ECODIT seeks a Green Business Development Expert for the potential project, Conservation through Economic Empowerment in the Republic of Congo (CEERC), as funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via its Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). Over five years, CEERC will strengthen green economic models and industries that reduce threats to biodiversity and carbon-rich forests in the Republic of Congo. CEERC has three proposed main components: (1) establishing enterprise models that support conservation and reduce deforestation; (2) improving the enabling environment for conservation-friendly enterprises; and (3) ensuring communities benefit from and establish conservation-friendly enterprises.

Roles & Responsibilities:
The Green Business Development Expert will establish a portfolio of sustainable and scalable enterprises and businesses and industry alignments that support conservation and reduce deforestation. The Expert will collaborate with the private sector, government, and communities to identify and analyze promising value chains that could also support biodiversity conservation and forest protection objectives. The Expert will oversee a team and support consultants to develop a tool to measure the value and feasibility of products, value chains, and economic models. The Expert will also identify and implement strategies to green sectors, such as energy, agribusiness, forestry, and mining.

Here are additional main roles and responsibilities of the Green Business Development Expert:

• Report directly to the COP or DCOP on component strategies, progress, and challenges;

• Manage a component team and collaborate with other project teams to support and adopt green business models, tools, and approaches;

• Develop innovative, flexible business/value chain approaches relevant in the Republic of Congo;

• Establish a robust network among private sector actors in the Republic of Congo in collective support of increasing conservation enterprises and greening industry approaches;

• Monitor and inform the project and stakeholders of recognized best practices and developments in conservation enterprise communities of practice;

• Lead capacity building efforts for staff, partners, and stakeholders to better understand and use green industry and conservation enterprise tools, strategies, and concepts to inform decisions;

• Support USAID monitoring and reporting requirements.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, agribusiness, with strong knowledge of ecology, biodiversity, natural resource management, etc;

• Five years or more of relevant experience in the above-mentioned fields in Central Africa;

• Direct experience in working on business models and green industry approaches;

• Excellent writing and communication skills in French and proficiency in English;

• Proven experience collaboratively developing and coordinating complex strategies and initiatives.