Volunteer

CooP-Kenya is a small social enterprise located in Kisumu Kenya, whose vision is to establish and execute various social enterprise bicycle projects whereby entrepreneurs, students and health workers are empowered and equipped with bicycles through a self-sustainable business model. CooP-Kenya has started implementing social bicycle projects and the social businesses in 2013. Currently they operate Bikeventures, a social enterprise offering bicycle tours, rentals and volunteer accommodation, and The Green Hub, a social enterprise offering bicycle design and manufacturing. To improve on performance of the social enterprises, (local) resource mobilisation and other income generation activities CooP-Kenya is seeking a Business Development Manager to manage, lead and coach the organisation and the team.

Overall responsibilities
The overall responsibility of the Business Development Manager is to manage, lead and provide expert advice in relation to all income generation activities within CooP-Kenya. Ensure that tendering opportunities, grant applications, major funders and other income generating opportunities (like the social enterprises and local fundraising) are maximised to support business development and operational delivery.

Key job tasks
The Business Development Manager has three primary responsibilities:

• Identifying new leads: customers, markets, funding opportunities
• Pitching products and/or services and fundraising
• Maintain relationship with existing customers and donors

1. When it comes to generating leads, day-to-day duties typically include:
a) Researching organisations and individuals (online) to identify new leads and potential new markets
b) Researching funding opportunities (local and international)
c) Researching markets and the needs of individuals for business development of Bikeventures and The Green Hub
d) Contacting potential customers, organizations, donors via email or phone to establish rapport and set up meetings
e) Attending conferences, meetings and other events
f) Identify opportunities for marketing campaigns, and distribution channels that will lead to an increase in sales.

2. When it comes to actual selling and fundraising, other typical duties include:
a) Preparing presentations and sales displays for the social enterprises (Bikeventures and The Green Hub) and the social projects
b) Preparing funding proposals, grant and bid documents for potential donors, companies and government
c) Developing price setting, quotes and proposals for the social enterprises (Bikeventures and The Green Hub) and the social projects
d) Organising local fundraising events and initiatives
e) Planning and overseeing new marketing initiatives
f) Negotiating and renegotiating by phone, email and in person
g) Developing sales targets for the team and ensuring they are met
h) Monitoring sales targets on daily, weekly and monthly basis
i) Training personnel hand helping team members develop their skills

3. To keep healthy relationships with customers, donors, etc. it requires:
a) Professional after-sales to customer
b) Professional reporting to donor
c) Regular chats on the phone or meetings to be sure the customers are happy
d) Public relations, including website, social media, presence at events etc.

Job Specifications and Skills
There is no formal qualification for a Business Development Manager, but we can sum-up specifications, skills and qualification which describes the profile of a qualified candidate:
1. A degree in business and commerce, tourism, social sciences, or its equivalent
2. Over four years’ experience in managing social businesses
3. Proven track record of sales and meeting sales targets
4. Proven ability to write successful bids
5. Experience in tourism and/or bicycles is an advantage
6. Experience of identifying and developing suitable income generation opportunities to support business development
7. Strong interpersonal skills to work effectively with clients and colleagues and provide quality leadership to the team
8. A track record that demonstrates energy and creativity
9. Excellent verbal & written communication skills
10. Proven ability to cope with conflict, stress and crisis situations
11. Ability to work with limited supervision, prioritise work and deal with competing or conflicting demands / needs and interests in an organised and methodical manner

Working Environment
1. Working hours are Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm occasionally putting in overtime to meet deadlines or sales quota
2. Office is held in Kisumu, Kenya
3. Reports to the Director
4. Works with an established CooP-Kenya team
5. If targets are met, the day-to-day methods and schedules will be flexible

Salary and Benefits
1. Salaries vary with experience, qualifications and skills according to our local salary scales. Starting from € 600 to € 1,000 per month
2. Assistance is given for work-permit and visa

Interested in the position? Please send your CV and cover letter to info@coop-africa.org.

CooP-Africa, Cycling out of Poverty, is supporting a social entreprise in Kisumu, Kenya and Jinja, Uganda called Bikeventures Tours, Rentals and Safaris. It is set up to train and support youths to improve their income in a sustainable and profitable business in the tourism industry. Bikeventures rents out bicycles and mountainbikes, offers tours and cycling holidays and oparates a guesthouse.

Some examples how you can help Bikeventures:

• Support Bikeventures team in developing (and improving) (new) products
• Train youths in guiding/touring, street vending and front desk services
• Support (lead by example) Bikeventures on management, sales and administration
• Train local staff on management, sales and administration – Promote Bikeventures on social media and internet
• Proposal writing to expand Bikeventures (e.g. investements in more bicycles, support transport, and/or other expansion-plan of Bikeventures)

Who we are looking for 

We are looking for a motivated volunteer (intern) who likes to volunteer (or do an internship) and support Bikeventures in Kisumu, Kenya or Jinja, Uganda for a period longer than 1 week. The volunteer needs to have affinity with a social business like Bikeventures and have experience in organising and/or managing bicycle tours and rentals.

