The Market Engagement Manager will be responsible for supporting key stakeholders' relationships critical for the program's growth and success, including mobile network operators, private sector innovators, government entities, enabling organisations, technology service providers, research institutions and donor agencies, as well as internal stakeholders within M4D and the broader GSMA.
The role will support in consolidating the market engagement efforts, support our innovation fund activities and help strengthen cross-M4D team collaborations on the topic of climate resilience and urban service delivery. This will require the individual to also lead on the delivery of specific projects that require stakeholder management and developing key internal and external relationships for the team.
Based out of the GSMA's Nairobi office, this role will report to the Senior Market Engagement Manager for Africa. The selected person will be required to engage with several members of the team based across the UK, Africa and Asia. Travelling, would typically be required about 25% of the time.
More specifically, the Market Engagement Manager will carry out the following activities.
Lead the development of relationships and industry knowledge in the region which will enable the programme to facilitate partnerships between service providers, digital innovators and mobile operators.
Develop relationships with these stakeholders, as well as organisations with similar stakeholders, to carry out the market engagement actives above, and to build programme knowledge on these partnership models (i.e. business models, operational challenges and enablers, and evidence of value from partnerships).
Facilitate partnerships between key stakeholders through developing and maintaining relationships, making connections, and advising on partnership discussions.
Work with advocacy colleagues to develop and support relationships with key partner organisations in the region, such as those that fund utility services and/or also enable private-public sector relationships, in order to share our insights with them and broaden our partnership facilitation.
Maintain relationships with past grantees of the programme to support their scaling and investments and partnerships with mobile operators.
Support private sector innovators across the climate and utilities ecosystem – in particular GSMA Innovation Fund alumni – in their scaling journeys
Work closely with Africa Senior Market Engagement Manager to identify relevant partnership and investment opportunities for GSMA Innovation Fund alumni.
Identify relevant research opportunities (for example feasibility and market entry studies) for GSMA Innovation Fund alumni.
Work with the insights team and central M&E team to assess and shape our desired learnings from selected GSMA Innovation Fund alumni.
Build a network of private sector innovators interested in replicating and scaling their services in other cities across the region.
Work with other team members to develop regional-specific content, based on previous programme insights, industry knowledge, and stakeholder engagement on how digital utility solutions can be implemented and yield impact.
Support the identification of, and represent the programme at, regional industry events by sharing developing and delivering our content, in collaboration with insights/advocacy colleagues.
Co-develop our content for GSMA events, including the regional Mobile World Congress Kigali event series.
Support broader team activities, refinement of programme strategy and broader work across the M4D department.
Support the insights and research objectives of the programme by contributing industry knowledge, facilitating stakeholder engagement for research, and reviewing the work of colleagues.
Produce blogs on the activities above, for example featuring programme grantees (past and present), and capturing take-aways from industry events.
Work in collaboration with the advocacy team to identify new strategic partnership opportunities with organisations that share our objectives and leverage existing programme partnerships to achieve market engagement objectives.
Work in collaboration with the advocacy team to identify relevant events and high-level platforms to showcase our work and build relationships with key stakeholders
Contribute to the continued refinement of our strategy and activities as laid out above.
Support M4D-wide initiatives and activities relevant to our work in the broader GSMA, particularly related to regional priorities.Support opportunities for the programme and the broader M4D to potentially secure additional funding.
About You
We welcome applications from professionals with the following demonstrated qualifications:
Strong relevant experience within the mobile, ICT, or digital industry in the product management or business consultant capacity is a must. You possess a solid understanding of the mobile industry, recognizing key industry trends, commercial drivers, and challenges faced by mobile operators in developing countries.
Background and experience linked to climate and environmental issues and an understanding of the use of technology for climate action are a must-have for this role. Experience in deploying or supporting digital solutions in Energy or WASH sectors is highly desirable.
You can work in an emerging opportunity area without a defined blueprint.
You are a team player and are able to achieve results through your excellent relationship management skills, collaboration, and your ability to consider the interests of multiple stakeholders in your day-to-day work.
You have excellent project and people management skills, with the ability to handle multiple tasks at the same time, and work as part of a diverse international team, including regular travel.
A self-starter and highly motivated individual, you manage projects and drive them through to completion.
To achieve results, you communicate timely and effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, adapting to different styles and working collaboratively towards agreed outcomes for projects.
You have excellent presentation skills, with an ability to influence stakeholders, negotiate shared objectives, and keep them accountable for commitments made.
You have strong communication abilities to deliver complex and technical content clearly to a broad audience through blogs, reports, PowerPoint presentations, and verbal presentations.