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 EWB Long Term Fellowship
Growth Mosaic
Role: ​
Incubator Fellow
Organization: ​
Growth Mosaic
Website: ​
http://www.growthmosaic.com/
Location​
: Accra, Ghana
Start Date: ​
mid­September 2015
Duration: ​
12 months, with potential for renewal
Number of positions​
: two
Currently seeking people outraged with the status quo ­ ready to disrupt the system!
You may not know where you’re going to be in five years, but it’s clear to you that you
must put your energy towards solving important social problems. If you are ready for
the single most challenging and rewarding job of your life, then an EWB Fellowship
might be a great fit!
Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB)​
is a social change incubator for people,
ventures and ideas. We spark and accelerate systemic innovations in Canada and
Africa that have the potential to radically disrupt the systems that allow poverty to
persist. We work in five portfolio areas: 1) Small and Growing Businesses that Deliver
Social Value; 2) Adaptable Public Service Institutions; 3) Inclusive Food Systems; 4)
Engineering Leaders for the 21st Century; and 5) A triple­bottom­line for Canadian
Mining Companies. We currently support 13 ventures across Canada and Africa. Our
biggest investment in these Ventures comes in the form of recruiting and investing
in exceptional system change leaders who work with them ­ YOU!?
The EWB Fellowship​
offers talented professionals the opportunity to complete work
placements of 12 to 20 months with the Ventures EWB incubates in Africa. Fellows
have the opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills, gain unrivalled
leadership experiences and stake an active role in systemic change. This unique
experience draws on EWB’s 15+ years of experience to provide a holistic
understanding of systems change while living and working in Africa. It is built to be
challenging and to develop Fellows’ leadership skills.
About Growth Mosaic
Growth Mosaic bridges impact investment and social businesses. We (1) Source
early­stage, scalable impact businesses; (2) Accelerate them to become
investment­ready; and (3) Matchmake the impact business with appropriate
investors. So far we have facilitated US$2.9 million for our clients who have
collectively impacted 12,700+ rural customers, and we have another US$2.5 million
being negotiated currently.
Our core services are deployed with our talent model to hire, train, and mentor West
Africans to deliver best­in­class business acceleration services and capital advisory
services.
Currently we are limited by the available capital on the market: our core services
tend to be limited to impact businesses raising US$1+ million to grow. We are
building new ecosystem infrastructure to provide start­ups and very early­stage
impact businesses with access to lower­touch incubation services. This will involve a
Challenge Fund to spur new innovation in stagnant impact sectors, and an Incubation
program to coach start­ups from idea through to early­market traction towards
attracting further follow­on investment.
About the role
We are looking for business savvy coaches with past start­up or entrepreneurial
experience to facilitate interactive workshops for education and healthcare start­ups.
You will be interacting extensively with likely young, first­time entrepreneurs. Your
role will involve both project management and implementation of our Challenge
Fund and Incubation program. This Challenge Fund was designed in partnership with
Duke Fuqua School of Business’ Centre for the Advancement of Social
Entrepreneurship. It is being co­implemented and co­financed in partnership with
Ghana Angel Investor Network and EWB Canada, with Incubator curriculum support
from MBA students at Oxford Saïd Business School and the Global Social Benefit
Institute based out of Santa Clara University. You will be involved in managing the
relationships of all stakeholders, including those of our investees.
Specific Responsibilities include:
● Refine the problem/opportunity statements of our challenge fund by speaking
with industry experts and performing human­centered design techniques;
● Market the challenge fund in universities targeting graduating students, to
teacher associations targeting entrepreneurial teachers, and to the general
public to solicit for exceptional diamonds in the rough;
● Manage the applicant tracking software to respond to applications;
● Coordinate the review of applications by Growth Mosaic management and
volunteer expert panelists from the education sector;
● Manage the selection of the challenge fund winner(s) including disbursement
of seed finance;
● Develop interactive workshops on topics from human­centered design, to lean
startup methodology, to customer development, to business model innovation,
finance, strategy, marketing, operations, team development, etc. This will
involve integrating more experiential learning techniques into existing
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training materials.
Deliver interactive workshops with participating entrepreneurs;
Coach entrepreneurs to understand the workshop material and develop their
start­up businesses;
Mentor and brainstorming with entrepreneurs to overcome business
challenges;
Document processes and best practices in detail to eventually hand­off to
Ghanaian counterparts after 2­3 iterations/cohorts of entrepreneurs.
