Portfolio Growth Manager, (PGM) Central, Eastern and Southern Africa

Job Description

The key purpose of this position is to drive the transformation of Swisscontact business development to be more proactive, growth oriented. The Portfolio Manager is a senior leadership position within CESAF region of Swisscontact, responsible for leading the business portfolio development process in the region. The incumbent will develop and execute action plans to deliver the business target of strategy 2028 for CESAF, in collaboration with the Regional Director and Country Directors. The PGM will support the Country Directors in developing new partnership and winning new businesses in their countries. PGM will establish and strengthen the process for the business development cycle, starting with early market intelligence gathering to project kick-off in the CESAF countries. The PGM will also lead the business development for specific opportunities as decided by the Regional Director. Capacity building of staff on business development and on key topic e.g. Private sector development and Inclusive System Development will be an integral part of the job.

What you will do regularly:

Business Development

For all countries:

• Actively scan and monitor the donor (both public and private) landscape, donor strategies and development trends to identify the business development opportunities, gather early market intelligence to develop pipeline of projects, assess the competition and identify possible collaborators depending on the business opportunities,
• Actively develop and maintain relationships with other implementing agencies, consultants, donors, partners and other stakeholders for identifying relevant business opportunities and pursue the opportunities,
• Draft technical proposals for budgets up to 1-1.5million CHF/year and quality assurance of all bids/concept
  notes/project proposals,
• Support CDs to determine winning team profile and identify appropriate team members for winning tenders,
• Work closely with the RD to develop annual strategy and action plan, regional business development strategy,
• Lead in quarterly review of the progress towards annual business targets and strategy 2028 business targets and determine/revise action plans,
• Influence Swisscontact’s business model, partnership and programme development to remain future fit.

For select country(ies) or tender(s):

• Identify possible consortium partners, negotiate partnership deals (in consultation with RD and with approval from HO MD),
• Lead drafting and/ or quality assurance of technical proposal development,
• Manage performance and delivery of the consultants for bid development and country specific business development initiative.

Process and Capacity Development

• Work with CDs to develop and implement a process for continuous scanning of business opportunities,
• Monitor the performance of the business scanning process at regular interval and revise as deemed necessary,
• Support CDs in establishing contacts with target donor agencies, foundations, other implementing organisations,
• Support Communication leads/CDs in developing country specific Swisscontact Corporate Presentation covering the working areas of Swisscontact and to update,
• Periodically update the country specific Swisscontact Corporate Presentation in line with the latest results
  and corporate priorities.

Influencing, and Knowledge Management

• Provide technical backstopping to selected projects and review and quality assure the inception phase
  deliverables of selected projects,
• Distil and develop knowledge products and learning documents and use the learning products to develop new project ideas,
• Work with global P&S team to provide knowledge and insights from the region to the global knowledge products,
• Represent Swisscontact in various events and position Swisscontact as one of the leading implementers in the region,
• Supervise the Regional communication coordinator.

What you’ll like here:

• Real Challenges, Real Impact: You will have a chance to positively impact real lives by addressing real
  systemic issues.
• Varied Stakeholders, Varied Contexts: You’ll work with a range of stakeholders, from internal Swisscontact teams to external donors and implementing agencies, across multiple locations and sectors.
• Lead and shape: You’ll lead and shape the programme and Swisscontact as an institution. In this role, you will be working closely with the regional director and global colleagues and influence the journey of Swisscontact in Central East and Southern Africa.
• Professional Growth and Learning: You’ll work on multitude of issues ranging from immediate programme operations issues to mid-term strategic issues. The learning will cover from what works on the ground for youth employability to how to develop a future fit talent pool for the organisation.

What we are looking for:

• An experienced and empathic leader who knows how to motivate people and thinks strategically
• A savvy business developer, fund raiser and partnership builder with experience leading project fundraising of at least $1.5 Mio/ year
• An adept and culturally sensitive communicator with excellent oral and written English skills (level C1
  or above)
• A solution-oriented, adaptable personality with an entrepreneurial mindset
• A person committed to learning, development and improvement in pursuit of own objectives and those of the team and organisation

Competencies required to be successful in the role:

• Project Design and implementation: 5 years of proven track record of designing, implementing and backstopping international development programmes applying Market Systems Development approach in skills development, agriculture and food systems, financial services, trade and business enabling environment (experience in at least two thematic areas is desirable) in the context of the development challenges in Africa and/or Asia
• Business Development and Client Orientation: 5/8 years of experience in managing all aspects of business development and tender, deep understanding of procurement process for US/UK Government international development funding, understanding of international development strategies of public and private development organisations and philanthropies.
• Communication and Creativity: Ability and successful track record of developing winning project concept and project proposal, excellent oral and written communication skills in English, communication ability in French will be an added advantage
• Collaboration and Teamwork: Experience of working and leading in a multi-cultural team; ability to collaborate across multi-functional team to drive results, maintain high-degree of empathy and motivation to deliver quality work in a short-deadline

Swisscontact offers attractive working conditions in an international and multicultural context. We see our work as a joint effort in an agile organizational culture: mutual respect, trust and teamwork. If you’re an experienced, highly motivated, and client-focused professional with a passion for inclusive economic development, we’d love to have you on board.

We look forward to receiving your online application with the following documents in English: letter of motivation (please highlight two specific areas where you can offer greatest value addition for Swisscontact in CESAF and you are most proud professional achievement, in not more than 700 words), curriculum vitae, and salary expectation until 15 of August 2025. Please send your application to ke_info@swisscontact.org, please mention “Application for Portfolio Growth Manager, CESAF” as the subject line. For further information please visit www.swisscontact.org.

About the Organization

Swisscontact is an independent non-profit development organisation established in 1959 by representatives of the Swiss private sector and civil society. Our development work focuses on private sector-led, sustainable economic development with improved quality of life for all in developing and emerging countries. A key focus is to strengthen the skills of individuals and foster the competitiveness of businesses.