Director, Partnerships & Business Development

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) invites applications for a Director, Partnerships & Business Development to join our dedicated and talented Global Programs team in our mission to create business solutions to poverty!

MEDA’s work is built on a foundation of Mennonite business roots and faith-based values, within the global context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We believe business solutions are effective interventions to address poverty. Through a market-systems approach and strategic partnerships, MEDA enables access to finance and provides business and technical expertise to build transformative agri-food market systems that create decent jobs, allowing traditionally excluded groups to become active participants in a sustainable economy. MEDA welcomes all who share our values and want to join us in our mission. To find out more about MEDA, please visit our website at www.meda.org.

Position Summary

Reporting to the SVP, Global Programs the Director, Partnerships & New Business Development (PNBD) grows revenue to drive MEDA’s goal of creating 500,000 decent jobs in the agri-food sector in the Global South.

MEDA is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario and operates globally. Activities related to partnership and business develop happen across the organization at different levels. The Director, PNBD’s promotes an approach to PNBD that is coordinated, coherent and, on aggregate, achieves higher level goals.

The Director identifies and responds to business opportunities while developing new strategic donor and partner relationships for future impact. The Director operationalizes MEDA’s PNBD strategy and ensures the strategy is responsive to developments in the international sector and the regions/countries where MEDA operates. The Director leads the development and execution of the PNBD business plan. The Director manages the PNBD team, coordinates across departments, and engages external stakeholders to prepare successful proposals and initiative designs. The Director reviews PNBD systems, processes and assets and makes changes to improve PNBD response time and success rates. The Director is part of the Global Programs Senior Management Team and contributes to the overall success of the department.  Domestic and international travel is required.

• Job Status: Full Time

• Start Date: February/March 2023

• Location: North America ~ ideally a location where MEDA has an established office/presence (Hybrid work arrangement available)

• Starting Salary Range: CAD $113,600 - $133,500

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Partnerships and New Business Development Strategy (50%)

• Execute MEDA’s PNBD strategy and keep the strategy current with industry trends, emerging opportunities, and MEDA’s thought leadership/evidence base
• Introduce strategies and tactics that diversify and grow revenue streams and generate momentum across the organization around adopting these
• Establish strong, values based partnerships with potential co-implementing organizations in the countries and regions where MEDA works
• Develop strategies for engaging prospective funding organization at different levels that lead to new sources of revenue, and initiate relationships with key funder representatives
• Collaborate with other Directors and support their country and regional strategy development, donor mapping and resourcing plans, ensuring alignment with PNBD and Organizational Strategies
• Lead the development and execution of the PNBD business plan, linking resources to revenues to goal achievements
• Prepare donor and sector briefs to inform PNBD resourcing decisions
• Strengthen MEDA’s PNBD intelligence gathering, analysis and utilization systems and habits
• Coordinate with MEDA’s Communications and Marketing team to position MEDA to donor audiences via social media channels, presentations and publications

Proposal Development (40%)

• Leads, guides and/or provides support to teams in the co-creation of proposals and funding applications to grow MEDA’s revenues in support of its strategic goals
• Maintain a forward-looking opportunity pipeline, both tangible and anticipated based on PNBD intelligence gathering
• Leads the proposal development process from go/no-go evaluation through to submission and post-submission review. Convene cross-divisional teams to develop proposal content. Sets standards
• Promote, and develop bid-team capacity around, a process of proposal co-creation and partnership with organizations in the Global South
• Manages proposal team workflow and timelines
• Owns the final proposal as a PNBD product, ensuring clear, compelling design and consistency of voice that effectively responds to funder requirements and serves MEDA’s strategic goals
• Supports budget development and supports budget review process to ensure timely review and adequate discussion
• Coordinate with other divisions to ensures full alignment between proposal and funders’ financial, administrative and programmatic guidelines

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PNBD Process Improvements (10%)

• Reviews and  recommends, and oversees improvements to MEDA’s proposal development process
• Oversee the development and utilization of MEDA’s information systems including CRM, document repository etc.
• Ensure key proposal content and assets (country profiles, technical briefs, project summaries, results reports, impact data etc.) is available, complete and in donor language

Any other duties and/or requirements as assigned

REQUIREMENTS

Education: Graduate level degree in applicable area of expertise

Experience: Proven track record of at least five (5) years in a similar role

Languages: English fluency required. Fluency in French and/or Spanish is considered an asset.

Additional Qualifications:

• Appreciation and support of MEDA’s mission, vision and values

• Understanding and appreciation of business principles, international development and MEDA’s approach of creating business solutions to poverty

• Extensive knowledge of the donor landscape: bi and multi-lateral governmental agencies, donors, government and non-governmental organizations and other development agencies

• Willingness and availability for domestic and international travel

• Success in building partnership with North American and European development agencies and foundations

• Experience mobilizing talent and resources from across divisions to develop time-sensitive proposals

• Experience leading and/or participating in consortium and co-creation arrangements to negotiate proposal outcomes

• A commitment to addressing North-South power imbalances

• Demonstrated experience supporting new business development initiatives and managing successful proposal development processes, including selection and management of consultants

• Strong team building, relational, interpersonal and communication abilities and skills

*Posting will remain open until position is filled*

MEDA is an equal opportunity employer and accommodations are available during all phases of the recruitment process. We ask that any applicants requiring accommodation make their needs known in advance.