Funding to Build Manager, Africa Acumen Academy

Acumen Academy is seeking a strategic, detail-oriented, and highly collaborative leader to manage and oversee Funding to Build, a structured grants program that provides catalytic capital to early-stage, climate-focused enterprises across Africa.

Funding to Build sits within the BUILD pillar of Green RISE (Resilient Impact through Sustainable Entrepreneurship) Africa — a multi-year program designed to accelerate inclusive green enterprises and create dignified green jobs for young women and youth across the continent.

About Acumen

Acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. We were founded by Jacqueline Novogratz on the radical idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the cycle of poverty. We invest in transformational companies, build sustainable markets, and prepare leaders with the tools they need to create a more just and inclusive future. Since 2001, we have scaled companies and shaped markets in some of the hardest-to-reach communities on the planet, impacting over half-a-billion lives. To learn more visit acumen.org.

About Acumen Academy

Acumen Academy is the world’s school for social change. Our mission is to unleash a new generation of social innovators and leaders with the determination and grit to build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world. Blending the best of online and offline learning, we offer anyone with access to the internet the tools, practices, resources, and supportive community they need to achieve positive social change. With more than 800 Fellows and 500,000 course takers in 192 countries, the Acumen Academy community represents a new generation of social innovators and leaders committed to doing what’s right in a world that loves easy.

About the Role

Acumen Academy is hiring a Funding to Build Manager to lead the strategy, execution, and evolution of this grants program. Funding to Build provides catalytic grant capital (up to $50,000 per enterprise) to early-stage, climate-focused social enterprises at critical moments of growth. The grants are designed to help enterprises validate, and strengthen their models and pathways to creating dignified green work opportunities for young women and youth.

This role will have end-to-end responsibility for the design, delivery, governance, and continuous improvement of the Funding to Build program. It will oversee the full funding lifecycle - from strategy and outreach to selection, due diligence, contracting, disbursement, and post-grant performance tracking - ensuring that grants are awarded through a rigorous and transparent process. The role will also ensure funded enterprises are effectively supported, monitored, and held accountable for results, while driving high-quality program delivery, strong governance and auditability, and continuous learning across funding cycles.

The role directly reports to the BUILD Pillar Lead and will work closely with teams across Acumen (including Impact, Acumen Academy, Finance etc.)

The ideal candidate is a systems thinker, strong people manager, and confident decision-maker who thrives in complexity and is deeply motivated by supporting climate entrepreneurs.

Key Responsibilities

1. Program Strategy & Design

• Refine and Define Funding to Build strategic priorities in alignment with Green RISE Africa and Acumen Academy Objectives, with a clear focus on green job creation for young women and youth.
• Design the overall program structure, annual calendar, and end-to-end process for each cycle.
• Develop and oversee pipeline-building, outreach, and communications strategies for the full program timeline.
• Lead the design and iteration of the Funding to Build application form.

2. Application, Selection & Grant Execution

• Lead the end-to-end application and selection process, ensuring a clear, equitable, and well-managed applicant experience.
• Design and oversee information sessions, evaluation frameworks, and selection panels, including the appointment and management of panelists.
• Synthesize assessments and support panels with decision-ready recommendations on final awardees.
• Lead due diligence for selected entrepreneurs, coordinating legal, financial, and compliance reviews.
• Oversee grant agreement execution and readiness for disbursement in line with internal controls and governance standards.

3. Post-Disbursement & Impact Management

• Lead structured onboarding for funded entrepreneurs.
• Track financial, operational, and impact KPIs across the portfolio.
• Monitor reporting compliance at key milestones.
• Produce consolidated impact and learning reports.
• Generate insights and recommendations to strengthen future funding cycles.

Qualifications & Skills

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in program and/or grants management, impact investing, enterprise support, venture building or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end funding or selection processes.
• Strong understanding of early-stage entrepreneurship, ideally within climate or sustainability sectors.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with experience translating data into insights.
• Proven people management experience.
• High attention to detail, integrity, and comfort operating within governance frameworks.
• Permanently authorized to work in Nairobi, Kenya or Lagos, Nigeria.

Location

Lagos, Nigeria or Nairobi, Kenya

Deadline
The deadline to apply for this position is Friday, 6 March but candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

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