Most of the world's poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a start-up NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a "market bundle" that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure more than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.
We are growing quickly. In five years, we have grown to serve 65,000 farm families with more than 500 full-time field staff. Our 2011 operating expense is roughly $9m USD. In three more years, we will at least quadruple in size, while adding several new countries. Our approach has won widespread validation, winning grants from the highly competitive Echoing Green and Skoll Foundations, and the global Financial Times/ IFC award for "basic needs financing" in 2010 and 2011. Website: www.oneacrefund.org
Job Responsibilities
One Acre Fund has grown rapidly, and will continue to do so, adding 50-100% to client numbers and budget per year for the foreseeable future. Job responsibilities will include:
- Strategic thought partner We are seeking someone who understands how financial intelligence can effectively drive our business forward.
- Design of financial models: Our CFO will work closely with our Finance Director and CEO to design financial models that help One Acre Fund to understand the most cost-effective strategies to achieve growth.
- Strategic perspective: Our CEO and Finance Director are seeking a thought-partner that will help us to drive to the most effective strategy.
- Evaluation of basic financial operations We are seeking someone who has demonstrated experience in a comprehensive range of basic finance operations including:
- Accounting and audit Timely and high-quality audit submissions
- Financial and cash controls Regular review of financial controls and identify/ fix any fraud opportunities (including theft, asset sale procedures, internal audit team, fake employees or customers, etc). In particular, identify any possible enterprise-level fraud risks.
- Cash management Review of One Acre Fund protocols that ensure a positive and responsible cash balance throughout the year, with a focus on possible enterprise-level risks
- Budget Review of One Acre Fund budgeting procedures, with a particular focus on possible scenarios that would create enterprise-level budget shortfall problems
- Donor grants handling Review of One Acre Fund donor grants handling including handling of restricted and unrestricted funds
- Budgeting and budget-vs-actuals reconciliation Review of One Acre Fund budget-vs-actuals reconciliation process, with a particular focus on ensuring that management receives timely and accurate business intelligence on the future of the organization
- Board and external reporting We are seeking someone who will be able to clearly communicate our financials to our board and externally.
- Mentor to the Finance Director We are not necessarily seeking to hire a permanent CFO. We are seeking a leader who will serve as a mentor to our current Finance Director, with the eventual goal of grooming them to become a successor as a permanent CFO.
Qualifications
We are seeking an experienced professional. One Acre Fund seeks truly extraordinary candidates that will help take our organization to the next levels of impact and scale. Only 3% of applicants make it to a phone screen. Therefore, please only apply if you fit these criteria:
- Diverse finance experience. We are seeking someone who has broad experience in a wide variety of finance functions. Particularly valued:
- Finance experience working within a company (as opposed to banking)
- Finance experience working in a rapidly-growing, entrepreneurial organization
- Africa-based finance experience would be particularly valued, but not necessary
- On-the-ground perspective. We are ideally seeking someone who has had a prior experience building financial systems from the ground up.
- Strategic viewpoint. We are seeking someone who knows how to use financial information to inform better business strategy.
- Likeability and humility. We value humility and likeability, and wish to be joined by leaders that value the same.
- Top-performing academic background (please include GPA and test scores on your resume)
- A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least one month.
- Ideally, some prior demonstrated interest in international development – we are generally a mission-oriented team.
Preferred Start Date: Flexible
Compensation: Commensurate with experience
Sponsor International Candidates: Yes
To apply:
Email cover letter and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org (Subject line: "CFO" + name of the site that referred you)
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