Short-term Expert(s) Business Support Organization Development (m/f/d)

Job Announcement

sequa gGmbH is a globally operating non-profit development organisation. Since 1991 sequa has carried out programmes and projects of international cooperation in close collaboration with the German private sector. sequa offers know-how and long-term experience in capacity development for chambers and associations (BMOs), vocational education and training, private sector development and trade promotion. The organisation is based in Bonn, Germany. sequa employs more than 100 persons (2023) and reported a turnover of EUR 60 m in 2023. For various assignments over the following months (and beyond), we are looking for

Short-term Expert(s) Business Support Organization Development (m/f/d)

Location: Europe and in our partner countries Assignment Period: 07/2024 –12/2025 Project: Import Promotion Desk

The Project

Together with the German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services Association (BGA) and other partners, we are implementing the "Import Promotion Desk (IPD)" project. The project gives small and medium-sized enterprises from the partner countries access to the European market and supports them in establishing trade relations. The aim is to integrate the partner countries into global trade and thus make a contribution to sustainable economic development in these countries. The IPD is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The IPD is part of the "Partners in Transformation - Business & Development Network", in which BMZ’s activities for economic actors are organised.

Your Tasks

The IPD not only aims at directly supporting SMEs, but also strives to transfer its expertise and experience in export promotion to Business Support Organisations (BSOs) in the partner countries and to accompany them in developing their export promotion services as well as improving their internal processes. To that effect, the IPD conceives and implements a variety of BSO development activities, either at/around trade shows in Europe or directly in the partner countries. Together with the IPD team, the short-term expert(s) is (are) expected to:

• Develop and carry out onsite & online trainings for BSOs on export promotion related topics;
• Support BSOs in analysing their service offer for exporters and in identifying new services, e.g. in the area of market intelligence, B2B activities, trainings on export relevant topics or services for women entrepreneurs;
• Advise and support BSOs in developing business cases for export promotion services, including monitoring of results and marketing & sales;
• Accompany BSOs in managing changes in key aspects of their organization from a strategic perspective (objective: making BSOs a valued & sought-after partner/service provider for exporters);
• Consult BSOs in strengthening gender equality in their organisation and in integrating gender equality measures in their services;
• Support BSOs in taking concrete steps to implement their respective business cases and internal changes and monitor progress of implementation;
• Documentation and monitoring of activities.

Your Profile

• Extensive professional experience in export promotion, ideally in one or more of the IPD sectors;
• Experience in consulting BSOs in developing countries;
• Knowledge of and experience in organizational development and change management;
• Sound knowledge of the requirements of the European market in one or more of the IPD sectors;
• Ability to adapt to different cultural contexts when working with BSOs in a comprehensive way and to show practical solutions for challenges in everyday business life of BSOs;
• Willingness to work as part of a team with various stakeholders and partners under complex conditions;
• Capability and flexibility to use various IT tools (e.g. MS Teams, Zoom, ownCloud, b2match, GetFeedback) and willingness to apply the respective associated usage guidelines;
• Excellent written and spoken English and ideally knowledge of another language from the IPD partner countries (e.g. French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, etc.);
• Strong communication and presentation skills;
• Readiness to travel to our partner countries;
• No conflict of interest with partner organisations (e.g. German sector associations, other import promotion programs) and other target groups (e.g. German/European importers or exporters of IPD partner countries). We offer you the opportunity to work in an extremely committed team in an international environment with short decision-making processes. Please send us a cover letter, your CV, your suggested daily rate, and relevant resumes. Subject to comparable qualification, handicapped persons will be preferred. Please send your application to Frank Maul: maul@importpromotiondesk.de