Associate Director, Private Sector & MEL, Africa

Title: Associate Director, Private Sector & MEL, Africa

Supervisor: Managing Director, Private Sector

Direct Report: Program Officer, Private Sector, Africa (to be hired)

Location: Remote, Africa-based

Type: Contract - 1 year Full Time Equivalent (FTE) with potential for extension

Application Deadline: Rolling, position will remain open until filled

About EYElliance

EYElliance is the global market catalyst for eyeglasses.

Globally, one billion people live with poor vision that can be corrected with a pair of eyeglasses, and 90% of those without access live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). People with the fewest opportunities in the world are further disadvantaged by persistently poor vision and, as a result, experience profound inequality in terms of their health, safety, educational, and economic opportunities.

The absence of eyeglasses in LMICs is one of the longest running market failures in history. Despite being invented over 700 years ago, two out of three people in low-income countries do not have the glasses they need to see clearly. Proven government delivery channels like community health workers and school health are not being utilized. Meanwhile, optical enterprises that could be serving mass-market consumers are constrained by systemic barriers: lack of market intelligence, missing or misaligned financing, weak supply chains, regulatory hurdles, and low consumer awareness. Entrepreneurs remain undercapitalized, investors overlook the sector, and enterprise support organizations (ESOs) lack industry-tailored resources to enable growth.

EYElliance cultivates new government and private sector channels. We equip governments, entrepreneurs, partners, and investors with the intelligence, tools, training, and capital needed to scale access to affordable eyeglasses. We enlist new actors that can accelerate scale and shift priorities at national and global levels.

About the Job

EYElliance accelerates market penetration of affordable optical retailers in LMICs. Based on the findings of a 2 year pilot, EYElliance is poised to launch the Optical Enterprise Growth Hub. The OEG Hub is envisioned as a collaborative virtual platform where enterprises, investors, governments, ESOs, donors, and other stakeholders can share, access, and co-create industry resources. While its initial offerings will focus on supporting early- and early-growth stage optical retail enterprises that sell affordable eyeglasses and aim to scale through investment, more is to come. Like the OEG Hub itself, our approach to enterprise development is collaborative and designed to strengthen and complement existing ESOs rather than duplicate efforts. We seek to develop a replicable framework to integrate industry-tailored resources into programmatic partnerships with high-performing local incubators and accelerators.

The Associate Director, Private Sector & MEL, Africa will report to the Managing Director, Private Sector, and lead the build-out, marketing, and membership management of OEG Hub and its offerings across the African continent. The Associate Director will play a key role in piloting, adapting, and scaling our ESO collaboration framework with African-based enterprises and incubators / accelerators. They also will serve as the team lead on monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), responsible for developing, rolling out, and continuously improving MEL systems across the OEG Hub in all LMICs where we operate. As a senior member of a growing and dynamic team, the Associate Director will have significant scope for innovation, influence, and strategic leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Launch and Grow the Optical Enterprise Growth Hub in Africa

• Build partnerships with ESOs for the delivery of incubation / acceleration services to OEG Hub member enterprises seeking to scale through investment;
• Source and assess optical enterprises for inclusion in ESO collaborations;
• Develop and/or integrate optical-specific resources in ESO collaborations based on data and learnings from member enterprises and local ESOs;
• Raise awareness of the OEG Hub and cultivate new members;
• Collaborate with Associate Director, Private Sector, Asia (to be hired) to co-manage efforts to build community and peer-to-peer support among member enterprises, including an annual in-person convening, regional convenings, Community of Practice website, speaker series, masterclasses, and encouraging connection and communication between convenings;
• Provide post-investment support to member enterprises in which EYElliance or an EYElliance supported fund provides investment.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

• Develop and implement a lean MEL framework for the OEG Hub, globally, including a theory of change, performance measurement framework, and learning agendas;
• Manage the integration of current enterprise development metrics and data into MEL systems;
• Oversee data collection, cleaning, analysis, visualization, and dissemination; translate findings into actionable learning to inform strategy, program design, fundraising, and donor reporting;
• Capture and ensure learnings from each ESO collaboration are used to improve programming and support the scaling and replication of the ESO collaborative framework;
• Produce knowledge products (e.g. case studies, impact reports, biennial State of the Sector Report);
• Ensure alignment of operations, MEL, and enterprise development with cross-cutting issues (e.g. gender, inclusion, youth).

Staff and Relationship Management

• Provide leadership, mentoring, and direct supervision to one direct report (Program Officer, Private Sector, Africa);
• Serve as the primary point of contact for key OEG Hub stakeholders across the continent;
• Identify and engage stakeholders, initiate new partnerships, and maintain and strengthen stakeholder relationships that advance the OEG Hub’s objectives;
• Represent the OEG Hub at external sector events.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) within nonprofit, enterprise development, innovative finance, or related contexts;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in enterprise development; experience working with incubators, accelerators, or ESOs in Africa strongly preferred;
• Proven ability to design and manage MEL frameworks and systems;
• Demonstrated experience sourcing, assessing, and providing pre- and post-investment support to enterprises in LMICs;
• Proven track record in initiating, maintaining, and strengthening private sector partnerships across diverse markets, particularly collaborations including ESOs;
• Strong analytical skills (quantitative and qualitative) with proficiency in data collection, analysis, visualization, and reporting tools, including dashboards and software (e.g. Power BI, HubSpot);
• Excellent project management and organizational skills, with experience managing multi-country initiatives in a virtual team;
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills in English required; able to produce high-quality reports and presentations and engage stakeholders effectively. Fluency in French preferred;
• Experience supervising and developing staff;
• Master’s degree (or equivalent experience) in business, economics, development studies, statistics, data sciences, or related field preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Highly self-motivated and proactive, able to work independently with minimal supervision while managing multiple priorities;
• Adaptive and resilient, comfortable operating in a fast-paced, dynamic, and remote work environment;
• Collaborative leader, able to mentor staff and foster teamwork and knowledge sharing across geographically dispersed teams;
• Strong learning orientation, actively seeks feedback, applies lessons learned, and contributes to a culture of continuous improvement;
• Strategic and creative thinker, capable of rethinking approaches and adapting strategies;
• Experience and comfort with uncertainty, uses good judgement while balancing risk and reward in decision-making with limited information;
• Culturally competent and relationship-oriented, able to engage respectfully and effectively with diverse stakeholders;
• Commitment to EYElliance’s mission, with curiosity and drive to strengthen the OEG Hub’s measurable impact on improving access to affordable eyeglasses.

Work Environment

This is a remote, Africa-based contract position. The Associate Director, Private Sector & MEL, Africa will work independently within a geographically dispersed team. They will coordinate primarily in Central Africa Time (CAT), East Africa Time (EAT), or West Africa Time (WAT), depending on physical location. Reliable internet access and strong virtual collaboration skills are essential.

Travel

This role involves regional travel across Africa (approximately 20–30% of time) to oversee MEL and OEG Hub activities, meet partners, and participate in events. Occasional international travel may be required.

Compensation

Expected Annual Compensation: $60,000–$70,000 USD (or local currency equivalent) for a 12-month full-time contract, paid monthly, commensurate with experience.

To Apply: send a cover letter (please cite PCDN as the source of the posting in your application), resume, and 2 references to evan@eyelliance.org.

EYElliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We encourage applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds.