KOMAZA is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to permanently and sustainably end rural poverty by developing economic opportunities for smallholder farmers living in Africa’s infertile and drought-prone regions.

Founded in 2006 and based in Kenya, the organization’s innovative grassroots model dramatically boosts household income for rural families by equipping them with resources, knowledge and market linkages to produce high-value climate-appropriate crops on their previously degraded land.

We are constantly seeking talented individuals who are interested in working with KOMAZA.

Country Director - Kenya

KOMAZA is seeking a world class candidate to serve as Country Director for our Kenya operations. 

The Country Director will develop and lead all business functions in Kenya required for rapid growth, reporting directly to our President and working closely with our Founder/CEO both which are based in San Francisco, USA. This is a big opportunity for a superstar candidate. The role of the KOMAZA Country Director will be the management of all Kenya operations. Project Management: Supervise managers as they plan, organize, staff, and direct activities. Coordinate major activities overseen by other managers into a cohesive work planFinance: Direct short-term and long-range budgeting; provide oversight to management team on financial planning and reporting; oversee monthly/quarterly/annual financial management.Human Resources: Manage HR team in recruiting and training all levels of staffPartnership Development: Liaise with local and Nairobi government officials and other businesses to build relationships that will facilitate the quality and scaling of our operationsHigh-Level Strategic Planning: Work with founder/CEO, President and other corporate leadership to develop long-term, annual and quarterly goals and prioritize areas of focus and resource allocationEducation: College degree; MBA or similar preferredWork: 15+ years in senior management with international corporation including full P&L responsibilityFinancial Management: Experience owning P&L: revenue/sales growth and expense/margin controlTechnology: Internet & MS Office fluency required; demonstrated passion for technology integration (project management software, bar coding for chain of custody, GIS mapping, etc.)HR: Experience hiring and firing all levels of staff – from frontline workers to senior managersProject Management: Strong background managing complex projects; passion for building slick systems to scale high-quality operations; strong attention to key performance indicatorsTraining & Mentorship: Experience training all levels of staff from managers to field staffCommunication: Excellent writing/verbal, interpersonal, public speaking, and presentation skillsWillingness to Travel: Some travel will be required within Kenya, e.g. to Nairobi or to Western/ Nyanza Province; also possibly occasional international travelEntrepreneurial: Comfortable with ambiguity; flexibility, self-motivation, and keen to lead a fast-paced, rapidly-growing program; interested in a work environment that is creative and data-drivenExperience in farm extension: Experience building farmer extension networks, consolidating produce from small holders and moving it through entire value chainForestry and Wood Processing: Growing, harvesting & processing trees for high-margin wood productsOrganizational Growth:Proven ability to build and substantially grow an organization; start-up experience is even betterTo Apply

Please send CV and cover letter to Country_Director@komaza.org

KOMAZA is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to permanently and sustainably end rural poverty by developing economic opportunities for smallholder farmers living in Africa’s infertile and drought-prone regions.

Founded in 2006 and based in Kenya, the organization’s innovative grassroots model dramatically boosts household income for rural families by equipping them with resources, knowledge and market linkages to produce high-value climate-appropriate crops on their previously degraded land.

We are constantly seeking talented individuals who are interested in working with KOMAZA.

Technology Manager

Wanted: Early-mid career professional to lead technology strategy for a young, international NGO
 

