JOB PROFILE – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
About Mango Tree
Mango
Tree’s mission is twofold: to empower African educators with the best
tools and methods, and to serve as a socially responsible business model
for Uganda. Mango Tree was created in 2000, the brainchild of an
American Peace Corps Volunteer who served as a trainer for primary
school teachers in eastern Uganda. During his time upcountry, he
experienced firsthand the need for quality educational materials –
created using local artists and locally available materials – that fit
within the national education curriculum. He decided to address this
need by creating a business, rather than an NGO. In his own words:
“There are many NGOs in Uganda that do a lot of good work. What I
believe Uganda desperately needs, however, are socially responsible
companies that can serve as role models for other businesses.”
15 years
later, Mango Tree is well known among international NGOs for making high
quality, impact- oriented educational and communication tools. With its
first mission in mind, the company has helped many organizations
transform information that is only accessible to those at an academic
level into a range of educational materials that are understandable for
audiences of varying literacy levels. Every day, Mango Tree supports
thousands of professionals to educate millions of the most vulnerable
members of emerging economies in Africa on life-changing topics such as
health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, safe water, sanitation, hygiene,
agriculture, life skills, economic empowerment and good governance.
Mango Tree does this by executing tool development projects for over 100
clients every year.
Mango Tree
is equally committed to its second mission: serving as a socially
responsible business model. This is reflected in a number of different
ways. Mango Tree was formed as an employee-owned company, and many
members of its largely Ugandan staff are shareholders. Company policies
create an environment in which staff members are empowered to develop
themselves and take full ownership of the responsibilities they have
been entrusted with. Personal and professional growth, evaluation, and
promotion are essential elements of Mango Tree’s business model. The
company also strongly values financial sustainability and accountability
to its shareholders, employees and the government. The board of
directors, comprised of eight highly qualified professionals with
diverse backgrounds in I-NGOs and business, firmly supports the
company’s commitment to social responsibility. These have all been
contributing factors in shaping a dedicated team that is heavily
invested in the success of the business and cooperates and collaborates
within all levels of the company, as well as an organization that is
progressive, highly transparent, and results-oriented.
Mango Tree has a strong reputation for maintaining honest client relations and keeping customer satisfaction at the forefront of all activities. This has helped Mango Tree to build long-term relationships with our clients.
One of the
core activities Mango Tree implements in fulfilling its mission is a
not-for-profit literacy project in the Lango Sub-region of northern
Uganda in which Primary 1-3 children are learning to read and write in
their mother tongue, as well as in English. Initial results from this
project are extremely promising, and Mango Tree is currently carrying
out a randomized control trial in 128 schools in the region in
partnership with the University of Michigan to validate the effect of
the intervention on a larger scale.
Mango Tree
has grown significantly in recent years, and to facilitate the further
growth and success of the company, Mango Tree is now looking for a new
executive director to guide the company into its next phase of
development.
About the executive director function
There is a stimulating environment of significant challenge and great reward within the organization. The company has grown significantly over the last several years. The income of the organization increased from approximately USD 200,000 in 2008 to approximately USD 1,000,000 in 2013. During the same period, the company grew from 12 permanent staff and approximately 30 non-permanent staff employed in Kampala to 45 permanent staff and approximately 150 non-permanent staff employed in Kampala, Lira and Juba.
Although
rapidly growing, Mango Tree is still a relatively small company with
numerous members of staff in junior positions and with very divergent
abilities and various professional and cultural backgrounds. Coupled
with the wide range and diversity of client projects within Mango Tree,
the executive director (ED) position requires a diverse skill set.
The ED
position within Mango Tree is an entrepreneurial, inspiring and
stimulating job. Operations require attention, but the ED will also need
to work at a high strategic level. The ED serves as chairman of the
board of directors, and should have good working relationships with
staff and shareholders. The new ED is the cornerstone of the financial
and administration unit, assuring sound financial management and
improved profitability. Above all else, the ED is the custodian of MT’s
vision and values.
The ED
reports to the board and supervises the members of the management team:
the creative director, program director, operations manager, customer
relationship manager, country manager South Sudan, HR manager and
finance manager.
