Senior Associate, Kenya

Aceli Africa is a market catalyst mobilising over $2 billion in private-sector lending for agricultural SMEs and improving livelihoods for 5 million farmers and workers by 2030. Aceli provides financial incentives to increase the risk appetite of 55+ financial institutions (both global and local) to make loans of USD $10K–$1.5M to high-impact agricultural SMEs, complemented by technical assistance to build lender and SME capacity and by data and learning to strengthen the policy and regulatory environment. 

Since launching in September 2020, Aceli has mobilised $460M in lending to SMEs, providing market access for 2.3M smallholder farmers across Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Aceli Africa has developed partnerships with leading bilateral and philanthropic donors, including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gates Foundation, Global Affairs Canada, IKEA Foundation, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. 

Reporting directly to the Kenya Country Manager (with a dotted line to the Managing Director, Policy) and working closely with Aceli colleagues across Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, and the United States, the Senior Associate will provide operational, coordination, and administrative support that amplifies Aceli’s impact and learning across the agri-SME finance ecosystem — with lenders, technical assistance providers, data and learning organisations, industry associations, donors, and policymakers. The ideal candidate has experience in project coordination, stakeholder engagement, data management, and program reporting in agricultural development, financial inclusion, or SME finance.

Key Responsibilities

1. Partner and Stakeholder Support

• Lead outreach and communication with lending partners across Aceli's financial incentive and capacity building programs in Kenya.

• Coordinate onboarding of Kenya Lenders and Global Social Lenders into the Aceli Network and relationship management.

• Coordinate follow-up with agricultural SMEs in Aceli's Technical Assistance (TA) programs.

• Maintain updated contact lists, meeting notes, and records of partner engagement.

• Plan and support lender and SME engagement activities, training sessions, and workshops.

• Liaise with TA referral partners and maintain documentation of referrals and outcomes.

2. Program Coordination and Implementation

• Support in the execution of TA events, investor pitch sessions, and lender-SME matchmaking.

• Collect and verify SME and lender data for monitoring and reporting.

• Support impact assessments, site visits, and partner learning activities.

• Coordinate Gender Lens Investing (GLI) initiatives and capacity building sessions with partners.

• Plan and execute Aceli Kenya events, including guest lists, invitations, confirmations, and logistics. 

• Support local team retreats, field visits, and partner meetings.

3. Data Management and Reporting

• Enter and update partner data in Aceli’s systems, including Salesforce and Power BI, while ensuring data accuracy. 

• Troubleshoot system issues with the Product and Operations teams.

• Compile data and inputs for donor and internal reports.

• Maintain records of project activities, event attendance, and partner interactions.

4. Policy and regulatory reforms

• Coordinate scheduling, logistics, and documentation for Kenya policy engagements, including working group meetings, regulator consultations, technical dialogues, and stakeholder convenings.

• Lead stakeholder engagement preparation through background research, briefing notes, presentations, speaking points, and meeting summaries.

• Track relevant policy and regulatory developments affecting agri-SME finance and provide timely updates on implications for Aceli’s Kenya work.

• Ensure timely follow-up on agreed actions with internal teams and external stakeholders, including maintaining action trackers and escalating delays or risks where needed.

• Support coordination of internal evidence, data, and program learning to inform policy engagements, reporting, and progress against the Kenya policy workplan.

• Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Development Studies, Economics, Business Administration, or related field.

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in SME Finance, project coordination, stakeholder engagement, relationship management or donor-funded program implementation.

• Experience in Lending within the Banking industry, agricultural finance, SME development, or financial inclusion programs is an advantage.

• Strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

• Proficiency in MS Office Suite; experience with CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) or data dashboards (e.g., Power BI).

• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.

• Team-oriented, proactive, and able to work effectively with minimal supervision.

Aceli is an equal opportunity employer. Please share an updated CV and cover letter by June 19th, 2026. Applications without a Cover Letter will not be considered.