Operations Analyst - Information Business- Nairobi, Kenya

Job #:	130247
Title:	Operations Analyst - Information Business
Job Stream:	Technical Assistance & Advisory Services
Location:	Nairobi, Kenya
Closing Date:	02/11/2013
Background / General description:
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group is a global investor and advisor, committed to promoting sustainable projects in our developing member countries that are economically beneficial, financially and commercially sound, and environmentally and socially sustainable. IFC's mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC’s advisory services arm is the Private Enterprise Partnerships for Africa (PEP Africa). PEP Africa incorporates lessons and best practices from other Advisory Services Facilities and Donor Funded Initiatives worldwide. The Africa Sustainable Business Advisory (SBA) strives to improve quality of life by transforming business for a prosperous and sustainable Africa. Within the SBA Africa, the SME Center’s Sector Lead is part of the Advisory Financial Markets Cluster, whose objectives are to enhance sustainable SME Growth across sectors through responsible finance, better corporate governance and management skills. Its delivery model draws on a sector wide approach, privately owned center for business solutions and corporate training tools including SME Toolkit SMETK), Business Edge and Corporate Governance. While The SME Toolkit uses the latest information and communication technologies to help small and medium enterprises in emerging markets learn sustainable business management practices, Business Edge (BE)is IFC’s international range of management training products and services, designed for owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises, in Marketing, Management, Human Resources Management, Production and Operations, Finance and Accounting, and Productivity Skills. Corporate Governance is essential to forge best practices as SBA support sustainable growth for SMEs. IFC certifies the training providers and monitors their performance, ensuring consistency with its quality standards. At the center of this strategy, Technology plays an important role, hence the need for an Operations Analyst (Information and Business). Based in Nairobi. the Analyst will report directly to the SME Center Sector Lead, and support effective and efficient delivery of the SMETK, promote the use of ICT in IFC solutions to clients, optimize and advise the Centers for Business Solutions on technology choices for their incubation units, develop and implement technology solutions to support cost effective dissemination of both BE and SMETK modules in agribusiness and other sectors.
Duties and Accountabilities:
The Operations Analyst will, under the Sector Lead’s guidance, support the development and implementation of Innovative ICT activities to Business Delivery Model in Rwanda, DRC, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and other SBA Programs as needed. The selected candidate will have the following key roles and responsibilities: Market Diagnosis , Strategy and Technology Eedge •Ensure that SMETK Managing Partner’s staff in the business area referred to, are provided with development strategies, training, coaching and support to maximize the benefits of the web-portal as it relates to interfacing with their institutional clients, provision and update of information to SMEs and private sector community, advice on activities in support of a sustainable financial model including incubation activities. •Interact with Program Task Team Leaders (TTLs) and other clients to understand their needs, conduct needed analyses to address client needs and proactively deicide on appropriate and customized solutions. •Support the Sector Lead in redefining and adjusting the Program implementation strategy drawing on Innovative activities’ program lessons learnt, set yearly objectives, i.e in collating regular and current statistics on technology solutions customized to business needs, implement them and monitor their results. Project and Relationship Management – •Set goals and develop action plans to implement innovative ICT solutions to SME Sector Lead’s Programs. •Oversee the work of third parties involved in the delivery of ICT components in line with Program’s TTLs requirements and their client needs. •Monitor SMETK managing partner’s technical activities in line with Global Team’s business lines and contribute to periodic and regular reports as needed. Knowledge Sharing  •Ensure proper documentation of all stages of projects and creates tools that can be shared/used across Programs.  •Analyze systematically what worked or did not within own projects and share best practices across Programs.
Selection Criteria:
•Minimum of a Bachelors degree in Computer Science.  •At least 2 to 5 years’ experience in the ICT field and in project management •Specialized training in: CRM, Smart Solutions (e.g. Smartcards and biometric solutions) •A good understanding of Incubation issues, particularly the configuration of ICT equipment, the shared data bases and networking systems. •Broad knowledge and experience in network topologies, network security, routing and all other matters related to setting up and maintaining of networks: •Knowledgeable in mobile application development : •Excellent skills in Database technologies e.g. MySQL, MSSQL, MSAccess, programming languages like C#, and web technologies such as PHP, ASP, HTML and Java : •Demonstrated ability to oversee the work of teams of external service providers. •Knowledge of SME Toolkit, Business Edge, Corporate Governance, Lotus Notes, iDesk,  •iDocs, a plus. •Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; good team player •Fluency in English. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

*** Applications must be submitted online. Only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. Candidates can check the status of their applications by visiting www.ifc.org/careers.