Foundry Associate

Acumen was incorporated on April 1, 2001, with seed capital from the Rockefeller Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation and three individual philanthropists. Our desire was to transform the world of philanthropy by looking at all human beings as members of a single, global community where everyone had the opportunity to build a life of dignity.

Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders, and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services help people living in poverty to transform their lives.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Foundry Associate

Location: Lagos

About the role

• You will be responsible for providing end-to-end operational support to deliver major global Programs like Acumen Angels - an early-stage capital funding program designed to advance high-potential, early-stage entrepreneurs from the Foundry.
• You will work alongside the central Academy team, supporting the delivery of our program offerings to the Foundry.
• This involves collaborating with a cross-functional team across marketing and communications, data and insights, foundry engagement, and Acumen Academy regional teams to sustain the Foundry as a high-impact, highly-engaged community of builders with the tools and relationships they need to scale their solutions to the problems of poverty.
• This role will report to the Associate Director, Foundry.

The responsibilities include

• Lead the data collection and review process of program reports, enabling evaluation of program effectiveness.
• In partnership with the audience and engagement team, maintain and oversee a program calendar for all Foundry initiatives.
• Coordinate logistics for foundry programming: Info sessions, office hours, coaching calls, and masterclasses.
• Manage all global referral and nomination processes for existing partnership programs and emerging opportunities.
• Oversee the end-to-end operational and administrative delivery of major global programs from outreach and selection to due diligence and announcement.

Skills and Qualifications

• The role requires a structured doer with an appreciation for detail, organization, and the user perspective.
• Demonstrated success in building collaborative relationships with both external and internal stakeholders
• As program operations typically involve multiple moving parts, you are very comfortable with operational details and process work; you implement, coordinate, and optimize to enable efficient delivery.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with experience translating data into insights.
• Proactive; Ability to take initiative and roll up the sleeves; anticipate needs before they arise, and take action without being asked
• Effectively collaborates with and across teams, seeks, and provides constructive feedback
• 3 years of relevant professional working experience
• Follows through on commitments without needing reminders
• Good organizational and planning skills (Foresight, organizes information in an actionable way)
• Experience in program operations and supporting social entrepreneurs through structured programming is highly valuable.
• A commitment to Acumen’s mission of solving the toughest problems of poverty, and a passion for leadership development
• Process-minded and systems-oriented
• Ability to manage multiple work streams with a multiplicity of stakeholders, and to prioritize effectively
• Communication skills to work with global, cross-cultural colleagues, partners and community members
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values.