Business Support Officer jobs

BSO Responsibilities

· provide quality delivery and administration of the Indigenous Women Entrepreneur (IWE) programs;

· be the point of contact and support for Indigenous women approaching the AFI for business services or financing;

· be responsible for delivering business training and workshops to Indigenous women in the community to assist them with starting or growing their businesses.

· be responsible for outreach to Indigenous women in the communities the AFI serves;

· be responsible for the micro-loan program and assisting Indigenous women entrepreneurs to apply and access micro-loans;

· assist in promoting other national IWE supports including: role model campaign, grants and mentorship, gender bias and leadership training, and recognition of IWEs.

Core Activities:

The major responsibility of the BSO is to assist IWE’s navigate the entrepreneurial ecosystem, these include:

· Proposals - Provide proposal writing and administrative support to qualified grant and loan recipients as well as explore new program streams to ensure new financing opportunities are made available to IWE customers as appropriate;

· Business Plans- Assist IWE customers & prospective clients with business plan development, this may involve working with external consultants;

· Business Coaching - Provide direct support to IWE clients as needed. This may involve arranging for other AFI team members to deliver business coaching based on their unique expertise;

· Learning Network - Assess and assist with IWE client needs for training and workshops and peer to peer learning opportunities such as small group learning circles, regional conferences, webinars, etc.

· Program Evaluation and Database Management -Take a lead role in managing and optimizing the IWE database, produce reports as required on IWE activities.

· Small Business Lending - Assist with activities to expand the number of qualified IWE loan customers (Manage a portfolio of IWE micro-loan customers).

Qualifications & Requirements:

• 3 - 5 years’ experience in related context, e.g. community economic development, business finance, bank or credit union or non-profit organization is preferred;
• Experience with budgeting and financial systems/procedures;

· University degree or college diploma in business administration, finance, community economic development, planning, or equivalent experience (e.g. banking, lending, community economic development,) is preferred;

· Experience in Indigenous business and economic development an asset;

· Knowledge and understanding of Indigenous histories and cultures is an asset;

· Lived experience and/or knowledge of Indigenous women is an asset;

· Knowledge of government loan, grant and contribution programs as they relate to Indigenous business and economic development is an asset.

· Demonstrated experience with completion of loan and contribution program applications;

• Excellent writing and communications skills;
• Knowledge of community economic development programs and an understanding of social finance;
• Demonstrated experience with a variety of software, e.g. PowerPoint, Excel, Micro-soft Office, web-based databases;

· Strong organizational , verbal, oral and written communication skills;

· Customer and results focused;

· General knowledge of accounting//marketing/business Management.

Confidentiality: Maintains positive relationship with AFI’s IWE clients, ensuring transactions and information received on behalf of AFI and /or its employees are kept confidential.

Travel: Up to 50% travel may be involved in the region and service areas of AFI (e.g., training and workshops, outreach activities, etc.)

Annual training session offered by NACCA

Must have: Valid Driver’s License and vehicle

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: $60,000.00-$70,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental care
• Extended health care
• RRSP match

Application question(s):

• Do you identify as Indigenous?
• 2 + Years experience in credit or lending

Experience:

• working with Indigenous groups: 3 years (required)

Work Location: In person