Program Director - Local Entrepreneurship - NGO (12-15 yrs)

1. POSITION VACANT: Program Director- Local Entrepreneurship, The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), Visakhapatnam

2. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND:

- The Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) is an alliance of partners unleashing the job creation potential of every entrepreneur in India. GAME believes that for India to prosper ("Viksit Bharat"), the proliferation of viksit locations is essential. A key component of such locations is a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem that supports the creation of widespread and decentralized entrepreneurship - Mass Entrepreneurship - resulting in distributed jobs, livelihoods, and prosperity.

- Through action driven coalitions around key themes such as ease of doing 'small' business, access to finance, MSME acceleration and more, GAME hopes to develop an ecosystem that encourages and enables entrepreneurship. The alliance operates through partner organisations, across policy, civil society, academia, and the private sector generating fresh insights, opportunity zones, new ideas, innovative technologies, and scalable actions. GAME believes that solving hard problems requires collective effort, and the organization serves to guide and enable collective impact.

For more information about GAME, please visit: https://massentrepreneurship.org/

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

- GAME is seeking a dynamic and experienced leader with a proven track record of driving large-scale organizational success, particularly in entrepreneurship development. The Program Director- Local Entrepreneurship (PD-LE) will play a pivotal role in executing GAME's mission on the ground, overseeing the successful implementation of programs that shall foster mass entrepreneurship in Andhra Pradesh.

- Reporting directly to the President, the PD-LE will be based in the field and have full operational responsibility for ensuring the impact and scale of GAME's initiatives.

- The role requires a leader who can blend strategic vision with execution excellence, drive programmatic success, cultivate partnerships, and energize local ecosystems to support sustainable entrepreneurship development.

Key Job Responsibilities:

A. Leadership:

(1) Inclusive, transparent, and empowering leadership to address GAME's mission of creating mass entrepreneurship that is topical to the location of action;

(2) Set the agenda, build and energize the location team, as well as alliance partners, to strategically grow the organization's impact, and programs and fulfil its mission;

(3) Actively engage with the President, board members, Government bodies, partner organizations, funders, research organizations, and academia, in building a highly collaborative and impactful alliance ecosystem in the state.

B. Strategy:

(1) Participate in identifying strategic priorities for the organisation along with the leadership team;

(2) Create an annual operational plan in line with the strategic priorities identified for the state;

(3) Build and maintain strategic partnerships and relationships with the state government, and key sector partners, to help build an alliance ecosystem in the state;

(4) Provide thought leadership for the state by ensuring continuous landscape research and identifying relevant programs which will accelerate the organization's mission.

C. Program Management & Operational metrics:

(1) Design build and execute programs at the state level, working closely with the central program office and the state specific partner ecosystem;

(2) Work with central program office to execute standard operating procedures for program management, to ensure all programs are delivered efficiently;

(3) Systematically design, implement, and monitor various programs. Drive project portfolio management on a continuous basis, under the guidance of and collaboration with the central program office;

(4) Define a robust monitoring and evaluation framework. Ensure outputs and outcomes are measured on a regular basis and published to relevant stakeholders;

(5) Develop and monitor programme budgets;

(6) Research, Policy Development, and Capacity Building: Maintain an active dialogue at the state level with partners and policy makers and contribute to bridging gaps between research, policy, and practice;

(7) Develop the capacity building model for partners , other critical stakeholders and the community.

D. External Relations & Communication:

(1) Be an external local presence that publishes and communicates program results with an emphasis on the successes of the local program as a model for scaling across other states;

(2) Brand and position the organisation through roadshows, speaking events and other initiatives;

(3) Continuously source, identify, engage and develop the partner ecosystem and energize the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the state.

E. People Management:

(1) Establish goals, objectives, and operational plans in collaboration with the President, staff, and other leaders;

(2) Manage and motivate staff, overseeing processes such as hiring, separation, ongoing people development, performance management, and compensation and benefits.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualification:

Applicants must have a postgraduate degree in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Development Studies, or related disciplines, with a strong foundation in entrepreneurship or socio-economic development.

Experience:

(1) 12-15 years of progressively senior work experience in socio-economic development, with extensive experience in the Entrepreneurship or MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) sectors. Applicants with prior experience in organizations that focus on entrepreneurship support, economic development, or business growth in local and regional contexts, will be preferred.

(2) Demonstrated experience in program design, implementation, and upscaling for social impact organizations, especially those working on entrepreneurship, local economic development, and job creation. Experience in program management with diverse stakeholders and significant field-based execution is critical;

(3) Experience in the financial management, of large programs with multiple work streams;

(4) Experience with government agencies, donor organizations, and academic institutions, particularly in policy development, research, and public-private partnerships (PPPs), focused on entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Skills and Competencies:

(1) Sound understanding of entrepreneurship ecosystems;

(2) Knowledge of theoretical frameworks in the development sectors with the ability to guide the organisation and constantly evaluate working models with a view to adopting and/or adapting them, as necessary;

(3) Demonstrated ability to assess the impact of the organisation on a continuous and comprehensive basis;

(4) Ability to manage and navigate complex stakeholder environments, and work with government entities, donors, NGOs, and community partners. Strong relationship management skills and the ability to align diverse stakeholders around a common goal.;

(5) Ability to build, lead and manage teams and NGO partners decisively;

(6) Ability to problem solve operational issues;

(7) Experience of working with/ partnering with the government;

(8) Ability to articulate and communicate the Theory of Change and Vision of the Organization

5. COMPENSATION OFFERED:

Gross compensation budgeted for the position is attractive. The offer made to the selected candidate shall be commensurate with qualifications, experience, and salary history.

6. LOCATION: Visakhapatnam

7. REFERENCE: PD-LE-GAME

8. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Team SAMS

Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.

1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar

New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025

Phone Nos.: 011- 4081 9900; 4165 3612

9. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply at the earliest.

Applicants are urged to apply immediately, as interviews with the promising candidates will start almost right away.