BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST

CALL FOR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST

1. Background of the Organization

CARE is an international humanitarian and development organization without religious, political or government affiliation. CARE is committed to protecting and promoting the rights of vulnerable girls and boys, women and men and improving the lives of refugees and host communities alike.

CARE works at national, municipality and at the community level to develop customized solutions and ensure long-term sustainability as well as respond to basic needs. We design projects that fall into alignment with national priorities and be owned by communities. Our interventions range across clean water, affordable sanitation and community healthcare and sexual and reproductive health rights programs, economic opportunities, and protection.  Across program areas, CARE’s activities are guided by a rights-based, holistic, gender-sensitive/transformative, and inclusive approach.

CARE International has been operational in Lebanon since 2013 and works across the country.

2. Terms of Reference

CARE is seeking a Business management specialist to conduct a customized BDS support to start up and micro enterprises suffering from management / marketing issues.  These nascent and micro entities will be supported to become more viable and sustainable through coaching support that addresses the main obstacles to their growth. For example, BDS could aim to improve the management structure, internal systems, market access, and quality of products or services of target enterprises and to support them in the access to markets.

Gaps have been identified in micro businesses and start up’ knowledge, in their access to financial resources and markets, and in the recruitment of workers with the needed competencies. Entities to be supported will be selected by CARE team.

Following the profiling and selection stages, tailored business and managerial coaching and capacity building schemes will be available to the entities and optimized for each enterprise depending on identified needs.

By the end of the coaching process, the Consortium will have developed a relationship of trust with entrepreneurs. Sufficient information to evaluate their sustainability and capacity to spend them in a profitable way will be collected and assessed.

CARE is aiming to provide individualized Coaching to pre-identified entities in Tripoli and Mount Lebanon. The Coaching program’s objective is focused on providing tangible customized business service support to enterprises. The program entails conducting a needs assessment of the business areas of development for the enterprise. In collaboration with CARE Project Manager, Business management specialist will design and implement a tailored Coaching program for the enterprise to address their identified needs for the prioritized challenges at the level of business management levels.

The support can address many areas, including:

• Strategic planning
• HR management
• Project management
• Risk management
• Market access (helping them finding customers including export opportunities and participation in exhibitions, marketing campaign
• Input supply (helping them finding suppliers including importing from abroad, recruiting competent staff, etc.)
• Franchising
• Management training
• Legal services
• Technology and product development

3. Deliverables

• Initial BDS training outline for Nano and self-employed entities
• Assessment report of the selected enterprises containing a list of the intervention / support areas (scope) along with the final list of documents to be delivered (related to the intervention / support areas)
• Business development plan (PIP), detailing identified needs and the content of coaching sessions and tools, as well as the delivery timeline
• Development of progress monitoring forms and tools
• Delivery of coaching sessions
• Development of a business strategy plan or the document (s) identified in the assessment report for the enterprise (market research, visibility materials, etc.).
• Evaluation report detailing the progress of the enterprises and outlining steps for future improvement (this document could include an updated business plan) and the implementation steps
• Provision of the implementation support and follow up coaching sessions
• Final Report of the enterprise that includes: the design of the coaching, the coaching templates, the challenges, lesson learnt, the targets achieved, analysis of the data collected (segregation of the beneficiaries based on gender, age, and nationality)

4. Qualifications:

• 5-10 years of proven work experience in business management and BDS support
• Demonstrated experience in providing mentorship and/or coaching and business development support to enterprises (particularly to Micro enterprises and startups); entrepreneurship and vocational training is a plus
• Proven training experience
• Master’s Degree in a business or related field
• Familiarity with the Lebanese economy, market, and job market
• Proven facilitation and coaching skills
• Experience in working with enterprises in similar contexts
• Diversified technical and administrative backgrounds
• Very good communication, coordination and diplomacy.
• Integrity, fairness and impartiality.
• Ability to manage sensitive cases and confidential information.
• Ability to work under pressure

Desirable

• Experience in local livelihoods and economic development programmes
• Knowledge of the socio-economic circumstances in urban Tripoli. 
• Strong capacity to interface with local communities and with beneficiary groups.
• Social entrepreneurship knowledge

5. Timeframe

The BDS support will take place from July 2018 till March 2020