Uganda: Product Manager - Numida Technologies (Canadian citizens and permanent residents only)

Please note: At this time, we can only accept Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) is a Canadian NGO that invests in people and ventures to create a thriving and sustainable world. Bolstered by its network of 40 chapters and 1300 members, EWB provides seed funding, talent and mentorship to social enterprises throughout Sub­Saharan Africa. For more information on EWB, visit http://ewb.ca.

The EWB Fellows Program

Now in its 15th year, the EWB Fellows Program exists to develop a cadre of Systems Change Leaders by equipping them with the opportunities, competencies and skills needed to build a more thriving and sustainable world. Every year we recruit 25-­30 outstanding people for the 12-­month Fellowship, placing successful candidates in one of our early­stage Ventures located throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. This Fellowship opportunity is with Numida Technologies and is based in Kampala.

About Numida Technologies

Numida is a financial inclusion company that helps African small businesses build their financial track­records in order to make good business decisions, and prove their creditworthiness to financiers who need data to lend appropriately. Our mission is to unlock financing to the 22 million African small businesses that need it.

Numida has developed TrackApp, an Android application that helps entrepreneurs build reliable financial records to improve their business decisions and demonstrate their creditworthiness to formal lenders. TrackApp makes financial record­keeping easy and incentivizes this often neglected practice by enabling its users to easily share their financial data with lenders, decreasing their barriers to getting a loan. It also helps financial institutions lower their risk and costs, enabling them to lend with improved terms and be more competitive in the financial services market. The new financial insights that TrackApp generates and the new lending that it facilitates will spur the growth of MSMEs not only in Uganda, but throughout Africa, fostering job creation, and generating increased local economic activity.

About the role

The EWB Fellow who will assume the role of Product Manager will play a vital role at Numida Technologies. The Product Manager position sits at the intersection of Technology Development, User Experience, and Business Strategy. The ideal candidate will be passionate about these three work streams, and be experienced in at least one of these.

As a Product Manager for Numida Technologies, your responsibilities will include:

• ­Defining and championing the vision for the development of TrackApp as a product, primarily internally but also with key external stakeholders; ­
• Gaining a deep understanding of customer experience, identifying and filling product gaps, and generating new ideas that improve customer experience and drive the growth of the TrackApp user base; ­
• Managing the process for collecting user feedback from the User Adoption and Engagement Team; ­
• Researching and analyzing huge quantities of information (qualitative user feedback, feedback from our data analytics team and partner financial institutions about data quality, quantitative data from our usage analytics software, and market trends/research) to uncover insights that will influence product development and Numida’s overall strategy;
• ­Identifying the right user and/or business metrics to inform the prioritization of incremental improvements in the product; ­
• Building the product roadmap (the actionable plan to reach the product vision for TrackApp) by scoping and prioritizing new product improvements and features; ­
• Managing relevant teams to follow the product roadmap, including working closely with user experience designers to make UX/UI decisions and with the tech team to ensure that product improvements are delivered on time.
  Overall, the Product Manager will get to continuously improve TrackApp, work with everyone in the business, and play a very large part in the success of Numida Technologies.

Skills & Qualifications­

• A proven ability to define a vision and inspire a multi­disciplinary team to work towards this vision ­
• Experience managing projects across multiple teams with differing functions
• ­ A special gift for maintaining positive and productive relationships with colleagues while simultaneously being highly demanding of them and keeping them accountable
• ­Experience in product management is a strong asset, but the successful candidate will have at least a basic understanding of tech development, user experience design, and business strategy ­
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills ­
• Strong work ethic and willingness to work long hours when required to get the job done ­
• Passion for social enterprise and private sector solutions to systemic economic development problems, in particular those related to financial inclusion and technology­based innovation
• ­A technical background with an understanding of and/or hands­on experience in software development and web technologies is also an asset
• Required: Canadian citizenship, permanent residency or landed immigrant status

Finally, as a start­up, we are generally looking for someone who will, like us, enjoy the thrill and the scrappiness of building a business from the ground up. We are looking for someone with an entrepreneurial character – someone who is passionate, resourceful, takes initiative and thrives in ambiguity, and will prioritize Numida’s change vision above all else.

Compensation

All costs relating to the placement are either paid for directly by EWB (airfare, insurance, vaccinations, trainings) or indirectly through a living stipend, which covers food, living expenses, local travel, etc. Fellows also receive an honorarium that can be used to assist with repatriation costs or additional costs during the duration of the placement. The stipend covers basic living expenses for a modest lifestyle in your placement country. You should not expect to save money during this year or use the stipend to cover previous expenses (ex. student loans). Additionally, EWB offers a range of benefits including insurance, a settlement allowance, professional development opportunities, and more.

Step 1: Under the subject line “Product Manager – Numida Technologies ”, submit your CV/Resume to recruitment@ewb.ca.

Step 2: Complete the following online application form. Please select "EWB Long Term Fellowship – Numida Technologies" as the “Opportunity type” and ‘Numida Technologies’ as the “Organization of Interest”.

We are currently hiring for many fellowship positions. If you would like to submit your candidacy to more than one role, please fill out separate forms.