---

Venture Builder – Agri-Food Systems

Position Overview

Our company is seeking a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the challenges of building one or more ventures. The Venture Builder will collaborate closely with our partners and internal team to design, launch, and scale transformative agri-food businesses within Tanzania.

In this role, you will lead the venture-building process, supporting founders from idea validation through to early market traction and investment readiness. You will also work directly with founding teams, providing hands-on guidance and strategic decision-making support throughout the entrepreneurial journey.

During the co-founding stage, you will provide part-time strategic support to selected portfolio companies, helping them transition from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to first sales, establish operational structures, and prepare for external investment and commercial growth.

---

Core Responsibilities

1. Venture Building Process Leadership

• Lead the design, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the venture-building process tailored to Tanzania’s context.
• Develop tools, frameworks, and operational resources to support founding teams throughout the venture journey.
• Manage the full venture pipeline, including:
  • Founder selection
  • Training and incubation
  • Mentorship and business model validation
  • Progress evaluation and milestone tracking.

---

Key Responsibilities

Supporting Founders-in-Residence

• Lead the cohort-based venture studio process, including training programs, design sprints, and business mentoring to increase portfolio success rates.
• Facilitate venture studio cycles covering:
  • Founder selection
  • Food systems analysis
  • Problem validation
  • Prototype design sprints
  • Market testing
  • Investment readiness preparation.
• Translate the company’s two-year venture-building playbook into practical implementation within Tanzania’s environment.
• Conduct weekly founder stand-ups, KPI tracking sessions, and investment readiness reviews.
• Ensure all activities are milestone-driven, measurable, and accountable.
• Hold founders accountable for timelines, deliverables, and learning loops, including travel for on-site visits when required.
• Develop venture support infrastructure, including:
  • Venture tools and templates
  • Investor materials
  • Pitch coaching systems
  • Lean testing frameworks.
• Serve as a bridge between the company’s international partners (Uganda and the Netherlands) and the Tanzanian execution environment.
• Document insights from field engagement to refine strategy, identify opportunities, and recommend pivots.
• Work closely with startup teams to stress-test ideas, accelerate traction, and build momentum.

---

Originating and Building In-House Ventures

When high-potential opportunities exist without a founder:

• Identify systemic gaps within the agri-food and food systems sector.
• Develop venture theses based on identified opportunities.
• Create Internal Venture Briefs, outlining:
  • Market opportunity
  • Business model hypothesis
  • Early validation plans.
• Conduct:
  • Market research
  • Customer validation
  • Feasibility testing
  • Stakeholder alignment.
• Lead venture design sprints to move concepts toward product-market fit.
• Build early prototypes and validate business assumptions before onboarding external founders.
• Support development of business diagnostic tools to identify and anticipate operational challenges.
• Contribute broadly to the success of the Tanzanian venture studio by supporting operational and strategic initiatives as needed.

---

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Experience founding and scaling one or more businesses from scratch, or holding a senior execution role in early-stage startups.
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset with high energy, structured thinking, and execution discipline.
• Ability to rapidly move from idea → customer validation → business model → pipeline development.
• Strong interest in startup ecosystems and venture building, rather than traditional business development programs.
• Comfort engaging with farmers, informal value chains, entrepreneurs, and investors.
• Interest in regenerative food systems or willingness to deeply align with the company’s mission.

---

Venture Builder Competencies

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Deep understanding of how businesses operate and achieve profitability.
• Ability to identify and leverage market trends and business opportunities.
• Experience guiding founders through the venture-building lifecycle.
• Ability to provide hands-on strategic advice and mentorship.
• Comfort working in fast-paced startup environments from idea discovery to product-market fit.

Experience across the following early-stage startup phases is highly desirable:

• Problem discovery and validation
• Ideation and prototyping
• Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development
• Customer acquisition and onboarding
• Business model development (Canvas, pitch decks, business plans)
• Startup team formation
• Business launch and operational setup
• Pathway development toward break-even and financial sustainability.

---

Strategic Execution Skills

• Ability to combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Strong analytical capability to break complex problems into actionable steps.
• Creative problem-solving and innovation mindset.
• Experience developing and managing projects from concept to completion.
• Strong program planning, stakeholder engagement, and resource management skills.

---

Relationship Building

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust quickly.
• Comfortable interacting with stakeholders at all levels, including CEOs, investors, entrepreneurs, and young professionals.
• Strong coaching and mentoring capabilities.

Key interpersonal strengths include:

• Empathy and active listening
• Curiosity and learning orientation
• Negotiation and influencing skills
• Conflict resolution abilities
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

---

Required Skills

• Complex problem solving and ideation
• Relationship management
• Analytical and strategic thinking
• Business model development
• Entrepreneurial leadership

---

Benefits

The organization offers:

• A unique opportunity to play a central role in building a pioneering venture studio.
• Engagement in an ecosystem focused on regenerative food systems and innovative entrepreneurship.
• Competitive salary package
• Premium health insurance for you and up to two dependents
• Additional benefits such as lunch and airtime allowance
• Hybrid working arrangement

---

APPLY HERE