The ED
will guide the company for the next three to five years, growing the
business within all levels of the organization and expanding into new
markets. A key focus is on maintaining high level relationships with
customers and other stakeholders. With many management control systems
implemented, the ED can focus on hiring, maintaining and growing
competent staff. The ED is expected to always keep the company’s mission
at the forefront, ensuring that Mango Tree continues creating the best
educational tools possible and makes decisions based on its position as a
socially responsible company.
Experience and skills required
Mango Tree
is looking for a senior business manager with a strong financial
background. The new ED should be able to understand and merge different
opinions within the organization. The ED should be comfortable making
operational and strategic decisions based on available information,
which is sometimes limited. The new ED should have the ability to grow a
small African social enterprise to the next level by having:
- worked in a 40+ staff company at the management team level
- at least 5 years of working experience in Africa
- used and implemented management information systems, especially on the HR level
- a strong understanding of the use of ICT to leverage company performance
- a deep understanding of financial management
The ED must be passionate about the company and the place it holds in
the I-NGO and business sectors in Uganda and East Africa. The ED will
participate in discussions about positive change in Uganda on behalf of
the company and will have a lead role in those discussions by
demonstrating that existing paradigms can be broken. The new ED should
have the ability to run a successful communications business in the
Ugandan context by having:
- experience running multiple complex projects with diverse cultural teams – ideally intellectual property-based
- social sensitivity and the ability to communicate with staff in all levels of the company
- an understanding, through experience, of the government, CSOs, NGOs and private sector
- an intelligent approach to selling services in a modest way by truly understanding customers’ needs and limitations
- an understanding of what conceptualization of an education or communication tool can do to solve problems in those areas
The ED
should have a background that allows them to thrive within the East
African cultural context, understand the I-NGO landscape in the region,
support projects that have an education or communication component, and
run a small but rapidly growing business. In order to do this, the ED
needs a master’s level degree or its equivalent. Relevant master’s
degrees include:
- Business Administration
- Marketing
- International Development
- Education
- Communication
Personality
- Entrepreneurial mindset
- Committed to leadership with a coaching mentality, stimulates individual growth
- When necessary, does not shy away from making tough decisions – but is a team leader first and foremost
- Passionate about using the company to demonstrate a different way of improving society and a different way of doing business at the same time
- Understands what is required to work in Africa with a local business and local employees
- Willing to commit for three to five years
- Has strong persuasion, communication and presentation skills with all possible audiences
Responsibilities
- Grow the company as an entrepreneur, managing its financial sustainability
- Act as the primary spokesperson for the company, articulating a clear vision and direction based on the mission and vision
- Assure that our materials are the best educational/communication tools possible, by hiring, training and motivating the most competent staff and giving them the tools and resources to maximize quality and empower them to do their work the best way possible
- Assure that Mango Tree makes decisions which are deeply rooted in its commitment to social responsibility
- Enable innovation and business development by stimulating and maintaining relationships with Mango
- Tree’s external and internal stakeholders
- Help design and lead the implementation of the strategic plan, translate it to an operational level, and assure sufficient resources when needed for proper implementation
- Oversee proper running of the business in Uganda and South Sudan as well as business in other countries
- Manage all elements of the organization
- Supervise the management team with keen attention to financial administration and management control systems
- Control the HR function, giving equal chances to staff irrespective of sex, race or background
- Maintain relationships with all key stakeholders including customers, government officials, suppliers, high level consultants, external funders and financial institutions
- Resolve high level problems within projects
- Drive synergies between the donor-funded Northern Uganda Literacy Program and the for-profit activities of the company
- Stimulate growth through product innovation and geographical expansion
- Seek to continually improve systems and synergies to improve the bottom line re: profit, people and planet
- Serve as chairman of the board of directors
Compensation
Mango Tree
pays a fair salary for the executive director position given that it is
a small, socially responsible business in an emerging economy.
How to apply
- Please send a letter of interest (maximum 1 page) and your C.V.
- Please send before 9:00am Ugandan time on Monday, June 30th to: director.mangotree@gmail.com
- Mango Tree will contact selected candidates on or before Monday, July 21st.
- Further selection will include a Skype call or face-to-face interview.
- An assessment and reference/employment check may form part of the further process.
loading...
