- Role: Portfolio Fellow
- Venture: MEST Africa
- Location: Accra, Ghana
About MEST Africa
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), is a one-year intensive training program which identifies talented young professionals across Africa, and equips them with the tools and skills necessary to build globally competitive technology companies. Since its inception in 2008, MEST has produced 200 graduates from Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
Upon completion of the program, MEST invests anywhere from $20,000-$250,000 in teams and ideas with proven traction, scalability and commercial viability. Through the MEST Incubator, MEST has incubated over 40 companies (view our current portfolio here) since 2010. In addition to the seed capital provided in the incubator, MEST teams also receive hands on mentorship from globally trained professionals and access to our extensive network.
About You
Since its inception, fellows have played a key role in MEST’s growth and development. Fellows primarily serve in a teaching capacity in the training program (focusing on business and technology training) and as hands-on mentors (and in many respects team members) for our incubated companies. Our fellows have a strong “can-do” attitude and a willingness to roll up their sleeves, providing support where and when it’s needed in both our training program as well as at the incubator.
Responsibilities
As a Portfolio Fellow for MEST Africa, your responsibilities will include:
- Each Portfolio Fellow is assigned 5-7 companies whose industry/area of focus is matched with the Fellow’s skill set. For example, if your key skill is Finance, companies in the financial sector will be allocated to you. You will be responsible for all aspects of their business, including other verticals – however, other portfolio companies will recognize you and your key skill, and can come to you for support in this area.
- You will be directly responsible for the growth of your portfolio companies.
- Supporting the Director of Portfolio in achieving overall portfolio goals.
- Supporting the Incubator in core functions such as Masterclasses, events, organizational standards, etc. (~20% of your time).
Your job will be four-fold when working with your portfolio companies:
- Making sure your companies excel and progress through MEST’s internal tier classification.
- Actively working with the companies to make sure they are scaling and growing their businesses.
- Actively working with the companies to make sure they are cognizant of the state they are in and help them to achieve their KPIs.
- Actively working with the portfolio team to make sure the companies are getting the right support from respective team members.
Sound exciting? Here’s who we are looking for.
Skills & Qualifications
We are looking for fellows who are:
- Experienced: You have at least 2-4 years experience in an operational role at technology startups, or a consulting background. You can quantify your success in helping teams build and sell products people love.
- Entrepreneurial: You have strong user acquisition instincts and can help a team market what they’ve built. You’re a born hustler who thrives in uncertain environments, with the grit to do whatever it takes to make an early stage team successful.
- Articulate: You’re able to communicate clearly and convincingly with different stakeholders, including portfolio founders, MEST management, potential hires, and investors.
It’s a nice to have if:
- Have an enviable rolodex of warm relationships at numerous companies
- Are familiar with or have a very active interest in how technology entrepreneurship is evolving in Africa or other fast moving emerging markets.
- Have a background in product management, digital marketing or sales
- Have experience in the following spaces: consumer mobile apps, e-commerce platforms, or agriculture
