Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Ashesi's mission is to propel an African renaissance by educating ethical, entrepreneurial leaders. Located in Ghana, this private, non-profit university combines a rigorous multidisciplinary core with degree programs in Computer Science, Business Administration, Management Information Systems, and Engineering. A student-led honors code, integrated community service, diverse internships, and real-world projects prepare students to develop innovative solutions for the challenges facing their individual communities, countries, and the continent at large.

Reports to: Co-Principal Investigator – Entrepreneurship & Research

Job Summary: The fellows who will serve as EiR will develop content, build local programming, and lead all operational activities for the entrepreneurship component of the initiative with direct oversight from the Initiative’s Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators.

Responsibilities:

• Develop a long-term & operational strategy for the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative and lead strategy implementation to ensure the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative meets milestones and creates the planned impact.
• Manage all the staff in the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative and work with staff teams to create and track respective KPIs.
• Create a robust reporting structure and share periodic updates with the Co-Principal Investigators for feedback on strategic direction.
• Develop new, and hone existing partnerships with public and private sector organizations and create awareness for the initiative in (health) entrepreneurship ecosystems in and beyond the continent.
• Undertake all strategic activities required for the successful incubation of the health initiative ventures.
• Lead content development and local programming for the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative with the faculty leads, while ensuring context and content relevance.
• Lead the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative’s mentorship program including creating an impactful mentor-mentee experience, driving recruitment and assignment of mentors, and develop a repository of mentors for the initiative with faculty leads.
• Support with fundraising for the Ashesi Health Innovation Initiative and manage any investor networks that are developed.
• Support other entrepreneurship functions as needed to be undertaken for the Ashesi Entrepreneurship Center by the Assistant Director, AEC.

Qualifications

• graduate degree level in Business, Management, Public Health, or related professional degrees.
• 8 – 10 years’ worth of experience managing and leading innovation projects facilities, supporting start-ups (health or health-allied start-ups preferred), fundraising, and leading sponsored program initiatives.
• Experience working with and managing relationships amongst public and private health sector stakeholders.
• Proven networking capabilities, communication, and partnership development skills needed to manage relationships and scale the initiative.
• A proactive, self-starter who shows initiative, is a strong team player, able to work under sensitive timelines, and is a motivator of staff and ventures engaged in the program.
• Innovator with the ability to think and contribute to the strategic direction that will position the initiative as a key player in Africa’s health ecosystem.
• High level of digital literacy and strong working knowledge of a range of cloud software applications including MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint, Projects, Outlook required)
• Comfort with ambiguity and competing priorities is vital.
• Ability to multitask and work independently and collaboratively to meet weekly, monthly, and quarterly deadlines.
• Additional valued qualifications include:
• Familiarity with fundraising for development organizations, private foundation approaches, requirements, and processes.
• Highly tuned detail-oriented, strategic thinking, and a process and system thinker.