Manager - Digital Innovation
FSD EthiopiaAbout FSD Africa
FSD Africa works to reduce poverty by strengthening Africa’s financial markets. Established in 2012 and supported by UK Aid, FSD Africa is a specialist development agency working to build and strengthen financial markets across sub-Saharan Africa. They work to reduce poverty through a ‘market systems development’ approach, which means they aim to address the structural, underlying causes of poverty by improving how financial market systems function.
They believe that investing in building a financial system that is transparent, stable and accessible creates the conditions for a fair and sustainable future, where inequality is reduced, corruption is tackled, and where individuals, businesses and governments alike are able to prepare for future challenges, from climate change to political instability.
From their headquarters in Nairobi, their team of financial sector experts work alongside governments, business leaders, regulators and policymakers to design and build ambitious programmes that make financial markets work better for everyone. Depending on the project, they can provide a combination of grants, investment capital, market insights or technical assistance to ensure they achieve their objectives.
They focus their work where the need is greatest, and where they believe the potential for impact is the most significant. FSDA has a specific mandate to invest in breakthrough, innovative ideas that they believe can have transformative impact. By sharing risk with key partners, they’re able to address more difficult, persistent, or higher-risk challenges, in more unstable or fragile geographies, than traditional development finance organisations.
About the role
The Manager, Digital Innovation will be responsible for supporting risk market innovation – working with insurance providers, other financial institutions, digital platforms and other channels & intermediaries, to design and test new mechanisms of risk management and transfer to target groups.
In particular, this involves working to catalyse and support insurtech eco-systems in Africa and to leverage digital platforms as a distribution channel for risk management and transfer solutions to households and SMEs. In other words, the role holder will be responsible for driving FSD Africa’s work stream on risk innovation in the digital finance space which will involve actively engaging and supporting key stakeholders at the leading edge of fintech and insurtech ecosystems.
Additionally, this role will also contribute to the implementation of the FSD Africa Risk programmes by leading private sector innovation projects. Key activities include; ensuring work-plan execution as agreed with Senior Management as well as external partners, budget management, tracking achievement of project milestones and logframe indicators, providing technical supervision of consultants and quality control of outputs as well as liaising with implementing partners to support effective delivery of projects.
Location: This position is based in Kenya but is open to remote work anywhere in Africa.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Innovation Programming
2. Project Planning
3. Project Implementation
4. Communicating for Impact
Does this sound like you?
Nice to have:
Persons of all gender, race, sex, orientation, age, and identity are encouraged to apply. For those with enquiries kindly send your CV to Reynold Owuor at: reynold@shortlist.net and CC Sarah Ndegwa at sarah@shortlist.net
About FSD Ethiopia
Established in 2021, FSD Ethiopia is a development agency that aims to support the development of accessible, inclusive, and sustainable financial markets for economic growth.
Their role is to identify the underlying causes of financial system failures, facilitate market actors to address these constraints, and help build a functional and effective financial sector that generates economic gains for Ethiopians from all walks of life. Their vision is to contribute to a thriving financial system that delivers real value to the broader economy and the people of Ethiopia. They provide technical assistance, grants, and research insights to policymakers, regulators, and market actors to drive large-scale change in financial markets and support sustainable economic development.
Supported by their funding partners, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), they work with public, private, and development partners in the financial sector to address critical system constraints and facilitate sustainable change. They provide tailored services to help diverse stakeholders achieve their goals and design interventions to make Ethiopia’s financial sector function transparently, effectively, and inclusively.