Mara Foundation Tanzania Representative

Mara Foundation Overview

Mara Foundation is Mara Group’s social enterprise that focuses on emerging African entrepreneurs. It works to create sustainable economic and business development opportunities for young business owners through various initiatives.

Mara Foundation was launched in 2009 by Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder of Mara Group. Since its inception, the Foundation has scaled its programmatic focus and is now active in a number of countries across Africa.

In 2014, the Foundation continues its strategic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries while simultaneously expanding to other global countries worldwide. Mara Foundation is seed funded and is currently supported by Mara Group.

Mara Foundation’s mission is to provide comprehensive support services including mentorship, funding and business training facilities to African entrepreneurs.

Mara Foundation believes that these support services will play a crucial role in transforming business ideas into reality. These businesses will, in turn, create jobs for other Africans and help build an SME sector that can genuinely contribute to the development of both the local and pan-African economies.   

About the position

We are looking for an ambitious and self-motivated individual to manage the Mara Foundation Tanzania office and ensure its programmes are efficiently implemented.

The first programme is Mara Mentor (mentor.mara.com), an online community that connects entrepreneurs with successful and experienced business leaders. The initiative encourages idea and knowledge sharing among Africa’s most promising young entrepreneurs, inspiring a collaborative approach to business start-up and growth. As we grow, we are seeking to drive the Tanzanian user-base to the next level.

Second, is Mara One-on-One that aims to support the start-up and growth of young businesses in Tanzania by connecting successful businessmen and businesswomen with passionate entrepreneurs for six months. This initiative is designed to help young enterprises survive the cutthroat world of business by creating alliances with strong players who have already succeeded in running successful companies. Through this programme, young entrepreneurs will be able to position their businesses for sustainable growth through one-on-one sessions with a Mentor drawn from the top of the business world.

You will be in charge of the general administration of the programmes and ensuring its success and growth. Other responsibilities will include planning and running periodical local fundraising, contributing to Mara Foundation’s visibility on various social media platforms and other duties added as the organisation grows.

You will directly interact with senior executives business community stakeholders via email, phone and face-to-face meetings thus professional decorum is of the utmost importance.  The successful Representative will write succinct End-of-Month and annual progress reports, conduct thorough Internet research for strategic plans and take copious notes during client and team meetings while balancing critical deadlines and maintaining effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

You will be reporting to the Regional Director.

Summary of job role

• Organise activities in relevant locations to increase the user base on Mara Mentor
• Contribute to the content building on Mara Mentor under the direction of the Mara Mentor Director
• Managing the Mara One-on-One programme in Tanzania, including:
  • Soliciting and recruitment of mentors and mentees
  •  Co-ordination of matching event
  • On-going communications and relationship-building with mentors and mentees
  • Monitoring and evaluation, data collection and collation
  • Managing Mentee’s Meetup events
  • Input into programme expansion and managing new programme areas as needed
• Build relationships and negotiate sponsorships with local and international corporations and organisations
• Attend local workshops, seminars, and conferences to represent Mara Foundation
• Build and maintain long-lasting relationships with relevant stakeholders in Tanzania’s startup ecosystem
• Generate engaging local and global online content via social media
• Generate community-at-large programming through 
local partnerships
• Timely response to all phone and email communications internally and externally
• Manage and monitor all expenses based on the allocated budget for Mara Foundation Tanzania
• General administration duties, and any other duties as assigned by the Regional Director 


Knowledge, Skills and abilities

• Commitment to Mara Foundation’s aims, objectives and principles
• Able to set challenging personal goals and remain motivated despite obstacles
• Confident in presentation, skilled in negotiation
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to details
• Creative, flexible, able to use own initiative to solve problems
• Graduate
• Preferably 3 years organisational experience
• A track-record of leading an event, project or programme of any scale and evidence of its success
• Possesses a “can-do” infectious positive attitude and an entrepreneurial team player perspective. 
Must be honest, accountable and assertive
• Must be a team leader and lead-by-example 
professional
• Must have the ability to produce effective and detailed analyses
• Must be self-directed and reliable in planning and implementation country-wide operations. Must 
possess strong follow-through traits
• Must have the ability to initiate creative and innovative 
strategic planning ideas
• Must have excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills in English.
• Must be able to 
interact and communicate effectively with celebrities, executives, corporate administrators, 
department peers, community and public officials, sales representatives, media and the public
• Must be able to effectively use office equipment, computers and scanner and other resources for 
completion of projects
• Must have acute time management skills, thereby able to manage one’s own time, establish 
schedules and meet deadlines, including managing multiple projects simultaneously.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply by emailing a CV and a covering letter explaining their interest in the position and what they could bring to it, to nw@mara.com. Only successful applicants will be contacted. The position will be based in Dar es Salaam and is to start immediately.