Country Director

About Viamo

Mobile technology is revolutionizing how organisations engage with the people they serve. More than 96% of the world’s population has access to a mobile phone, meaning it is now possible to reach nearly every single person on the planet. Yet 3 billion people living in emerging markets still lack access to relevant, timely, and engaging information in their local languages, and their voices remain underheard. The organizations that serve them lack the technology and capacity to reach them, and many are unaware of the power of mobile technology to meet their organizational goals.

Viamo believes that information is power. We connect individuals and organisations using digital technology to make better decisions. With more than 30 million people reached in 2020 alone, we are well on our way to meeting our ambitious goal of reaching 50M people annually by 2023.

About the role

You will be our representative in-country and a passionate leader within the Digital for Development movement. Your role is to drive impact, working with partners to develop and launch innovative and effective digital engagement campaigns via mobile. You need to ensure that every large development organization knows about the value of Viamo’s solutions and you will supervise the delivery of Viamo’s work on our projects and programs. 

Viamo has been operating in Rwanda since 2017 and has implemented more than 45 projects. As of September 2020, mobile phone penetration is reported to be between 75% and 80% by Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA). With Viamo’s use of audio based engagements, we are uniquely positioned to work in Rwanda given the high penetration of basic and feature phones yet low penetration of smartphones. 

In 2020, we reached nearly 1.5 million unique listeners who listened to more than 20 million messages across our channels, demonstrating how even basic mobile phones can be effectively used to transform lives. Our ambition for 2021 is 2 million unique listeners and 29 million key messages. Our flagship 3-2-1 service has more monthly users than Facebook in Rwanda and we want to keep it that way. We have partnered with almost every major development sector partner in Rwanda and we have developed strong links with key line Ministries.

We led the development of Viamo’s remote training strategy and have played a key role in driving Viamo’s impact and revenue. 

What does success look like in Rwanda

  • Impact: We measure unique individuals who meaningfully engage with our services and we track the behaviour and frequency of these interactions. 
  • Revenue: We measure the value of contracts acquired in each market and we track the timely and quality implementation of these projects.
  • New business development: We measure our success in a market by the number and financial value of new business opportunities generated and contracts signed. 
  • Strategic government relations: We aim to become the mobile engagement partner of choice for key government institutions and sign strategic agreements and MoUs to support Ministries. 

Key Responsibilities:

Business Development

  • Define Viamo’s market positioning in Rwanda, identify new business opportunities, track and respond to RFPs, and design high quality projects and programmes with partners
  • Work with partners to design and launch effective mobile engagement projects; this includes building relationships, co-designing projects and preparing budgets.

Partner Relations Management

  • Delight our partners with quality, timely execution of program deliverables. 
  • Provide support to key partners for the effective use of Viamo’s services across a range of sectors, including health, food security, nutrition, livelihoods and agriculture.
  • Solicit and document partner feedback to inform the ongoing development of Viamo’s offerings
  • Manage relationships with Mobile Network Operators to ensure the infrastructure is in place to connect with all mobile phones in Mali

Program Implementation

  • Oversee the development of annual work plans and annual budgets for all donor-funded programs. 
  • Oversee the implementation of project activities and ensure deliverables are met to the set quality standards and within the agreed timelines.
  • Oversee the production of narrative and financial reports (with support from Viamo’s finance team) 
  • Supervise qualitative and quantitative research and other field activities when necessary
  • Manage the 3-2-1 Service, expanding content available and developing commercial partnerships to diversify revenue

Team Management and Representation

  • Take the lead in creating impact by building a strong local team and ensure that all Viamo staff are passionate and committed to creating impact through mobile
  • Manage the Viamo Rwanda team, provide close coaching and support, ensuring capacity is being developed
  • Represent the organisation to national government agencies and ensure organizational compliance with national regulatory bodies.

Key Performance Indicators

  •  Impact: Number of unique listeners and engagements
  • Bookings: Value of secured partnerships
  • Revenue: Execution & invoicing of program deliverables

Reporting Structure

  • Reports to: Southern Africa Regional Director

Profile

Essential

  • Experience of 8+ years in any combination of: social enterprise, INGO, Mobile Network Operator, ICT4D/ Digital for Development, donor or international implementer 
  • Proven business development skills, proposal writing and partnership building with a history submitting winning applications
  • Proven project management experience, including reporting and budgeting
  • Entrepreneurial mindset and proven experience in co-developing ideas with partners; workshop facilitation skills and experience in design thinking approaches
  • Leadership skills, including intercultural sensitivity and a passion for unleashing the potential of your colleagues 
  • Demonstrated self-management, skills, adaptability and resourcefulness 
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English (required). Experience living and working in Anglophone Africa

Desirable

  • Experience living / working in Rwanda
  • Fluency in French/Kinyarwanda
  • Experience implementing USAID/FCDO funded projects
Viamo, originally known as VOTO Mobile, was started in 2012 by a handful of Ghanaian and Canadian engineers in Kumasi on the campus of KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology). The founders noticed that there had been a huge increase in mobile phone usage, but that very few organisations were using this communication channel to reach their end-users. So they decided to first create an SMS channel to spread information to end-users, but soon found that did not effectively reach or engage rural populations, especially rural women. They decided to add a voice (IVR, Interactive Voice Response) channel, which proved much more effective. Since then we have greatly expanded our products, reach and impact. In 2017 we significantly expanded our management team and re-branded under Viamo, with the same goal of improving lives via mobile by reaching the most isolated populations and providing them with information to make informed decisions for a healthy, prosperous life. Mission: Viamo connects individuals and organizations using digital technology to make better decisions. Vision: We envision a world where all people have access to the information they need to make decisions for healthy, prosperous lives, and have meaningful relationships with governments, civil society, and businesses.