Project Manager – Bhiwandi & Thane – Maharashtra

Project Summary:
‘Buddhi Money – Supporting Women’s Enterprises through Skilling and Entrepreneurship Development’ Project is a new initiative of ACCESS, supported by Bajaj to promote sustainable enterprise growth by enhancing business management skills of women-owned enterprises through capacity building and by linking them to backward and forward steps of the value chain over a period of two years across two States. The project is proposed to cover 2,000 women entrepreneurs from low-income households in rural, urban, semi-urban and peri-urban clusters in Lucknow districts of Uttar Pradesh and Thane district of Maharashtra using the innovative standard BuddhiMoney enterprise training pedagogy of ACCESS. The specific objectives of the project are to – Organize women entrepreneurs into informal / formal groups for effective dissemination and peer learning; Enable entrepreneurial capacity among women to realize their potential for sustainable business growth; and Empower the women entrepreneurs through a robust ecosystem and bolstering their agency and leadership skills.

Implementation Districts: Bhiwandi, Thane and Maharashtra

Position Summary:
In this context, ACCESS is inviting applications from self-driven professionals who are interested to take on the role of Project Manager (PM) and delivering against the objectives of the project. The PM will be responsible for timely and high-quality implementation of the project in designated areas, reaching out to women entrepreneurs as per the objectives and deliverables of the project in Thane districts.

Responsibilities:

• Assist Project Lead in project planning, management and implementation and monitoring of field team s towards efficient and effective project delivery reaching out to 2,000 women entrepreneurs.
• Along with Project Lead, form implementation clusters and allocate cluster-wise mobilisation and implementation responsibilities and targets to team of Sales and Marketing Manager, Enterprise Trainer, MIS Officer and Cluster Coordinator.
• Develop in coordination with team, monthly and weekly training plan aligned to deliver against project timelines.
• Manage, monitor and build capacities of the team of to ensure effective delivery of project activities and community mobilisation.
• Prepare and submit monthly implementation plan and monthly progress updates to Project Lead.
• Develop selection criteria and ensure onboarding of women entrepreneurs as per their suitability to the project to meet project onboarding targets.
• Guide the team for effectively mobilising women entrepreneurs to participate in training programmes and promote adoption of the good business practices and access of business support services.
• One-to-one engagement and hand-holding of aspiring women entrepreneurs on business plan development, customer engagement, market expansion and backward-forward linkage set up.
• Conduct weekly and monthly planning and review meetings with team to review progress on activities and outcomes, identify gaps and develop appropriate strategies for course correction and trouble shooting.
• Visit project clusters and participants in both the States on periodic and sample basis across all clusters to assess and monitor performance of team and report to Project Lead.
• Undertake sample-based tracking of individuals and entrepreneurs to map overall project outcomes.
• Monitor and oversee indicator-based MIS to track project progress in clusters. Review and analyse MIS data with MIS Officer and guide team on proper and accurate data collection and submission.
• Identify and engage with local stakeholders (such as financial institutions, business associations, regulatory and facilitatory government agencies etc.) under the guidance of the Project Lead to facilitate the access of services by women entrepreneurs.
• Conduct quality documentation of project activities, outcomes and learnings through case-studies, periodic progress reports etc.
• Generate case-stories and testimonials from project stakeholders and engage with local media platforms for effective project communication at local level.
• Participate in periodic project review meetings.
• Manage office administrative functions including but not limited to monitoring and compiling timesheets and logbooks of the team, office assets management and consolidating bills and vouchers related to project activities and office expenditures.
• Track and ensure financial propriety in project activity and field office expenses as per approved budget in coordination with Project Lead.
• Work as per the guidelines of project and organization and implement any other tasks as may be assigned by Project Lead OR Head Office as per requirement.

Education & Experience:

• Enterprise’s degree from any recognized university, in Business management / Entrepreneurship Development / Finance / Economics / Social Work or relevant field.
• At least 4-5 years of relevant experience of implementing community development projects related to enterprise development and livelihood promotion and training.
• At least 3 years of experience of managing large field implementation teams.
• Demonstrated experience of community mobilization, awareness creation, capacity building and developing business plan.
• Experience of working in both rural and urban context

Skills and competencies Required:

• Project & Team Management
• Growth mapping and Business Planning
• Reporting & Documentation, Knowledge Consolidation
• Networking & Liaison with Stakeholders
• Communication & Interpersonal skills
• Proficient in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint

Language Proficiency:

• Excellent command over English & Marathi language (read, speak, understand and write)
• Good command over Hindi language (read, speak and understand)

Travel Requirement:

Willingness to travel across all project locations as required for implementing the project effectively.

Compensation:

The salary range for this position is commensurate to industry standards and will be determined based upon experience set of the candidate and the HR policies of the organization.

How to apply: For your application to be successfully submitted, kindly fill the google form provided in link – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOGCcmrZnY_fotpbb3cJkSrsc3K3DHR5zDor67hdm5WxzdHg/viewform

ACCESS is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. ACCESS values diversity and inclusion, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, marital status, age and disability.