Senior Business Advisor- PReP

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

TechnoServe seeks a Senior Business Advisor (SBA) for the Plastic Recycling Program in Nigeria (PReP) to support the delivery of business advisory and market-strengthening interventions across the program’s target locations. The SBA will work closely with Business Advisors (BAs) and other program team members to coordinate and provide business advisory support to plastic aggregators and collectors, with particular responsibility for supporting the enrolment, organization, and clustering of collectors within the program.

The SBA will support beneficiaries to strengthen business practices, improve operational performance, access relevant market opportunities, and build more sustainable relationships across the plastic recycling value chain. The role will also contribute to beneficiary training and aftercare, field-level coordination, data collection and quality assurance, and the timely capture of beneficiary and performance data on the program’s dedicated digital platform.

The Plastic Recycling Program in Nigeria (PReP) is a TechnoServe initiative supported by The Coca-Cola Foundation that seeks to strengthen the plastic recycling value chain in Nigeria by improving the capacity, productivity, profitability, and inclusion of upstream recycling actors while supporting a more enabling environment for the sector.

Building on earlier phases of the program, PReP currently operates across Lagos, Anambra, and Kano States and works with plastic aggregators, collectors, recycling companies, government institutions, and other value-chain actors. The program combines business advisory support, training, access-to-finance facilitation, market linkages, equipment and productivity support, collector organization, and stakeholder engagement to strengthen material recovery and promote a more efficient and inclusive recycling ecosystem.

• Support the identification, mobilisation, enrolment, profiling, and clustering of plastic waste collectors in designated program locations, ensuring that enrolment processes are completed in line with program criteria and targets.
• Coordinate closely with Business Advisors to organize collectors into functional clusters/cooperatives linked, where appropriate, to participating aggregators and other relevant market actors.
• Support the development and implementation of practical approaches for strengthening relationships between collectors and aggregators, including improved coordination, material aggregation, record keeping, and market linkages.

• Provide oversight, guidance, and field-level support to Business Advisors in the delivery of business advisory services to aggregators and collectors, ensuring consistency and quality of support across assigned locations.
• Provide targeted business advisory and aftercare support in areas including business planning, record keeping, financial management, operational efficiency, inventory management, access to finance, market linkages, and other areas required to improve business performance.
• Support the adaptation and delivery of training for aggregators and collectors based on identified business and operational needs, and follow up with beneficiaries to support the practical application of learning.

• Support linkages between aggregators, collectors, offtakers, and other market actors to strengthen commercial relationships and improve the sustainability of supported businesses.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with aggregators, collectors, recycling companies, community stakeholders, government actors, implementing partners, and other relevant stakeholders necessary for effective program implementation.
• Facilitate meetings, training sessions, cluster engagements, workshops, and other beneficiary-facing activities that promote knowledge exchange, peer learning, and collaborative problem-solving among recycling value-chain actors.

• Coordinate the collection, verification, and timely submission of beneficiary and business performance data from aggregators, collectors, and other supported actors.
• Ensure beneficiary information, advisory records, training data, collector enrolment information, and other required program data are accurately captured and regularly updated on the program’s dedicated digital platform.
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to maintain data quality, support baseline and follow-up assessments, track beneficiary progress against relevant indicators, and resolve identified data gaps.
• Monitor the performance and participation of supported aggregators and collector clusters, identify emerging challenges, and coordinate appropriate advisory or programmatic responses.

• Prepare timely activity updates, field reports, beneficiary progress reports, success stories, case studies, and other narrative or quantitative inputs required for internal management and donor reporting.
• Work closely with Program Leadership and relevant technical teams to track implementation progress, identify risks and operational bottlenecks, and contribute to the achievement of program targets and deliverables.
• Participate in program team meetings, planning sessions, field reviews, and partner engagements, providing updates and recommendations on business advisory activities, collector enrolment and clustering, beneficiary performance, and other assigned areas.

• Ad-hoc Duties: Perform other duties related to business advisory services, beneficiary coordination, and program implementation as assigned by the Program Manager.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Management, or a related field, with a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience; or a Master’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience.
• Experience in business advisory, business diagnostics, financial management, business planning, and supporting MSMEs or informal-sector enterprises.
• Experience coordinating field activities, beneficiary mobilisation, enrolment, training, data collection, and follow-up support.
• Experience working with recycling, waste management, circular economy, or similar value-chain actors will be an advantage.
• Experience in facilitating cluster/cooperative formation and support 

Required Languages: Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in English languages. Ability to communicate in Hausa language is a plus.

Travel: Travel up to 40%

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Management, or a related field.
• Experience in private sector development, enterprise support, or business advisory services.
• Experience working with MSMEs, informal-sector actors, or businesses within recycling, waste management, or related value chains.

• Proven ability to provide practical business advisory, coaching, and capacity-building support to enterprises and beneficiaries.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills.
• Strong coordination and project management skills, with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Strong data management and reporting skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.