Executive Director Small Enterprise Finance Centre / IFMR Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India

Executive Director, Small Enterprise Finance Centre

 

SEFC seeks an Executive Director for the Small Enterprise Finance Centre (SEFC), a research center housed at the Institution for Financial Management Research (IFMR) in Chennai, India. SEFC seeks to advance the research and practice of SME financing and growth in India by conducting and facilitating rigorous research programs. This position offers an opportunity to shape SEFC’s work in a critical area of development research and to manage a body of cutting-edge field experiments across India.  The job requires intellectual leadership, strong management skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and the ability to communicate effectively to donors, policy makers, and academics. This position is located in Chennai, India and involves occasional travel. 

 

Job Description: 

SEFC’s mission is to advance the research and practice of SME financing and growth in India, and ultimately to help to develop best practices for a vibrant SME sector. Research conducted by the center focuses on factors that foster SME growth and at the role that SMEs play in poverty alleviation. The Executive Director will be responsible for managing research projects, research staff and relationships with partner organizations and donors; fundraising; overseeing the dissemination of research results and outreach to policy makers; and managing internal relations with IFMR. 

 

 In particular, the Executive Director will:

·         Manage a body of research projects: The research conducted through the Centre is primarily driven by academics at top universities around the world. The Executive Director maintains a close relationship with these researchers, providing the necessary resources and operational support. Specifically, the Executive Director manages and coordinates the logistics for projects, ensures the projects are run in accordance with IFMR policies, and maintains the project budgets.

·         Supervise a team of research associates: SEFC Research Associates (RAs) are responsible for the implementation of our research projects. The Executive Director provides advices to the RAs at each stage of the research process, trains RAs, guides field operations, works with the RAs on the research budget for each project, facilitates communication flows with researchers and partner organizations, and evaluates the performance of RAs.

·         Oversee partner relationships:  SEFC collaborates with multiple stakeholders including banks and microfinance institutions. The Executive Director oversees these relationships to ensure successful communication and collaboration with partner organizations. The Executive Director also liaises with potential partners to initiate project implementation.

·         Fundraise: The Executive Director manages funding opportunities and relationships, including searching for new opportunities, coordinating with researchers to ensure successful and timely proposal submissions, and reporting to existing funders.

·         Manage daily operations of the Centre: The Executive Director creates the strategy for the day-to-day operations of the Centre to ensure it runs effectively and efficiently. This includes tracking budgets and cash flows, creating and implementing human resource policies, and building operational infrastructure.

·         Represent SEFC to important stakeholders and IFMR: The Executive Director is responsible for further developing an international network of stakeholders, including NGOs, financial institutions, donors, academics, and multinational organizations. The Executive Director also plays a key role in representing SEFC within the larger IFMR research community. This includes coordinating with the administration, other research Centres, and the IFMR Trust for events, initiatives, meetings, and joint fundraising. In addition, the Executive Director plans SEFC workshops, seminars, and conferences at IFMR.

 

Qualifications:

The Executive Director must have extensive experience with quantitative research, strong management and organizational skills, and the ability to lead the development of a SEFC’s research agenda.

 

• Training: Masters or higher degree in development economics, international affairs, international public policy, or related field; or, an equivalent degree in another field with extensive experience in these areas. 
• Research: Experience with field research in developing countries is required. Economics or quantitative social science research experience and excellent data management abilities are required. Experience with field research especially management of randomized evaluations and knowledge of empirical methods are a major plus.
• Management: Experience managing teams, preferably in a research context. Ability to represent SEFC in public forums and to present results and pitch research ideas to partners, donors, and policy makers. Cultural sensitivity and demonstrated ability to work with diverse constituencies.
• Other experience: Time spent in developing countries, preferably India or South Asia; work related to SMEs/financial access/enterprise development; private sector management experience; and fundraising/grant writing skills are all major plusses. Note any language and statistical programming skills (English fluency required).

The Executive Director position is open to Indian and foreign national applicants.  We are looking for a minimum commitment of at least 24 months.

 Note: The Executive Director will be employed as full time IFMR employee, and will be eligible for staff benefits.  The monthly compensation will be commensurate with experience. 

Please send your resume and cover letter to Sharon Buteau sharon.buteau@ifmr.ac.in.