Associate, Governance & Citizen Engagement

at Omidyar Network 

Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife, Pam, established Omidyar Network (ON) based on the belief that every person has the potential to make a difference. Since 2004, we have worked with our partners to create opportunities for people to tap that potential, enabling them to improve their lives and make powerful contributions to their communities. As a philanthropic investment firm, we make both private investments and nonprofit grants, identifying likeminded organizations that we support, help scale, and collaborate with to help realize their full potential. In 2011, we made about $100 million in investments and grants to organizations around the world.

The Governance and Citizen Engagement (GCE) initiative works to improve public governance, primarily through better use of technology.   The main focus of this initiative will be along four broad constellations:  Open Data, Fiscal Transparency, Civic Technology and Independent Media.   The global team is located in various countries and works collaboratively to address key governance challenges, through a combination of for profit investments and non-profit grants in highly innovative organizations. This position is based in ON’s Johannesburg office.

POSITION SUMMARY:

We are seeking an Associate to join our Africa investment team, primarily focused on our GCE investments in the region. The candidate will be based in ON’s Johannesburg office, and will report to the GCE lead for Africa. Priorities for the candidate include: 1) building a healthy pipeline and portfolio of GCE investments in the region, especially in the focus countries of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa; 2) making investments, and supporting investees to grow and help them have impact; 3) working on policy issues that can strengthen governance in the region.

• Investments
  • Review and analyze investment proposals related to technology, transparency and accountability.
  • Support due diligence efforts for prospective investments and grants
  • Support deal execution – develop investment thesis and prepare investment memoranda
  • Provide occasional analytic support for projects to support ON funded organizations
  • Contribute to periodic investment area strategic reviews
  • Help manage the portfolio post investment.
• Other
  • Write case studies, blog posts, and articles on topics related to technology, transparency, and accountability
• General
  • Assist with preparation for annual portfolio review
  • Contribute to discussions with the GCE team to advance ON strategy and mission

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS REQUIREMENTS:

• Deep passion for technology, transparency and accountability
• 5+ years in the relevant fields of fiscal governance, transparency and accountability, technology, independent media, open data preferred
• Experience working in middle income and/or developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Excellent and clear written and oral communication skills required
• Strong analytic, strategic thinking and project management skills
• Financial analysis skills
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Education
  • MA, MSc in major field of study with analytic focus preferred
  • MBA or previous investment experience preferred
• Flexibility to travel internationally (30% of the time)

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