Overview

Industry: Social Business / International Development / Start-Up / Non-profit
 

Comp/Benefits: Competitive, provides for a comfortable standard of living in Kilifi, Kenya
Application Deadline: Open until filled
Start Date: As soon as avaliable
 The Role
As a Technology Manager, you will be responsible for leading technology strategy for KOMAZA. You will partner with other functional teams to drive KOMAZA operations forward by developing appropriate technology solutions. This is a dynamic position that requires a creative mind combined with a proven ability to get projects up and running. Technology Manager responsibilities will include:Identifying technology trends and opportunities and turning them into impactful projects for all aspects of KOMAZA operationsRecommending, developing and deploying mobile tools and applications for use by our field staffMaintaining and improving KOMAZA's farmer database while creating & managing resulting data-driven tools and analysis for operations' monitoring & evaluationDeveloping KOMAZA's GIS system to widen our base points and build mission-impactful applications on top of our geographic dataManaging our web strategy - website, blog, wiki and social media channels - with a view to improving visibility, fundraising and recruitingHandling day-to-day IT needs at head office and helping to design and roll-out KOMAZA's network infrastructure for rural officesBeing an enthusiastic, hands-on technology enthusiast and evangelist with an interest in social enterprise and developmentEducation: Top performing undergraduate and/or graduate background in Computer Science, Engineering or related fieldsRelevant work experience: 3-5 years of relevant experience in technology with some project managementComputer skills: At least one programming language in current use, working knowledge of web technologies and languages (eg PHP, HTML/CSS, JavaScript), experience with databases and/or a major Relational Data Management System (e.g. MySQL, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, DB2)Analytical skills: Exceptional problem solving and analytical skills with impeccable business acumenStrong and proactive communicator: Personable yet persistent; developing detailed and high-quality work output  materialsIndependent manager: Self-managing; managing multiple projects and deadlines; taking ownership over independent projects; budgeting; developing work plan, goals, and deadlinesProblem-solver – at a high- and granular- level: Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills and impeccable business judgment; ability to think “big picture” and dig into detailsHigh-quality execution: Executing projects/tasks and implement recommendations –  quickly and with flawless accuracy, with great systematic attention to detailKiswahiliExperience with hardware maintenanceTo Apply

Please send CV and cover letter to TechManager@KOMAZA.org

KOMAZA - Coast Province (Kenya)

Job Description

KOMAZA is seeking a world class candidate to serve as Country Director for our Kenya operations.

The Country Director will develop and lead all business functions in Kenya required for rapid growth, reporting directly to our President and working closely with our Founder/CEO both which are based in San Francisco, USA.

This is a big opportunity for a superstar candidate. The role of the KOMAZA Country Director will be the management of all Kenya operations. This includes

Project Management: Supervise managers as they plan, organize, staff, and direct activities. Coordinate major activities overseen by other managers into a cohesive work planFinance: Direct short-term and long-range budgeting; provide oversight to management team on financial planning and reporting; oversee monthly/quarterly/annual financial management.Human Resources: Manage HR team in recruiting and training all levels of staffPartnership Development: Liaise with local and Nairobi government officials and other businesses to build relationships that will facilitate the quality and scaling of our operationsHigh-Level Strategic Planning: Work with founder/CEO, President and other corporate leadership to develop long-term, annual and quarterly goals and prioritize areas of focus and resource allocationEducation: College degree; MBA or similar preferredWork: 15+ years in senior management with international corporation including full P&L responsibilityFinancial Management: Experience owning P&L: revenue/sales growth and expense/margin controlTechnology: Internet & MS Office fluency required; demonstrated passion for technology integration (project management software, bar coding for chain of custody, GIS mapping, etc.)HR: experience hiring and firing all levels of staff – from frontline workers to senior managersProject Management: Strong background managing complex projects; passion for building slick systems to scale high-quality operations; strong attention to key performance indicatorsTraining & Mentorship: Experience training all levels of staff from managers to field staff.Communication: Excellent writing/verbal, interpersonal, public speaking, and presentation skillsWillingness to Travel: Some travel will be required within Kenya, e.g. to Nairobi or to Western/ Nyanza Province; also possibly occasional international travelEntrepreneurial: Comfortable with ambiguity; flexibility, self-motivation, and keen to lead a fast-paced, rapidly-growing program; interested in a work environment that is creative and data-drivenExperience in farm extension: experience building farmer extension networks, consolidating produce from small holders and moving it through entire value chainForestry and Wood Processing: growing, harvesting & processing trees for high-margin wood productsOrganizational Growth: proven ability to build and substantially grow an organization; start-up experience is even betterCompany Description

KOMAZA is one of the most highly-awarded early-stage social enterprises in the world, working to end extreme poverty for rural families living in dry lands.

