The way we invest in ideas is broken. Entrepreneurship has the potential to transform society and spur dramatic social change, but the vast majority of mainstream capital goes to a small number of entrepreneurs of similar backgrounds based in just a few places. For example, nearly half of all venture capital in the world is invested in just three US states and women-founded companies receive less than 15% of all venture capital funding.
At Village Capital, we’re building a different system. Over the last eight years, Village Capital’s unique “peer selection” approach has changed the conversation and brought new transparency to investing in entrepreneurs. We’ve supported more than 1,000 companies and made more than 70 early stage investments around the world. Nearly 40% of our companies are led by women and all of our companies are pursuing solutions to expand economic opportunity or drive environmental sustainability.
As part of our work, the VilCap Innovations team – Village Capital’s consulting unit – offers advice, research and hands-on guidance to corporations, non-profits and governments around the world, to help them engage entrepreneurs, support innovation, improve sustainability and boost inclusion.
Join us! We are seeking a Washington DC-based Innovations Associate for the VilCap Innovations team, reporting to the Director of VilCap Innovations, to further improve our ability to build bridges between overlooked entrepreneurs and the bigger institutions that can help them succeed.
Primary responsibilities:
1. Project coordination and support
- Act as a liaison for day-to-day programmatic and administrative support between Village Capital home office and relevant partners, including USAID missions, development organizations, foundations, corporations, investors, accelerators and entrepreneurs;
- Conduct outreach to local project-specific partners, supporters and participants in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia;
- Lead project-related administrative and organizational activities, including maintaining project files and deliverables calendar on shared drives and databases;
- Assist with the development of Village Capital sourcing and training tools (including curriculum and peer selection methodology) as needed;
- Work closely with other Village Capital teams – including the US, Emerging Markets and Product – to support internal programmatic coordination.
2. Accounting and compliance management
- Coordinate internal financial reporting for select VilCap Innovations projects, including multi-year foundation and US government projects;
- Maintain project budget tools and ensure completeness, accuracy, validity, and timeliness of data in compliance with reporting requirements;
- Process financial transactions and monthly project invoices;
- Prepare and review invoices, subcontracts, purchase agreements, and advance requests using approved templates;
- Perform regular budget monitoring and contract compliance reviews with Village Capital finance team and relevant partner contacts.
3. Business development
- Research and scope new business opportunities in designated sectors and regions;
- Assist with the development and editing of new VilCap Innovations project proposals, in conjunction with the Finance and Partnerships teams;
- Represent Village Capital and VilCap Innovations team at external events
- Support other occasional business development tasks as needed, including maintaining updated information on leads and opportunities in Salesforce database;
- Develop shareable collateral for outreach.
4. Communications
- Assist with drafting and editing of articles, op-eds, blog posts and project-related reports in conjunction with VilCap Innovations managers and director, and the Communications team;
- Identify and conduct outreach for relevant events and speaking engagements for VilCap Innovations team;
- Contribute to social media support for Village Capital.
5. Team Support
- Provide general support to VilCap Innovations managers and director;
- Additional responsibilities as deemed necessary.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in relevant field, such as international development, impact investment, entrepreneurship, financial services, etc;
- At least six consecutive months of experience in an emerging or frontier market;
- Familiarity with financial reporting, including with USAID;
- Background in contract and grants management.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree
- At least three years of professional full-time experience
- Comfortable interacting with a wide variety of external stakeholders – including senior officials, management and leadership – in different countries and across time zones
- Familiarity with basic financial and accounting procedures
- High degree of proficiency with Google and Microsoft Office products; familiarity with Salesforce
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Proven ability to conduct high-quality research;
- Ability to work both independently and as a team member, and take initiative with minimal guidance;
- Close attention to detail;
- Authorization to work in the US.
If interested, please apply here.
