Private Sector Partnership Specialist At Palladium International

About Palladium: Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver a positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 3,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

Project Overview and Role The USAID Enterprises, Employment, and Enabling Environments (E4) Activity aims to increase employment and jobs through increased private sector productivity and competitiveness. The theory of change is: “For the number of jobs to increase, businesses must grow; and for businesses to grow, constraints preventing growth must be removed.” Following this logic, Palladium will focus on removing obstacles to growth at the firm level and will work to develop skills identified by employers or develop entrepreneurial expertise. Additionally, Palladium will work to address legal and regulatory constraints if they are determined to be significant inhibitors of firm growth. These efforts will result in the creation of new firms, the growth of existing firms, and new job creation.

Work performed under the E4 IDIQ is divided into three components:

• Component 1: Enterprises – Fostering Competitive Industries
• Component 2: Employment – Developing a Capable Workforce and Entrepreneurship
• Component 3: Enabling Environments – Creating Conditions for Jobs and Investment

E4 IDIQ regional office is located in Almaty. Kazakhstan and country offices are located in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This Opportunity: The Future Growth Initiative (FGI) Task Order will increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries to provide jobs and incomes for Central Asia’s growing workforce, propelling the region toward self-reliance. FGI will transform market systems in ways that help high-potential firms and sectors grow, foster market linkages to match the demand for workforce skills with training offered to youth and women, link entrepreneurs to high-growth markets, and build more business- and worker-friendly policy environments and institutions to sustain private sector-driven growth.

Palladium seeks a Private Sector Specialist for the FGI Task Order under the USAID (E4) Activity. Activities performed under this Task Order will cover Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Private Sector Specialist will be responsible to building and maintaining successful anchor firm partnerships and collaborative alliances.

Location: The position is based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

You and Your Career: If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in ICT, Tourism or Textile/Apparel, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision:

Private Sector Specialist will report to Team Leader – Component 1&2 and coordinate her/his activities with a Country Manager and team leaders of Component 3.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Program Support:

• Build and maintain a strong pipeline and portfolio of anchor firm partnerships and collaborative alliances
• Define investment and advisory needs of anchor firms and propose solutions to address them to Palladium including in BEE Develop and draft concept notes of Palladium engagement for work with partners and alliances
• Seek approval of concept notes and ensure formal closing of the approved engagements
• Manage partnership engagements and ensure their successful implementation aiming at contribution to achievement of goals and objectives of Component 1
• Cooperate with teams of Component 2 in regard to workforce development and social inclusion activities and of Component 3 concerning identification and solutions of obstacles in BEE
• Perform monitoring and evaluation activities of Component 1 related to anchor firm partnerships and collaborative alliances
• Identify local business development services providers and build successful relationships with them; seek their active participation in selected sector development
• Identify access to finance providers which are able and willing to address anchor firms investment and other financial needs
• Identify prospective start-ups and innovations and build and strengthen linkages among industry experts, buyers, and investors that can provide business plan feedback and link them to markets and capital aimed at rewarding innovations that can be scaled up to improve sector competitiveness
• Identify business incubators and/or accelerators in the country to host sector-specific programming and scale the outreach necessary to achieve programmatic results
• In partnership with incubators and accelerators, sector alliances and anchor firms, identify innovation challenges and grant opportunities to address those challenges
• Liaise with other donor programs and private sector initiatives to facilitate Component 1 activities and expand market linkages
• Track, monitor, evaluate and report on results after each activity with anchor firms and alliances to Palladium

Key Competencies Required:

• Degree in relevant discipline (business, administration, finance, etc.)
• At least 5 years of experience working in the field of ICT, tourism or textile.
• Demonstrated skills and understanding of the private sector development, investment facilitation and access to finance.
• Experience developing public private partnerships with large firms and business associations
• Fluent in verbal and written English and language of country of operation
• Experience working with women and youth programs
• Ability to work under pressure and meet hard deadlines Experience managing several activities at a time

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:

• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams with a focus on social inclusion
• Experience reporting to multiple lines
• Creativity, agility and team spirit
• Excellent communication skills

Deadline for submissions: 31 August 2022

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion – Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce. All job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include (but are not limited to) socio-economic experience, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations due to a disability, or you are a neurodivergent individual, or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com. We will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients, and the communities we work with from harm.” We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process, including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.