A business development officer in Ghana

International development is as much a business as it is a labor of love, and chances are you won’t choose your next assignment based on the money. That said, compensation is an important part of human resources management, and comprehensive data on salaries and benefits is hard to come by. That’s why Devex is shedding light on the salaries and work of those holding jobs that international development organizations commonly hire for. It’s part of our mission to help aid professionals do good and make informed decisions about their careers. Today’s spotlight is on a locally-hired business development officer working for a local NGO in Ghana. - Position title: business development officer - Seniority:senior-level - Position type: full-time - Year: 2013 - Salary: Roughly $24,000 annually - Benefits: housing and transportation allowance - Sample tasks: develop existing business and explore new opportunities, formulate and implement short and long-term business development plans, undertake market research and analyze industry, design training programs for small and medium enterprises - Key qualifications for the job: small and medium enterprise development experience, ability to coordinate with donors, credit officers and program managers, excellent analytical and evaluation skills Ghana foreign aid job market Politically stable and economically resilient, Ghana continues to be hailed as an African success story. Buoyed by sustained economic growth, poverty has been cut in half over the last two decades. In July 2011, the World Bank reclassified Ghana as a lower-middle-income country. And in 2012, Ghanaians trooped to the polls in the country’s sixth successful national election since 1992. Yet despite Ghana’s emergence as one of the African continent’s brightest development prospects, the country also faces serious socioeconomic challenges. Roughly a quarter of Ghanaians live below the poverty line. In Ghana’s less developed northern regions, economic growth has yet to translate into significant poverty reduction. The leading cause of death in Ghanaian children under age 5, malaria also remains hyper-endemic in the West African country. The U.N. Development Program ranked Ghana 135th out 186 countries in its 2013 Human Development Index. Check out the Devex jobs board for more vacancies in Ghana and for business development officers. Compensation isn’t everything The details provided in this article were derived from a survey of select development workers stationed in various parts of the globe. Due to the sensitivity of the information, we are keeping the respondents’ identities and organizations confidential. Compensation varies greatly from one job, country or organization to another. Even for the same position, differences in remuneration occur based on educational background, experience and an applicant’s most recent salary, an organization’s need and the sector it operates in, as well as whether it is hiring locally or internationally. Also, some organizations offer more generous benefit packages than others, or they offer perks such as regular travel, training or other career development services that should not be discounted. For senior-level international hires, in particular, benefits such as housing and education allowances often amount to tens of thousands of dollars per year. At the end of the day, aid workers tell us that the chance to help alleviate suffering and lift people out of poverty are well worth any pay cut they may have encountered switching from the private sector. Read more Devex Salary Spotlights!