Youth Enterprise Development and Inclusive Finance Specialist

About the role

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is recruiting a Youth Enterprise Development and Inclusive Finance Specialist to lead youth enterprise development and inclusive finance across Rural Employment through Animal Feed Production (REAP) in Senegal. REAP is a five-year multi-country initiative aimed at giving 1 million financially disadvantaged young people aged 18 to 35 access to work, finance, productive assets and markets in sustainable feed and livestock value chains, with a focus on young women and youth with disabilities. The postholder translates REAP's approach into practical support across the Senegal consortium, focusing on enterprise capability, suitable financing and partner performance.

Key responsibilities

• Develop partnerships with financial service providers, investors and business-development providers to support youth-led and youth-employing enterprises
• Lead costed country plans for entrepreneurship, incubation and inclusive finance, and advise the Country Lead on bottlenecks and adaptations
• Guide enterprise profiling and pathway matching, and design and oversee partner-delivered incubation, mentoring and coaching
• Build practical business capability (costing, pricing, cash flow, records, governance, formalisation) and assess progress toward viability
• Integrate savings, financial literacy and responsible borrowing, and assess financing needs against enterprise maturity, seasonality and repayment capacity
• Maintain a pipeline of enterprises with assessed financing needs and match them to suitable products with financial service providers
• Set transparent criteria for selecting financial service providers, map financing ecosystems and agree financing roll-out plans
• Address barriers such as collateral, documentation, mobility and care responsibilities, and embed safeguarding and safe work
• Assess partner performance, define quality standards and recommend corrective action
• Track enterprise survival, sales, profitability and financing performance with MEL colleagues, and use evidence to improve support packages

Required profile

• Master's degree in finance, agribusiness, business administration, entrepreneurship, economics, agricultural economics, development studies or a related field; PhD an added advantage
• At least eight years of progressively responsible experience, with responsibility in both enterprise development/incubation and access to finance
• Proven experience designing or leading incubation, business development, mentoring or accelerator programmes
• Experience building financial partnerships and facilitating financing for micro and small enterprises
• Substantial experience in Senegal or comparable West African contexts, with knowledge of agricultural enterprises and the financial ecosystem
• Excellent written and spoken French and strong working English; knowledge of Wolof or other Senegalese languages is an advantage
• Willingness to travel regularly to implementation areas

Required skills

• Incubation, MSME finance, inclusive finance, investment readiness or enterprise coaching
• Enterprise viability, cash flow, financing needs, product suitability and responsible lending
• Experience with savings groups, informal businesses, cooperatives, leasing, guarantees and value-chain finance
• Desirable: experience with feed, livestock or rural enterprises, Islamic finance, or experience in Morocco or other North African contexts

The position is at job level HG18, open to national and international applicants, on a 3-year contract renewable subject to performance and funding. It is based in Dakar, Senegal. Applications with a cover letter, CV and three referees must be submitted through the ILRI recruitment portal by 5 December 2026.