Innovative Result-Based Financing Volunteer

Yunus Social Business is recruiting one (1) volunteer starting as soon as possible.

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 NGOs – but to do so in a financially sustainable way – like businesses.

YSB was co-founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of the microfinance organization Grameen Bank, as well as a variety of social businesses in Bangladesh and worldwide. 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, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, India, Uganda and Tunisia.

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 also serve as a financing vehicle for the most promising social businesses in a defined geographic area (country, region or city), using a methodology similar to those used in the venture capital space
• We further provide on-going advice and support post-investment, including a peer-to-peer exchange with other social business entrepreneurs

Main responsibilities of the Innovative Result-Based Financing Volunteer

As part of a project launched with the Rockefeller Foundation, we are looking for a Volunteer position for a project on Innovative Result-Based Financing, starting as soon as possible
for a minimum of 9 months, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Any business that has an explicit social or development mission is faced with a dilemma: 
• Pursuing social objectives typically means higher costs and/or lower revenue than would otherwise be possible for that business (trying to make products and services as affordable as possible, focusing on the most-in-need, hardest-to-reach beneficiaries, specific employment and supplier policies, etc.);
• This negative impact on financial performance makes the business less attractive to most potential investors, whose capital is required for the business to grow.

Thus, many socially minded businesses find it necessary over time to drift away from or dilute their social mission in order to increase the expected financial returns on investment which potential new sources of capital demand. These businesses would welcome a new financing instrument, which could allow them to attract new investors while insulating them from mission drift. On the other side of the negotiating table, impact investors, too, are looking for ways to increase the scope of social-impact opportunities in which they can invest without compromising their pre-defined financial return expectations.

In the last years, governments, development finance organizations and philanthropic foundations are looking for new ways to engage with these socially driven businesses and with the emerging impact-investing sector. Many of these institutions nowadays place particular emphasis on obtaining results and value-for-money, by:
• Ensuring that payments are made only if specific pre-defined social outcomes are achieved (thus the attraction of new results-based instruments);
• Looking to fund interventions which are financially sustainable and scalable beyond the allocated funding (thus the attraction to business approaches where revenues exceed costs);
• Outsourcing selection and risk to others, and rewarding the winners (market-based approaches);
• Preferring to play a catalytic role, whereby a comparatively small amount of their limited philanthropic funding leverages a larger amount of capital from external sources.

We believe that a suitable instrument to finance Social Businesses needs to align the interests of all three parties – social-mission businesses, investors, and social funding institutions. The aim of this study is to identify an instrument, which addresses these needs. 

The study intends to survey and develop a range of different possible solutions, before selecting the most viable option, going deep on that alternative and developing a first pilot.

The Innovative Result-Based Financing Volunteer will report to the Project Director. Her/his responsibilities include, but will not be limited to:

• Develop survey on innovative financing solutions for development or social businesses
• Desktop research on existing pay-for-result schemes in the leading countries 
• In-depth expert interviews to learn from past PFR frameworks 
• Experts /stakeholders senior interviews 
• Compilation of findings 
• Work closely with the different local YSB country teams to gather existing knowledge and expert networks
• Develop a framework and evaluate possible financing solutions 
• Testing of working hypothesis in focus groups (social finance, legal experts) 
• Define set of criteria for evaluation purposes/ suitability, evaluate surveyed financing solutions along criteria defined 
• Prepare initial proposals for potential partners, 
• Define scope for financing instrument (vehicle, format, implementation, legal frameworks, possible partners, ect) , define roadmap for chosen scope and pilot implementation plan 
• Other, more project-specific tasks may also be part of your role, depending on needs and availability. 

Qualifications of the candidate
An ideal candidate should display the following qualities, skills, and experience:
• A university degree in economics, business administration, marketing, communications or related fields; 
• At least two years of experience in at least one of the following: Banking, venture capital, private equity, impact investing, consulting in social finance
• Excellent Excel, Word, and PowerPoint skills, strong analytics, creativity and attention to detail; 
• Command of business consulting tools, especially Excel modelling, business-plan analysis, interview techniques, and research;
• Excellent time management and communication skills. You should be able to manage projects independently without a lot of guidance, and to be able to manage several projects at the same time under time pressure; 
• Sensitivity to customer needs. YSB works with clients from a wide range of industries and backgrounds, you need to be comfortable thinking outside the box; 
• Fluent written and oral English;
• Commitment to serving society’s needs;
• A high level of personal integrity and teamwork spirit.

This is a great opportunity to use your talent, skills and enthusiasm to help create social businesses with us – you will be surprised how similar to consulting and VC the tools and methodologies that we use are!

The candidate will be offered the opportunity to work in an environment with great scope for taking on significant responsibilities within projects and within the organization plus a lot of joy in all our projects and a friendly, young, international team.
Travelling to various European countries and one of the countries of the Program is possible. This volunteer position might possibly turn into a full-time paid positions based on performance and project needs. An expense allowance (Aufwandsentschädigung) is possible.

If you are interested in this position, please send a CV and cover letter, in English, by email, to the following email address: applications@yunussb.com , with subject line “Innovative Result-Based Financing Volunteer” before April 30th 2015. ”. If your profile is suitable, we will contact you for an interview within 6 weeks. Please note: Only suitable candidates will be contacted. 

We look forward to hearing from you!