We provide families with access to the complete forestry value chain: planting inputs for a half-acre tree farm, farmer training and maintenance support, and harvesting, processing and wood sales operations.

Founded in 2008, KOMAZA has won support from several prestigious international foundations: Draper Richards Kaplan, Mulago, Peery, and Jasmine.

We currently have over 100 fulltime staff in Kenya. To date we have planted over 675,000 trees with nearly 3,000 families.

Our forestry operations are transitioning from proof-of-concept to scaling and we are developing a pilot for our decentralized tree harvesting and processing operations.

We aim to become the largest forestry enterprise in Africa, with a target of 50,000 farmers by 2015. We are headquartered in San Francisco, California USA. www.komaza.org

To Apply: please send CV and cover letter to Country_Director@komaza.org

Wanted: Experienced, business professional with operational experience to lead field staff

Overview

Industry: Social Business / International Development / Start-Up / Non-profit

Employer: KOMAZA

Position: Field Director

Function: Operations

Commitment: 2 year minimum, more preferred

Location: Kilifi, Kenya

Compensation/Benefits: Commensurate with experience

Application Deadline: 15 November 2010

The Role

As Field Director, you will be responsible for the management and development of field operations.

Manage all levels of field staff: coordinate and supervise all aspects of our field operations from social marketing to planting and maintenance with a current field staff of 60. Troubleshoot day-to-day operational challenges. Design systems to enable KOMAZA operations: work closely with both headquarters and field staff to design and implement procedures, processes and tools that will ensure smooth-running operations that can grow. Capture “on-the-ground” needs and best practices: understand field challenges and bottlenecks and communicate those needs to headquarters in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our field systems.This role will be based out of the Kilifi town office, but will be relocated to Ganze toward the end of 2011 (1 hour from Kilifi town).

This position will require significant amounts of field work (2-5 days per week) under difficult conditions and will require spending several nights per week in Ganze.

While there will be some office and desk work, this role will only be suitable for people with experience and who enjoy the outdoors.

Qualifications

Fluent in Kiswahili and English: complete verbal and written mastery of both languagesEducation: top performer with a degree in forestry, agriculture, natural resource management or related areasRelevant work experience: work experience in the forestry or agriculture industries is strongly preferred. Experience in a field operations capacity is also looked upon favorably (utilities, construction, community mobilization, etc.) -- Management experience: must have a minimum of 3 years (5+ preferred) managing staff in an operational capacity. Should have experience managing teams and setting clear expectations for performance and deadlines. Experience managing multiple levels of staff strongly preferred.Independent manager: self-managing - taking ownership over important, independent projects; capable of budgeting, prioritizing work loads, developing work plans, goals and self-deadlinesExcellent and proactive communicator: personable yet persistent, building consensus and hearing all sides. Equal ability to communicate effectively with highly-educated international staff and minimally-educated local farmers and field staff.Extremely organized: clear ability to track personal responsibilities as well as ensure that all field staff is on track and have the resources they need for success.Fast-paced and energizing: experience getting groups of people to work hard, but most importantly to work smart, efficiently, and with a sense of purpose and accomplishmentPatience and sense of humor: ability to adapt to changing situations and cope with the difficulty of working in remote, impoverished areas and the ability to laugh about it when things don’t work out as intended.Problem-solver: excellent problem-solving and analytical skills; ability to balance farmer and field staff concerns with sound business judgment. Ability to think “big picture” (e.g. how to meet milestones for planting with 1,000+ farmers) and dig into details (e.g. how to quickly get 100 barrels to farmers with no vehicles, poor road infrastructure)High-quality execution: proven experience executing projects/tasks and implementing recommendations with accuracy and great attention to detail.Competency in a Mijikenda languageDriver’s license (automobile and motorcycle; willingness to obtain one and spend significant time driving is required)Work/living experience on Kenyan coast or in rural hardship areas