We offer

CooP-Africa is offering you an unique opportunity to support the work of CooP-Africa in Africa and give your contribution to a better world. We offer you full support to achieve the developments of Bikeventures which we have planned. Expenditures made in line with this project are covered by CooP-Africa. CooP-Africa arranges affordable accommodation. But most of all CooP-Africa offers an unforgetable experience in a beautiful country. Whether you come for a week or a year, living and working in Kenya or Uganda will always give you a special memory which you would never forget.

Do you want to know more about CooP-Africa? Visit www.coop-africa.org. Interested in the position or do you have questions? Please contact Luuk Eickmans ( info@coop-africa.org).

CooP-Uganda improves access to education, health care and income by equipping students, health workers and small entrepreneurs with bicycles. They need your help to spread the word. Therefor we are looking for a volunteer social media experts to support CooP-Uganda with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.

Key job tasks
We are looking for a volunteer who can help drafting and scheduling tweets and posts and improve our social media protocol. And train our staff to draft and schedule tweets, posts and to work in line with the social media protocol.

As the Social Media Volunteer, you will help us keep our presence visible each week, even after you have left. This position will provide the volunteer experience in non-profit and social enterprise development and management and events planning.

Below are examples of tasks the volunteer will be asked to complete.
1. Updating social media sites and exploring new potential social media channels
2. Improve our social media protocol and train our staff to draft and schedule tweets and posts
3. Compiling information/statistics/photos to enhance content on our communication channels. This would include creating an online photgraphic database of our activities.
4. Design of promotional materials, presentations, etc.
5. Graphic design of PR and marketing materials etc.

Who we are looking for 
We are looking for a motivated volunteer who likes to volunteer and support the social enterprise in Jinja, Uganda for a period of 2 months. The volunteer needs to have the following skills:
• Knowledge and understanding of all previously mentioned social media platforms, their respective participant and how to effectively use each platform.
• Experience in using the social media publishing tools, as well as posting via the platforms themselves
• Proven success with target audience engagement as well as increased activity and followers
• The ability to create original and compelling social content on a daily basis, to lay the basis of the communicative tone for each platform
• Knowledge of social media scheduling tools
• Aesthetic ability in taking/filtering/posting photos, graphs, and charts
• Ability to multi-task and monitor multiple channels at once; “liking”, “re-tweeting”, and responding to comments in “real time”
• Fluency in English, with strong writing and grammar skills
• Experience in graphic design (incl. Indesign, Publisher and video editing) is a plus

We offer

CooP-Uganda is offering you an unique opportunity to support the work of CooP-Africa in Uganda and give your contribution to a better world. We offer you full support to achieve the developments which we have planned. Expenditures made in line with this project are covered by CooP-Uganda. CooP-Uganda can arrange affordable accommodation. But most of all CooP-Uganda offers an unforgettable experience in a beautiful country.

Interested in the position or do you have questions? Please contact Luuk Eickmans info@coop-africa.org.

CooP-Africa, Cycling out of Poverty, has developed a social enterprise, The Green Hub in Kisumu, Kenya and Jinja, Uganda. The Green Hub repairs bicycles, mountainbikes, wheelchairs, etc. and offers a range of bicycle, mountainbikes and spares. In the bicycle factory innovative bicycles, tricycles, trailers, carriers and other components are designed, modified, re-manufactured and produced. Our aim is to improve the service quality and increase the capacity.

Some examples how you can help the Green Hub: 

• Train staff in assembling, maintenance and repairs of different types of bicycles
• Develop procedures for maintenance rental bicycle fleet of Bikeventures
• Improve available bicycle designs and production techniques
• Support (lead by example) the enterprise on management, productions, sales and administration
• Train local staff on management, production, sales and administration
• Promotion on social media and internet
• Identifying and apply for bid

Who we are looking for 

We are looking for a motivated volunteer who likes to volunteer and support the social enterprise in Kisumu, Kenya or in Jinja, Uganda for a period longer than 1 week. The volunteer needs to have affinity with the social business and have experience in producing bicycles or managing bicycle production enterprises.

We offer

CooP-Africa is offering you an unique opportunity to support the work of CooP-Africa in Africa and give your contribution to a better world. We offer you full support to achieve the developments which we have planned. Expenditures made in line with this project are covered by CooP-Africa. CooP-Africa arranges affordable accommodation. But most of all CooP-Africa offers an unforgettable experience in a beautiful country. Whether you come for a week or a year, living and working in Kenya or Uganda will always give you a special memory which you would never forget.

Do you want to know more about CooP-Africa? Visit www.coop-africa.org. Interested in the position or do you have questions? Please contact Luuk Eickmans info@coop-africa.org.