Country Director, Mexico

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.**Program Overview**:TechnoServe began operations in Mexico in 2011 and since then has been leading innovative alliances with corporations to contribute to the local economic development. Mexico has 50% of the population living in poverty but traditional development aid is no longer targeted to middle income countries such as Mexico. At the same time, a buoyant private sector and the Mexican government are increasingly able to play a leading role in poverty alleviation.Mexico faces a tremendous productivity challenge in agriculture and in the small and medium enterprise sector. Despite a high volume of entrepreneurial activity, Mexico has a low success rate of transformation from SMEs to larger, more productive companies. The gap between large and small firms is widening as productivity grows in large firms and declines in smaller companies. In agriculture, productivity in much of the small-holder crops such as coffee and cocoa is below international average and intermediaries usually play a detrimental role.TechnoServe has been a key catalyst in developing several corporate agricultural value chains that have proven impact with more than 20,000 beneficiaries. The opportunity to scale TechnoServe supported industries and mobilize investment should be ambitious with more than 5 million farmers and 5 million SMEs in the country.TechnoServe must develop new strategies to capture increasingly competitive funding, while working to scale up and build on the innovative models it has successfully pioneered and piloted in recent years. The Mexico Country Director has a responsibility to lead this charge by managing TechnoServe’s Mexico strategy, fundraising and implementation. TechnoServe seeks an innovative, entrepreneurial leader who can lead TechnoServe Mexico to the next frontier in agriculture-entrepreneurial driven economic development.**Job Summary**:TechnoServe Country Directors are the heart of our organization and must successfully function at many different levels at once. They are simultaneously diplomats, networkers, sales people, program managers, finance managers, and people managers, often serving in all of these roles in any one day. It is one of the most difficult roles in our organization, but also one of the most rewarding for its direct impact on making the world a better place.The Country Director leads all aspects of TechnoServe’s country level strategic branding, fundraising, and operations to achieve sustainable economic development in a cost-effective manner. This position serves as TechnoServe’s in-country legal representative and provides overall management of TechnoServe Cote d'Ivoire, including HR, procurement, finance and operations, ensuring efficient and effective and high quality implementation of programs, compliance with all donor and local legal requirements as well as TechnoServe policies and regulations.Country Directors also serve as an important link between the country office and our headquarters in the US. They provide context rich communications and are critical advocates for building and maintaining a culture in line with our strategy and values.Country Directors generally have knowledge or expertise in a particular technical area-so that they can credibly represent the organization-but often focuses his/her time much more on business development, program management, and people management than on serving as a technical advisor.**Primary Functions & Responsibilities**:The Country Director is expected to effectively manage all aspects of country operations including:- **Program Oversight**: Coaching and supervising leaders and managers of programs for successful delivery of results; ensuring timely submission of internal reports and corporate measurement; ensuring timely submission of high quality donor reports with support of the divisional back-stopping team; supporting country-level adaptation and use of program management tools; and working with program staff to identify an