Pharo Ventures is the commercial, for-profit arm of The Pharo Foundation which has been set up to harness the power of a vibrant private sector by investing in enterprises across a variety of sectors within the East Africa region. The objective is to build and grow, commercially and environmentally sustainable businesses, with a focus on maximising creation of economic value and jobs for local communities.

We have a vision of an economically vibrant and inclusive Africa. Matching that vision is our ambition to create a portfolio of sustainable business ventures that by the end of 2025 will deliver more than five thousand direct jobs across the region. We believe we can achieve our ambitions by investing in the human and physical capital of Africa. For each target country in the region, Pharo Ventures will innovatively build a portfolio of businesses that will be financially sustainable, create value for the local communities and environmentally responsible.

Headquartered in London, the organization has an operational Head office in Kenya (Nairobi) with country offices in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa and Assosa), Somaliland (Hargeisa) and most recently Rwanda (Kigali).

Role: Human Resources Manager (Ethiopia

Position Summary The Human Resources Manager (HRM) will be at the forefront of implementing the human resources strategy in collaboration with the Head of Pharo Ventures in Ethiopia. This position will give the right candidate an excellent mix of challenge, motivation and fulfilment.

We are looking for a confident individual who takes a dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking approach to their work. The position holder should be passionate about bringing impactful change using his/her HR experience, building modern HR processes and respects and understands local cultures and values and yet embraces and can work within international work ethics and standards.

Reporting to: Head of Pharo Ventures- Ethiopia

Functional Relationships:

• Pharo Ventures Team in Ethiopia, which includes Finance, Operations and Marketing Leads
• Pharo Ventures Team in Nairobi, Kenya

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic HR Management

• Drive HR initiatives that will help infuse the vision, mission and values of the organisation and create a culture that derives from these principles. 2
• Develop and implement an employee centred approach that will enable Pharo Venturesto attract, develop and retain a strong brand with the aim of positioning the organisation as an employer of choice in Ethiopia
• Implement consistent HR policies, procedures and processes create the mechanisms for internal checks to ensure that they are aligned and fully understood by employees.
• Execute employee engagement strategies to ensure employees are passionate, invested and motivated by their work.
• Develop employee engagement and retention strategies that promote employee satisfaction, team harmony. 2. Recruitment
• Collaborate with line managers in the development of staffing plans and recruitment plans, ensuring that each team is staffed appropriately according to the need and budget availability in an efficient and timely manner.
• Develop a competitive recruitment strategy to attract and retain the best talent, both local and diaspora in Ethiopia; ensuring diversity in all new hires.
• Develop HR metrics that demonstrate how the organisation is performing against its hiring goals and ensure that the management team is kept regularly informed about appropriate recruitment plans.

Talent Management, Learning and Development

• Identify the training needs of employees and ensure processes are in place to support and encourage appropriate personal and professional development of staff within the context of stated objectives.
• Collaborate with line managers in establishing the skills gaps within the relevant departments and facilitate the analysis of training needs and execution of mitigation initiatives
• Oversee the delivery of training programs, ensuring that training records are documented appropriately and stored.
• Build talent pipelines and institute career development programmes, which include coaching and mentorship programs and ensure they are implemented across the organization

Performance Management

• In collaboration with line managers, review, develop and implement efficient performance measurement processes.
• Ensure all employees have regular performance appraisals and work with line managers to ensure that the outcome of these processes are robust and well documented.
• Implement a performance driven culture that rewards exceptional performance.
• In collaboration with the Head of HR, communicate the positive benefits of performance management to employees, as well as provide consistent, data-driven updates to management.
• Design and implement staff professional development programs, working closely with line managers to ensure that the programmes equip employees with the right skills set.

Compensation Management

• Ensure a competitive market related compensation and benefits framework is maintained; develop specific programmes to attract and retain high performing talent.
• Ensure periodic market salary reviews and analysis are conducted, and make appropriate recommendations for annual reviews.
• Develop, review and implement employee wellness programs in consultation with the Head of HR and the management team

Qualification Requirements

• HR related Bachelors’ degree with a postgraduate HR qualification and/or membership of a professional HR association- CIPD, CHRA, SHRM.
• A minimum of eight (8) years professional experience; four (4) of these must have been in senior management roles.
• Prior experience in working with multinational organisations or subsidiaries is a distinct advantage but as a minimum, each candidate must be able to demonstrate strong HR leadership in fast growing organisations.
• Must be an excellent communicator in written and spoken English.
• Deep understanding of Ethiopian labour laws, standards and legal requirements.

Behavioural Competencies

• Strong and charismatic HR professional with a solid pedigree and experience of setting up centres of excellence within the HR function.
• Superb management skills: able to manage and motivate a wide variety of employees from diverse backgrounds in a professional compelling manner.
• Problem solving and creative thinking skills: the ability to get results in unstructured environments, a solid record of accomplishment for growing businesses and implementing best practice policies and processes.
• Self-assured, internally motivated and passionate individual with outstanding communication skills driven to succeed and make a difference.
• Must possess high levels of integrity, resilience, accountability, commitment and determination.
• Good understanding of HR data metrics and the ability to present these to the senior management to aid in decision-making

Method of Application

Review of applications will begin as soon as they are received, and only complete applications will be reviewed. In the event that an outstanding applicant is identified early in the search process, we reserve the right to appoint before the deadline. For this reason, we encourage interested and suitably qualified candidates to apply at the earliest possible time. Due to the high volume of applications, we regret that we will only be able to contact short-listed candidates.

Please send the information listed below, as a single PDF file, to the following email address: [email protected]. Please indicate Application for Human Resources Manager- Ethiopia in the subject line.

• A detailed CV and Covering Letter,
• A 1,000-word essay on both:
  • What are the HR experiences you have gained that make you the most qualified candidate for this role?
  • What challenges do you foresee/anticipate in building the best-in-class human resources centres of excellence and what systems will you implement to successfully resolve these?

A one-page list of five references with current addresses, phone numbers, and email contacts.

Note: Use ” Human Resources Manager” as the subject line of your email !