Grant Writer

Position: Grant Writer

Location: Geneva, Remote

Engagement: Full time

About Pula:

According to the UN’s InterGovernmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall.

Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.

At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 6 million farmers, 30% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $10 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.

Pula is proudly break-neck paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.

At Pula, our ways of working are informed by our Pula DNA, our culture. The Pula DNA is represented in four pillars as indicated below:

• Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
• Connect the dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
• Have a Can Do attitude: We dare to do things differently to make things work.
• We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.

What you will be doing:

Pula is seeking an experienced Grant Writer to join the partnerships team to increase our outreach to and engagement with philanthropic funders, corporate foundations and development agencies. S/he must have a love for building partnerships across the commercial and public sector, including for-profits and nonprofits, identifying potential partners that align strategically to the business needs, tailoring our value proposition to each partner, pitching to each and, where successful, guiding subsequent grant negotiations, contracting and fundraising processes.

The Grant Writer is expected to: i) build new, and execute on existing fundraising networks and ii) contribute to shaping our narrative around risk financing and insurance iii) lead on proposal and tender development for suitable opportunities. Tasks will be related to liaising with development agency partners and philanthropic entities on funding risk finance mechanisms and insurance premiums, as well as working with the partnerships team to close on identified contracts.

The Grant Writer will report to the Head of Partnerships, and help to build Pula’s emerging climate finance strategy. Performance will be assessed against annually agreed fundraising and proposal development targets, at both individual and team levels.

Who you are:

You have at least 5 years of experience in fundraising and grant writing for the nonprofit and/or social enterprise sector, and are familiar with development themes in agriculture, climate change or credit and insurance. You have a strong professional network in the development sector, for example with private/corporate foundations, UN and other development aid agencies, intergovernmental and regional cooperation organizations etc. You have designed complex projects from start to finish, including developing detailed narrative proposals, as well as multi-stakeholder work plans and budgets, and have secured at least one grant from an agency such as USAID, GIZ, AfDB or BII. Overall, you have successfully fundraised and written grants worth a total of at least $5 million, with at least one grant worth $1 million or more.

What you need to have to be successful:

Hard skills

• Writing and editing - You are at ease reading and drafting technical documents or proposals written by or aimed at development sector actors. You are an excellent writer and creator of presentations.
• Speaking and communication - You are a persuasive and confident speaker who can lead and bring focus to a meeting or discussion with several partners. You know how to approach and deal with partners respecting protocol.
• Data and financial - You have strong quantitative and data analytics skills for financial planning (budget development) and number crunching.
• Organizational - You have exceptional time management skills and work ethic, and are not daunted by a heavy workload, time pressure or looming deadlines.
• Tools - You are fully comfortable with Google applications such as Sheets, Docs, Slides, Meet, Drive etc.

Soft skills

• Relationships - Can build relationships with stakeholders rapidly and can expand into new networks quickly. Passionate about building and maintaining relationships.
• Resilient and Intense - Can navigate deal complexity and will not give up until the deal is signed. Tenacious. A self starter. Recovers quickly from tough situations. Eager to build new partnerships, has a point to prove and looks to prove that point at Pula. Builds their profile and therefore reputation around Pula and the Pula products. They do not want to fail and therefore will do what it takes for Pula to succeed.
• Coachable - Adaptable: Is eager to learn and grow in their skills and ability. Is resourceful to close any skills and knowledge gap. Openly receives and shares feedback. A consummate learner.
• Gravitas yet Street Smart - Charming. Has a confident, comfortable presence. Can sit across from the UN Secretary General, Bill Gates or the Minister of Agriculture of Kenya and hold their own and pitch without assistance. Can understand and map the stakeholders in a new partnership, identify and test champions, structure the partnership, problem solve and find another way when a proposed partnership gets stuck.
• Communication - Can confidently convert information internally and externally adjusting quickly between written and verbal communication as situations call for it. Follows through on action points from conversations and can succinctly summarize the progress required to progress a partnership.

What Pula will bring to the table:

• Growth potential: With an untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide, on track to doubling the number of farmers insured in 2021 and Pula’s global leadership in Agriculture Insurance, the role has a tremendous upside growth potential.
• Join the Global Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in its category with 6 million farmers insured as at the end of 2021.
• Personal Development: We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, and receive regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.
• Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, reporting to the Head of Partnerships, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
• Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed partnerships and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.

To learn more about Pula:

• TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
• New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
• The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It