Full-Time Alterna Business Cultivation Fellowship
Job Description
Alterna’s Fellowship Program is a trampoline for professionals who want to be on the frontline of the emerging fourth sector—social entrepreneurship. Our Fellowship Program is designed to bring top talent from the most innovative firms, universities and organizations worldwide to get hands-on experience working with local entrepreneurs who lack access to high-quality business services.
Over the course of 6-10 months, Alterna Fellows provide individualized support to entrepreneurs in three phases of businesses development, accompanying them and guiding them through the riskiest phases of launching a business. Utilizing a methodology built from five years of launching our own social businesses and working directly with entrepreneurs in the community, our Fellows have successfully helped launch and scale over 300 social businesses and have worked with over 375 entrepreneurs in Guatemala.
As Central America’s first Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Alterna aims to catalyze social entrepreneurship from the ground up, and we envision a world in which the opportunity to ignite positive change exists in every context. Our talent is the key to achieving our mission, and we’re currently recruiting fellows on an ongoing basis to take on new projects in different phases of development.
PRIMARY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Our Core/Advanced Stage Fellows work as consultants for local entrepreneurs. They take on the full Business Cultivation process, working to set milestones and guide entrepreneurs to achieve those milestones. Our entrepreneurs’ businesses span over seven sectors, and Alterna Fellows support them with tasks such as developing financial projection tools, supporting strategic planning, building social impact marketing plans, conducting deep market research, and beyond. Specifically, you will:
– Work with a portfolio of 3-5 advanced stage entrepreneurs to support their growth as they assess and achieve their strategic goals for development
– Develop, build out and analyze social impact strategies for local entrepreneurs aiming to make a positive impact in their community
– Develop Alterna’s internal strategy and consulting methodology, helping to adjust and improve our advanced-stage entrepreneur cultivation program
– Measure and evaluate the social impact of clients’ businesses
– Design expansion plans for advanced stage entrepreneurs, conducting market research, risk analyses and cost-benefit analyses with local experts and entrepreneurs
– Assist in the program development to identify, attract and retain new and ongoing relationships and partnerships to source Alterna with highly qualified mentors, fellows, and interns
– Continuously researching innovative approaches, ideas and best practices in the areas of Impact Investing and social entrepreneurship
REQUIREMENTS
Our Fellows are professionals with 3-7 years of business or management experience seeking an opportunity to apply their skill sets and immerse themselves in the social entrepreneurship community in Guatemala. We look for innovators; those are excited by challenges; those who are looking to dive in head first to problems and who don’t take no for an answer. On paper, Alterna Core/Advanced Stage Fellows have:
– A degree in Finance, Economics, Marketing, International Business or Management; Pursuing or hold an MBA or MS in Business, Economics, Marketing and Sales, Organizational Behavior, or Finance is a major advantage
– 3 – 7 years of professional experience as an entrepreneur, or at a multinational organization, consulting firm, corporate entity, NGO or similar organization
– 6 – 10 month commitment to working on the ground in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
– Strong analytical, business judgment and problem-solving skills
– Impeccable business rigor and prior experience managing sensitive client relationships
– Full business proficiency in Spanish
– Passion for social entrepreneurship and impact investing; you’ve read Small is Beautiful or The Lean Startup and are strongly committed to developing the fourth sector
– Familiarity with development issues in Central America
DESIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
– Professional working proficiency English
– Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills
– Proficiency in Office suite
– Awareness of cultural identity, patience and strong sense of empathy
– Sense of humor, unquenchable curiosity and contagious energy
– A leader who takes initiatives to solve problems with minimum resources
– Solid professional trajectory, ideally in a multinational, consultancy or leading NGO