About the role
GrowthAfrica is seeking a dynamic, experienced and proven senior programme leader to drive the delivery of a flagship multi-country entrepreneurship programme. As Head of Programme, you will hold overall accountability for the delivery, quality and impact of a complex, multi-country initiative supporting young women entrepreneurs across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda.
The position is strategically vital and operationally demanding. You will be the unambiguous operational leader of a high-visibility programme that GrowthAfrica intends to set as the benchmark for how we, and the wider African entrepreneurship support sector, deliver excellence at scale. It is about catalysing innovation at scale across four countries, leading a programme that supports over 1,600 aspiring entrepreneurs, 200 innovation teams and 80 early-stage businesses to build the next wave of African market infrastructure that benefits young women in some of the most overlooked corners of the continent.
It is about turning ambitious design into operational reality, translating a bold vision into well-orchestrated delivery across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda, building the systems, the team and the partnerships that make consistent excellence possible cycle after cycle, country after country. It is about backing entrepreneurs in places that are typically overlooked, ensuring the programme's primary focus on young women in rural and peri-urban settings translates from intention into authentic, life-changing engagement, with the discipline to refuse compromise on the target persona even when it would be easier to do so.
It is about leading a high-calibre team across borders, building, coaching and managing a 24-strong programme team plus a wider network of partners, mentors, technical experts and capital providers, fostering autonomy at country level while maintaining unity of purpose and quality across the whole. It is about building a case study GrowthAfrica grows from, making this programme a deliberate demonstration of African-led, evidence-based entrepreneurship support, generating the learnings, methodologies and stories that will shape our practice for years to come.
Key responsibilities
Lead end-to-end delivery of the programme's three core components, covering innovation and ideation, incubation, and acceleration, plus the events and ecosystem engagement stream, across Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda.
Own quality and impact across all programme activities, ensuring 1,600+ aspiring entrepreneurs, 200 innovation teams and 80 early-stage businesses are supported to international best-practice standards and authentic local relevance.
Provide strategic oversight of a significant grants facility, working with the Grants Coordinator to ensure rigorous due diligence, compliant disbursement and effective utilisation by entrepreneurs and businesses.
Build, lead and develop a 24-strong programme team across one headquarters and four country offices, fostering high performance, learning and increasing country-team autonomy as the programme matures.
Serve as the principal point of contact for key institutional partners, owning donor relationships, reporting, contractual compliance and visibility commitments to the highest standard.
Build and steward the programme's wider ecosystem, partnerships with co-working spaces, technical partners, mentors, investors, capital providers and government stakeholders across all four countries.
Champion the programme's commitment to gender equity, inclusion of forcibly displaced persons and disability inclusion, ensuring targets translate into authentic operational reality rather than demographic compliance.
Ensure rigorous monitoring, evaluation and learning practice, working with the M&E Coordinator to generate evidence that drives adaptive management and case-study-quality knowledge products.
Manage the overall programme budget, ensuring value for money and rigorous financial discipline across components, countries and years.
Drive a culture of safeguarding, ethics and accountability across all programme activities, with particular vigilance during direct engagements with beneficiaries in the field.
Position the programme as a flagship demonstration of African-led, evidence-based entrepreneurship support, generating learning, methodology and case-study material that shapes GrowthAfrica's future practice.
Contribute as a senior member of GrowthAfrica's wider leadership, sharing expertise across the organisation and building institutional capability to deliver future programmes of comparable scale and ambition.
Qualifications and requirements
Master's degree in business administration, Development Studies, Economics, Social Sciences, Entrepreneurship or a related field.
Minimum 8 to 10 years of progressive professional experience, with at least 5 years in senior programme leadership roles in entrepreneurship support, SME development, innovation or private sector development.
Demonstrated experience leading multi-country programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, ideally spanning both
East and West African markets.
Proven track record managing donor-funded or institutionally supported programmes with rigorous compliance and reporting requirements. Direct experience administering grant disbursement to beneficiaries is essential.
Strong people management credentials, including building and leading geographically dispersed teams across diverse cultural contexts and operating environments.
Deep working knowledge of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in at least two of the
programme countries, including incubation and acceleration models, startup support methodologies and early-stage finance.
Sharp financial and budget management acumen, including managing significant grant facilities, multi-year budgets and value-for-money discipline across multiple jurisdictions.
Excellent communication skills in English, written and spoken, with the ability to produce high-quality reports, strategic documents and presentations. Working proficiency in French is a significant advantage given the programme's country coverage.
Genuine commitment to gender equity, women's economic empowerment and inclusion, backed by demonstrable experience operationalising these in programme design and delivery.
Membership of relevant professional bodies and familiarity with human-centred design methodologies are advantageous.