put smallholder farmers first. Acceso’s mission is to create fundamental and lasting positive economic change in the lives of rural smallholder farming families. Our entrepreneurial model provides smallholder farmers with a sustainable way to participate in formalized markets, enabling them to work themselves out of poverty with dignity and to prosper. Acceso currently operates a portfolio of three social businesses in Colombia, Haiti and El Salvador and an agtech tool (Extensio) founded in Mexico. Across our agribusinesses, we have impacted more than 26,000 smallholder farmers and farm workers, generating more than $60m in farmer income to date.

Acceso El Salvador is a social enterprise that has been working to strengthen local food systems since 2013. The enterprise is in an exciting growth phase to impact many more smallholder farmers and fishers across Central America. Acceso’s goal is to become the world’s most impactful and sustainable model to alleviate poverty at scale.

About this role:

The Business Advisor Manager will be responsible for the implementation of the technical assistances and training for new and existing SMEs, cooperatives, and associations to improve their operations and promote growth. Support will focus on (1) cooperatives or associations providing services to farmers; (2) SMEs providing inputs, equipment, processing, logistics, market access or other services to farmers; and (3) SME wholesalers or buyers procuring from farmers and selling on to other customers.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and implement the strategy for the technical assistances that is will be provided to new and existing SMEs, cooperatives, and associations to expand valuable services and products, fill gaps and satisfy new market opportunities through strengthening their operations, financials, and legal management.
• Lead the coordination with partners/stakeholders to identify and train high-potential new and existing food system SMEs, cooperatives, or associations that have the capacity to impact famers, fishermen, and agriculture/aquaculture/fishing workers that are assisted by Acceso to create a sustainable ecosystem in the developing of integrated food systems.
• Design the plan for the identification of the SMEs, cooperatives, and associations including the develop the methodology for the evaluation and prioritization of the new and existing SMEs, cooperatives, and associations that will receive Acceso’s advisory in line with internal and donor’s requirements to assure that the expected results will be met.
• Design the intake, application, and selection process, including due diligence
• Lead and design the technical assistance and trainings programs for the SMEs, cooperatives, and associations that includes, but are not limited to, business plan, financial modeling, operations, marketing, accounting, social impact, gender equality, and specific expertise topics.
• Assure that the advisory for existing SMEs, cooperatives, and associations include, but not limited to, expansion of valuable services and products, fill gaps and satisfy new market opportunities.
• Assure that the advisory for new SMEs, cooperatives, and associations include, but not limited to, support in grow activities and membership, improve efficiency, and deliver more needed services for providers (e.g., farmers and fishermen) and support to formalize the business activities, developed of business plans, financial projections and tackle other barriers to grow revenues, profits, and impact.
• Evaluate the financial needs and deploy financing to support equipment and operations of selected organizations.
• Prepare periodic reports that includes the interventions executed with the results obtained, milestones and indicators accomplished, next steps, and barriers identify with a proposal for overcome the barriers identified.
• Any other function that is assigned to it.

Other Skills and Attributes

1.Hard Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, economics, laws, food sciences, agronomy, agroindustry, agribusiness, or industrial engineering. Master’s degree a plus.
• Eight (8) or more years of experiences supporting SMEs, cooperatives or associations focused in improved the operations and business growth.
• Experiences working with projects funded by donors in the areas of entrepreneurship or capacity building for SMEs, cooperatives, or associations.
• Proven experiences in the development of business case for SMEs, cooperatives, or associations; experience with incubators or accelerators a plus.
• Experiences working with stakeholders from the private and public sector and civil society.
• Experiences in developing business linkages across the product value chain including connecting SMEs, cooperatives, or associations with markets.
• Proven experiences working with gender inclusion focus is a plus.
• Documentation management.
• Data analysis skills.
• Knowledge of accounting/finance, business development and marketing.
• Management of MS office platform.

2.Soft Skills

• Entrepreneurial mindset
• Critical thinking and decision marker.
• Effective communication and training skills.
• Leadership and teamwork with a multidisciplinary team.
• Innovative, organized and focused on finding solutions.
• Motivated to work aimed at changing the lives of the beneficiaries.

3.Language Skill: Oral and written fluency in Spanish and proficient in English.

Application Instructions

To apply, please send your Resume, Cover Letter to [email protected] with the subject “Business Advisor Manager – Your Name” no later than April 28, 2023.

For more information about Acceso and careers with us, please visit Acceso.org/careers.

Acceso is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.