Entrepreneurship & Marketing Officer

The Agency For Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD) in collaboration with six partners (African Agribusiness Incubation Network (AAIN), Omia Agribusiness, Agromax, Tropical Institute of Development Innovations (TRIDI), Uganda Rural Development and Training Institute (URDT) and Gudie Leisure Farm (GLF) and partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will implement a 5-year program, “Sustainable Inclusive Youth Employment Pathways (SIYEP)” in West Nile, Karamoja, Acholi, and Central and Western Uganda as part of the Young Africa Works Strategy to address unemployment
challenges faced by young women in Uganda. The program will directly reach 258,000 young women (7% refugees and 5% young women with disabilities (YWWDs)) and transition 90% into work, and 70% into dignified and fulling work. This will be achieved through institutional strengthening, market relevant training, skilling, incubation, and access to capital and markets.
The program will work directly with Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVETs), Local Artisans, and incubation centers and in collaboration with local and central government entities such as Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD), National Council of Higher Education (NCHE), Uganda Business and Technical, Examinations Board (UBTEB), Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URBS), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), NGOs, CBOs, and existing Young Africa Works partners.

JOB TITLE: Entrepreneurship & Marketing Officer (1 vacancy)
Reporting: Program Manager

Duty Station: Nebbi
Employment terms: Full time; Fixed Term: 5- years renewable annually based on satisfactory performance and availability of funds.
Job Summary
Responsible for driving young women enterprise business growth and maintaining strong customer relationships by coordinating private sector engagement, and entrepreneurship development among participating young people.
Roles & Responsibilities
Capacity Building
• Participate in livelihood and market assessment including enterprise viability and barrier analysis to inform market-relevant skilling for young women.
• Support POs and peer trainers to facilitate YSLA members to prepare business plans to anchor business with a purpose drive.
• Conduct business diagnosis and customized trainings in key areas of need for young women’s business growth.
• Support Skilling Officers and peer trainers to provide tailored cohort-based training and mentorship on business development, including market analysis, business planning, financial management, and marketing.
• Identify market needs and skills gaps and provide relevant needs-based capacity development.
• Identify potential growth sectors, opportunities, business relationships and partnerships.
• Develop a comprehensive business development strategy which aligns with SIYEP skilling focus in AFARD.
• Offer customized business development services to young women businesses, including guidance on product development, registration, and marketing.
• Ensures gender and safeguarding and disability inclusion are mainstreamed in the program activities.
Access to markets
• Provide market linkages with traders, large-scale buyers or processors and other existing marketing platforms and networks and enroll participants on AFARD FAMIS digital marketing platform.
• Organize Seasonal markets for young women in agribusiness.
• Support, train and coach young women on market standards to improve on agronomic practices
• Develop and maintain a database of key market actors and operators to strengthen and expand market opportunities
• Facilitate linkages between young women entrepreneurs and inputs and output market actors
• Coach POs, peer trainers, marketing committees and young women in agribusiness in collective marketing.
Access to Finance
• Provide financial literacy education for the rural young women.
• Facilitate linkage banking, youth SACCO formation, strengthening & linkages to government programs
Partnership and Networking:
• Liaise with local businesses, employers, and industries to create job placement opportunities, internships, and apprenticeships for trained young people.
• Leverage networks to connect youth-led businesses with potential customers, investors, and collaborators.
Monitoring and Evaluation
• Monitor and analyze market trends, customer behavior, and industry developments.
• Report on business growth and marketing performance
Person specifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Business Administration, or related field.
• A minimum of 3 year’s experience in Youth Entrepreneurship, marketing, youth business development
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing business development programs for young people in rural settings.
• Strong understanding of market analysis, business planning, financial management, and value chain development.
• Proven experience in providing training and technical assistance to startups and Micro Small and Medium scale Enterprises.
• Excellent networking, negotiation, and partnership-building skills.
• Familiarity with financial inclusion and access to finance initiatives.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, both written and verbal.
• High level of honesty, integrity, and accountability.
• Strong business acumen and ability to achieve results with minimum supervision.
• Ability to work in teams and build collaborative relationships.
• Familiar with digital marketing tools and platforms.
• Willingness to travel to remote districts of Uganda as and when required.

Signed Application and a 2-pager motivation letter plus relevant academic & experience credentials, CV with names and daytime contacts of three referees,
and your daytime phone contact numbers in 1-file PDF format should be addressed to “The Human Resources Office” and e-mailed to procurement@afard.net latest on May 23, 2025 at 5:00PM. In the subject area of your email, indicate the position you are applying for.
Polite Notice.
• Qualified females and refugees are highly encouraged to apply.
• Only complete applications will be accepted and considered for review.
• Only those who are ready to start immediately will be shortlisted.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Successful applicants will be required to start immediately after appropriate screening checks including criminal records, child and sexual abuse, exploitation and/or harassment. By applying, job applicants consent to these screening checks