PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: -

Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG) is Gaza’s leading co-working space, tech education hub, and startup accelerator, run by Mercy Corps, a nonprofit international relief and development organization with programs in the occupied Palestinian territories since the 1980s. Mercy Corps founded GSG in partnership with Google.org in 2011.  We bring together online freelancers, outsourcers, and startup founders together under one roof to share ideas, best practices, code, and build brighter futures through the power of the internet. Gaza Sky Geeks’ overarching goal is to build an internationally competitive technology ecosystem in Gaza through online freelancing, outsourcing, and startups. 

GEEXELERATOR PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

The GeeXelerator is an intensive 16-week pre-seed acceleration program that aims to help teams build a usable product with only the most essential core features, validate the core product feature with users, launch the feature online for public use, and scale their product’s user base. 

The program goal is to help entrepreneurs build successful startups that create value for entrepreneurs, customers, and the community. The program focuses on revenue generation and investment readiness. The program objectives are achieved through 3 phases:

1. Pre-GeeXelerator: Help the organizing team deliver sessions on entrepreneurship mindset and reflect on own experiences while participating in the program in the previous year and joining the startup roadshow. Deliver 1:1 sessions when requested to mentor early stage startups
2. PHASE I : Build and Validate the assumptions: this phase is 4-week long focused on building assumptions about the business and working to validate the business assumptions through using the Business Model Canvas. It ends with a hackathon for building a testing prototype that startups can use to get data from users 
3. PHASE II: Entrepreneurs work on building the MVP in 8 weeks (4 sprints). Each sprint startups will ship a feature and test how customers are reacting to this feature. It ends with an internal demo day at GSG office to select startups that will progress to the next phase
4. PHASE III: this 4-week long phase focuses on Traction and Revenue Generation and preparing for Investment.  It ends with a final Startups demo day 

The main activities covered in the program include weekly deliverables, workshops and speaker events, mentorship meetings, check-ins with each startup team, and perks & credits for hosting and marketing products.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY: -

You will play a leading role in supporting the startup in our program, providing mentorship, delivering sessions, creating content, and advising on program improvements.  You will acting as a contributor to program design, startup coach, and mentor in entrepreneurship, business model development, marketing, and product launching. In coordination with the Acceleration team, and other staff, you support and help execute the plan for acceleration cycles, and continuously improve our curriculum. You will also play a leading role in mentoring startups and help source out mentors (especially from the MENA region) to support the Geexelerator program. 

Main support for the start-ups will be throughout the different stages of their startup development allowing them to validate their ideas and the adequacy of their products to the needs of the targeted market to achieve business targets, growth, and metrics consistent with investors’ expectations. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS: -

• Support startup teams with developing a clearly defined business model and marketing strategy, including:
• Providing ongoing guidance for startups to iteratively assess their business models and adjust according to lessons learned 
• Providing guidance on developing a marketing strategy with explicit goals and objectives as well as an implementation plan
• Providing support to the startups in the following areas:
• Value proposition: Startup assumptions, customer promise, offer, market (s) and target users 
• Product: user experience, product roadmap, track development milestones to get customer-ready product 
• Go-to-market: evaluation of different customer acquisition strategies, branding; 
• Team management and recruitment; 
• Financing, control current burn rate, short and mid-term financial plan 
• You will be working with several startups during the program in the manner of a "board member"
• Formal weekly face-to-face working sessions with the team ("Office hours") 
• Providing workshops to startups on customer research, product development, user testing, and marketing
• Coaching the startup team on recruitment for talents for their teams and finding co-founders to join them early in the process
• Reviewing deliverables submitted by the startups' teams and providing comprehensive and concrete feedback 
• Work in coordination with the Product Development Coordinator, Engineer in Residence, and CTOs in Residence to drive adherence to regular daily, weekly, and monthly check-ins with startup teams to coach on and facilitate product development, product market fit, user validation, and growth. 
• Participate regularly in remote and in-person mentorship sessions with incubated/accelerated startup teams in order to assess mentor quality, as well as any deliverables agreed to between mentees and mentors
• Model professional etiquette, communications, processes, and workflow management for startup teams as well as other GSG staff (e.g. demonstrate 100% reliable use of a calendaring application, note taking and following up on action items, punctually arriving in the office and starting meetings on time, professional address of startup teams and other staff members)
• Support alumni startups (those that have finished the acceleration program) to help them grow, expand into new markets, and obtain follow-on investment 
• Participate in startup sourcing process for the next batch of startups, communicate GSG value proposition, report interesting projects back to GSG Acceleration team 
• Working hand in hand with GSG’s Mentor Coordinator, Startup Acceleration Manager, and GSG Director, develop a strategic approach to mentor recruitment and outreach with an initial focus on expanding linkages to Arabic speaking mentors from the MENA region
• Work closely with the Mentor Coordinator on facilitating mentor visits to Gaza, including handling logistics and operations during such visits. 
• Assessing individual startup mentorship needs, and then support the mentorship coordinator with selecting the optimal mentors from our network. You will be responsible for identifying tactical and specific needs that can be solved with one-off or continuing mentorship engagements with startups. 
• Work closely with the Freelancing and Coding program verticals to select and recruit mentors to support those verticals
• Identify effective ways to mentors female entrepreneurs and identify their needs  to ensure consistent and successful growth of women-led startups 

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: Not Applicable

ACCOUNTABILITY: -

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Startups Acceleration Manager 

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Startups Acceleration Coordinator, GSG Mentorship Coordinator, and other staff

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders :

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

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QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: 

1. Startup experience co-founding a startup or working on the senior management team of startups
2. University degree in Business, Marketing, ICT, or any other related field, with a demonstrated record of interest and contemporary knowledge in his/her field.
3. Excellent speaking and writing skills in both English and Arabic
4. Very good understanding of entrepreneurship in MENA region and globally
5. Experience in Customer Research, Marketing and Product Launching in a startup context
6. Strong written and verbal communication skills. 
7. Resilience, high problem-solving abilities, attention to detail and a great sense of humor.
8. Proficiency in MS Office, Slack, Google products (Drive, Sheets, Docs). GSG does not use email internally. We use Slack. 
9. Strong understanding of the social, political, and economic context of the Gaza Strip.
10. Willingness to work outside of normal business hours as required;

SUCCESS FACTORS:

1. Ability to work in a flat, fast-paced environment with others who are passionate about supporting Gaza’s technology ecosystem
2. Comfort with uncertainty and change—GSG is a small program but growing rapidly. Just like our program, we seek staff who are adaptable and pitch in on what needs to be done. 
3. Strong listening abilities in order to understand the needs of Gaza’s startup community and GSG’s tech community
4. High degree of self introspection and leadership potential
5. Superb attention to detail
6. Positive attitude and passion for your work
7. Proactive, get-stuff-done mentality that always prioritizes outcomes, not just inputs 
8. Strong interpersonal, conflict resolution and negotiation skills;
9. Excellent time and organizational management skills;
10. Excellent ability to work under pressure and carry out multiple tasks simultaneously. 

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. 

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. 

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Qualified persons with disability are highly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an application online HERE no later than Wednesday, 26 August 2020

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Please apply separate application for each position you are interested in.