Reporting/Supervisor: Senior Director, Markets
Location: Flexible/Remote – Ability to collaborate with Acceso team in Eastern Time Zone (GMT-5) required
Start Date: ASAP
Term: 12 months
Travel: up to 30%
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 ag-tech 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.
About this role:
The Consultant will work directly with Acceso’s Senior Director of Markets to support value chain and markets assessments and strategic plans for Acceso social agribusinesses in Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico and Guatemala. Key focus areas include value chain mapping, evaluation and design of the strategies and implementation framework to strengthen value chains and markets for Acceso farmers. We are looking to hire a former management consultant for this exciting role which will inform much of Acceso’s market growth strategy and offer the opportunity to work with Acceso’s senior leadership team. There is the possibility for this position to become a full-time role following the consultancy.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop an assessment tool to evaluate key actors (farmers/producers, intermediaries and buyers) of the value chains and markets for the social agribusinesses in Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico and Guatemala.
- Produce an analysis of the value chains from production to transportation and retail, detailing the roles of each segment of the chain, major players, and the relationships between them.
- Evaluate capacity, cost structure, strengths, opportunities, challenges and current incentives of the key players, developing an in-depth understanding of the agribusiness sectors in Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico and Guatemala and relevant issues.
- Assess current supply, and agriculture and agribusiness sectors dynamics.
- Identify the highest potential farmers and regions to enable a successful sourcing strategy.
- Assess market demand including current and future domestic markets and export potential.
- Identify the highest potential markets and buyers to increase volume and sales growth.
- Design incentives for the key players to develop and strengthen the value chains for the social enterprises.
- Prepare recommendations for short term actions as well as longer term strategies to strengthen Acceso´s value chains and markets and support Acceso´s five-year expansion plans.
Tasks and deliverables:
- Prepare a work plan.
- Conduct desk research.
- Conduct key actors’ interviews and site visits.
- Prepare assessment reports for the value chains models.
- Prepare a strategic plan and implementation framework for strengthening the value chains and markets for Acceso social agribusinesses and farmers.
Experience Requirements:
- Experience with value chain and markets assessments with a focus on agriculture and agribusinesses.
- Minimum of two years’ full-time work experience in management consulting.
Other Skills and Attributes:
- Hard Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in economics, engineering, business administration or international development. Master’s degree preferred.
- Data-driven with strong analytical, research, and information gathering skills.
- Strong financial modeling skills.
- Previous experience of working in Latin America a bonus.
- Soft Skills
- Entrepreneur-minded and creative, out-of-the-box thinker.
- Enthusiastic and optimistic individual, with the drive to change the world for the better.
- Detail oriented and meticulously organized.
- Strong team player.
- Excellent written, presentation and PowerPoint skills.
3. Language skills: Fluency in Spanish a strong plus.
Compensation:
- $7,000-9,000/month commensurate with experience, and Acceso will cover the cost of any work-related travel.
- The opportunity to generate positive impact in the lives of smallholder farmers and work for an organization with a culture of constant learning and rapid growth.
Application instructions:
To apply, please send your CV/Resume and Cover Letter to [email protected] with the subject “Value Chain & Market Assessments Consultant – Your Name.” We are hoping to bring someone onboard as soon as possible, so please do not hesitate to apply.