Full-Time Entrepreneur in Residence for Corporate Accelerator – YSB India
Job Description
WHAT IS YUNUS SOCIAL BUSINESS (YSB)?
Yunus Social Business (YSB) is social business accelerator, focusing on incubating and financing social businesses globally. A social business is a new kind of company that combines the strengths of both the social development and the business world. It is created with the sole purpose to solve a social problem– like an NGO – but to do so in a financially sustainable way – like a business.
YSB was co-founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of the microfinance organization Grameen Bank and also of several other social businesses in Bangladesh and globally.
A social business ourselves, we report directly to Professor Yunus, and we are part of the Grameen network of over 40 social businesses and more than 50,000 employees. We at YSB are currently a global team of 40 people with experience in entrepreneurship, consulting, venture capital, business incubation, finance and international development. YSB further has a large pool of expert volunteer consultants that contribute to its global and local operations.
Our main office is in Frankfurt, Germany and we have an on-the-ground presence through our local country teams in Albania, Haiti, Brazil, Colombia, Tunisia, India, and Uganda.
Our core business is the incubation and financing of social businesses in the following manner:
• We design and implement incubation and/or accelerator programmes in our local countries to search for, coach and mentor entrepreneurs to create strong, investment-ready social businesses.
• We provide financing for the most promising social businesses in a defined geographic area (country, region or city), using a methodology similar to that used in the venture capital space.
• We further provide on-going advice and support post-financing, including a peer-to-peer exchange with other social business entrepreneurs.
YSB INDIA – CORPORATE ACCELERATOR
YSB India is in the process of developing a new product- a corporate accelerator- to encourage companies in India to develop their own social businesses. A corporate social business is Non-dividend Company set up by a company to use its core business know-how to solve a social problem. There are several examples in the Grameen family of corporate social businesses: Grameen Danone (concerning malnutrition), Grameen Veolia (concerning arsenic contaminated water), Grameen BASF (concerning malaria). A brief overview of Grameen Danone is available on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV4WQV32ijs
YSB India believes there is great potential, especially in the light of India’s CSR law, for corporates to play a strong role in solving India’s social problems through their own innate abilities. This corporate accelerator will aim to catalyse these corporate social businesses in India.
POSITION SUMMARY
YSB India is looking for an enthusiastic, driven entrepreneur–in-residence to co-lead this initiative with YSB India’s co-founder and ensure its success.
Your role (in collaboration with YSB India’s co-founder) will be to:
• Design and create a go to market strategy for this product
• Identify and create all relevant partnerships for a successful implementation
• Sell the product to key corporates in India (including from your own network)
• Drive a successful implementation of the product
• Earn your own salary through a revenue sharing model with YSB
Your qualifications:
• Minimum 7-10 years experience working with C-suite level executives in one of the following roles
o Management consulting at a top tier firm
o Corporate strategy/ project management at a top tier firm
o Investment banking/ venture capital/ private equity
o Key role in a high quality start-up with a significant learning curve
o A mix of the above
o Experience in the world of social enterprise/ impact investment/ social impact consulting is a plus
o Experience in innovation consulting is a plus
• A strong network amongst C-suite level executives at top tier corporates in India
• MBA/ MPA/ Graduate degree from a global top tier university
• Indian citizen/ ability to work in India/ deep cultural understanding of India
• Fluency in Hindi and English
In addition to the qualifications, we’re looking for someone with following traits:
• You’re a leader with “soul”. You’re looking for something beyond the obvious. You’ve built a highly successful career and are wondering what next- but know that it lies outside the realm of the “traditional”. You want a career with deep meaning, one that constantly questions “how things are done/ are”, that allows you to challenge yourself, your beliefs and your assumptions about the world. You have vision and want to lead society towards a more equitable world for everyone.
• You have an understanding and appreciation of the Yunus Social Business model and its philosophy (we will expect you to have thoroughly researched and understood this before you apply!). You understand how it related to social enterprise, impact investing, shared value etc
• You are an entrepreneur at heart. You have an instinct for seeing win-win situations and market gaps. You love everything about what is takes to create and run a business focused on creating true value for the customer.
• You have exceptional sales ability- you are a powerful communicator with an ability to translate your vision so it is understood by and “bought” by a diverse set of stakeholders.
• You love “starting up”. You are an experienced entrepreneur/ professional but one who loves the “startup” phase of a business. You’re a self-motivated problem solver, solution oriented, innovative and extremely comfortable with a dynamic and fast changing environment. You have the proven ability to create structure/ coherence out of ambiguity
• You have entrepreneurial/ intrapreneurial experience. You have demonstrated the ability to successfully identify, design and build out a new initiative
• You have a clear focus on results and are solution oriented
• You are inspired and have a track record of inspiring people to look beyond the obvious
• You have a high level of personal integrity.
• You have dogged persistence.
• You have drive, confidence and dynamism but also deep humility.
• You are a team player and have a demonstrated ability to work effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders and colleagues from a variety of backgrounds and countries.
WHAT WE OFFER
• A rare opportunity to build an exciting new product that can drive scalable social benefit for India- and perhaps change the way businesses do business in India.
• An opportunity to work closely with Prof Muhammad Yunus and the leaders of the Grameen network globally.
• Access to the knowledge, experience and network of the Grameen family institutions, particularly that of Yunus Social Business
• An opportunity to grow into a broader role at Yunus Social Business India on successful development and implementation of the corporate accelerator
• An opportunity to earn your own salary through a revenue sharing model for this product
• A collaborative and fun team across 7 countries! (and growing)