About You
Our ideal candidate will have the following type of experience:
● Bachelor's degree in business and/or entrepreneurship, Master’s degree is an
asset;
● 1­3 years of professional experience in finance, business development,
strategy, marketing, and/or management consulting;
● Working knowledge of human­centered design, lean startup and customer
development methodology, business model innovation, seed finance;
● 2+ years experience facilitating interactive workshops;
● Past project management experience (process development, team
management, stakeholder management, managing to a budget)
● Start­up business incubation experience in education and healthcare sectors is
an asset;
● Past entrepreneurial experience is an asset.
In addition, we will prioritize candidates with such characteristics as:
● Business savvy to help Ghanaian entrepreneurs creatively problem­solve in
their start­up business;
● Strong oral and written communication and coaching skills for start­up
entrepreneurs;
● Creative brainstorming techniques for business idea generation and
validation;
● Business plan writing and evaluation skills;
● Strong organization skills to develop clearly documented processes that can be
taken up by Ghanaian counterparts;
● Passion for teaching, facilitating, coaching, mentoring;
● Ability to work in a team, and to deal with ambiguity.
Benefits of the EWB Fellowship
People are attracted to Engineers Without Borders because of the personal and
professional benefits that come from working within a learning organization, and to
become part of a dynamic network you join for life. Many of Canada's top employers
recognize Engineers Without Borders as a source for highly skilled and motivated
young leaders. EWB alumni have gone on to be successful in many different career
paths.
Other benefits include:
● A three­week system change leadership training program in Toronto and 40
hours of online learning prior to departure.
● An orientation upon arrival overseas
● Deep integration into the local culture
● Two professional development retreats organized by EWB (typically in the
Spring and Fall)
● Health, Safety & Wellness support from EWB (including health insurance)
● Direct management & coaching from the leadership of the hosting Venture
● Eligibility to attend EWB’s National Conference in the second year overseas
● Belonging to EWB’s dynamic community of system change leaders
Compensation
All costs relating to the placement are either paid for directly by EWB (airfare,
insurance, vaccinations, trainings) or indirectly through a living stipend, which
covers food, living expenses, local travel, etc. The stipend covers basic living expenses
for a modest lifestyle in each geography. Stipends are sometimes adjusted based on
experience. Fellows also receive an honorarium that can be used to assist with
repatriation costs or additional costs during the duration of the placement.
Application Process
The goals of the application process and interview are threefold ­ to better
understand: what motivates you, your personal characteristics as they relate to being
an EWB Fellow, and your thoughtfulness on macro and micro issues in systems
change for global development. The selection process consists of the following steps:
1. Resume & Cover letter (send ​
by June 29)
Please send us your resume and cover letter using ​
this onine form​
. In your
cover letter, please address the questions below. We encourage all applicants
to treat these questions seriously as they are the only metric that we can use to
determine if we should invite you to an interview. Please feel free to answer the
questions in either French or English in your cover letter. ​
Applications close
on​
June 29 ​
at 11pm EST​
.
Application questions
● Why EWB and Growth Mosaic? How does this fellowship fit into your
career aspirations? (max. 400 words)
● What motivates you and gives you energy on a day­to­day and
long­term basis. (max. 400 word)
● Describe why you are passionate about international development and
social change, how this interest came about and how you have acted on
this passion in the past. (max 400 words)
● Describe your experience with human­centered design, lean startup
and customer development methodology, or business model innovation
topics. (max. 400 word)
● Describe your experience developing and deploying interactive
workshops (ideally in cross­cultural environments with start­up
entrepreneurs). (max. 400 word)
● Please share anything else you feel is important that your application
did not cover (max. 200 words)
● What information led you to apply?
2. Interviews​
(July 6 ­ August 17)
There will be a minimum of two rounds of interviews. The first round is led by
EWB staff members who gauge your fit with EWB’s basic selection criteria.
You will be provided with a reading assignment that will form a basis for the
conversation. Successful candidates will move on to the second round of
interviews led by Venture Leaders who will explore your fit with the specific
role they are hiring for. A successful interview with a Venture Leader may
result in an offer being made, or a return to the pool of candidates to be
interviewed by another Venture Leader for a different position.
To submit your resume and cover letter for this position please use the following
online form​
and select "EWB Long Term Fellowship ­ Fall 2015" as the “Opportunity
type” and Growth Mosaic as the “Organization”. If you would like to submit your
candidacy to more than one role, please fill out separate forms.
If you experience technical difficulties, feel free to simply send your resume & cover
letter addressing the questions specified above to ​
[email protected]​
. For further
details, please read our​
Frequently Asked Questions​
​
,​
our website​
​
and our​
manifesto​
​
.