Most of the world’s poor are farmers, representing the largest and most uniform group of poor people in the world. One Acre Fund is a start-up NGO in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi that is innovating a new way of helping farm families to achieve their full potential. Instead of giving handouts, One Acre invests in farmers to
generate a permanent gain in farm income. We provide farmers with a “market bundle” that includes education, finance, seed and fertilizer, and market access. Our program is proven impactful – every year, we weigh thousands of harvests and measure more than 100% average gain in farm income per acre. We have laser-like focus on generating better lives for the people that we serve.
We are growing quickly. In five years, we have grown to serve 130,000 farm families with more than 1000 full-time field staff. In three more years, we will at least quadruple in size, while adding several new countries. Our approach has won widespread validation, winning grants from the highly competitive Echoing Green and Skoll Foundations, and the global Financial Times/ IFC award for “basic needs financing” in 2010 and 2011. Website:www.oneacrefund.org
Job Description
We are seeking exceptional professionals with 3+ years work experience, and a long-term career interest in international development. You will serve in a career-track position that combines financial analysis with non-profit accounting. Your primary objective will be to accurately report financial and program data in order to help us shape our strategy and achieve financial sustainability. As a young organization we are ready to hand over a large amount of responsibility, including the management of our whole accounting system and the 20+ bookkeepers who work with it. This role will report to the CFO.
Typical tasks will include:
– Managing Bookkeepers. Building relationships with the finance team and using those relationships to grow our staff will be an important function of the Finance and Accounting Associate. You will help manage our 20+ bookkeepers, contributing to their development through trainings and the creation of tools and procedures.
– Creating and Understanding Reports. We use financial information as “business intelligence” – helping us move our business steadily towards financial sustainability. The Finance and Accounting Associate will help create reports from our accounting and client management systems, working with program staff to make our data useful and actionable – guiding OAF towards sustainability is a critical mission within the finance team.
– Improving Financial Processes. The Finance and Accounting Associate will need to have a deep understanding of all finance related policies and procedures. They will follow-up to make sure the policies are working, and improve our processes in order to more accurately and efficiently track our assets.
– Closing the Books each month. The Finance and Accounting Associate will manage the books closing process for Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and the US books, ensuring proper accounting entries, bank reconciliations, and a variety of other quality controls. Closing the books also includes creating a report analyzing our actual financial statements v. our budget.
Qualifications
We are looking for somebody truly extraordinary for the Finance and Accounting Associate role. This is not a stint in Africa – this is an extremely competitive posting for a career-track role. Only 3% of applicants make it to a phone screen. Therefore, please only respond if you fit these criteria:
• Strong work experiences, preferably in a finance or accounting role. Examples include high-level professional work experience as an accountant or financial analyst, experience in data analysis (statistics, engineering, etc).
• Confident with numbers; understanding of accounting is not necessary (can be learned on the job).
• Leadership experience at work, or outside of work.
• Top-performing undergraduate background (include GPA and test scores on your resume).
• A willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa for at least the first year of the job (potentially first two years), with extensive travel to East Africa thereafter.
• The ideal candidate will have at least one year demonstrated experience working in the developing world, although this is not a strict requirement.
• English required; French nice to have.
• Ability to cook/ laugh/ extraordinary patience – all desirable
Preferred Start Date: March 2012
Compensation: Starts very modest. However, this is a career-track role eventually paying a real and livable salary for a long-term placement in developing nations.
Benefits: Health cover, immunizations, flight, room and board.
Career development: Quarterly management consulting-style career reviews, and significant investment in career development. Your manager will invest significant time in your career development.
Sponsor International Candidates: Yes
How to apply
To Apply:
Attach and email cover letter and resume to jobs@oneacrefund.org (Subject line: Finance & Accounting Associate + name of the site that referred you). RPCVs should also include a copy of their DOS.
