Senior Business Development Associate – Office of Business Development

The Senior Business Development Associate manages respective country portfolios as part of IFDC’s global business development agenda. The role involves executing various BD processes and multiple tasks, such as carrying out in-depth capture support, strategic analysis, and proposal development for new business development opportunities, coordinating with internal teams to ensure that technical content, budgeting, and donor requirements are aligned with a priority focus on European donors, foundations, private sectors and West African funding landscape. 

Through quality donor forecasting, gathering of donor intelligence, conducting reconnaissance trips, and monitoring specific funding opportunities within their assigned portfolio, the Senior Associate delivers strategic insights to guide BD strategies, inform go/no-go decisions, and design robust bids and proposals, building IFDC’s reputation for quality project design and management in agriculture development. 

The Senior Business Development Associate will also manage and coordinate concept notes, proposals and other written materials for donors and clients with a focus on IFDC’s proposal development efforts in West Africa and/or for European donors. 

Responsibilities 

Intelligence gathering 

• Coordinate with Key Account Leaders to provide strategic support in global (EU) trend mapping, foundations, private sectors and business development opportunity identification for the assigned countries in West Africa;  

• Track and analyze business development opportunities originating from EU member state funders, foundations and private sector for West Africa related to IFDC’s global strategy; 

• Review donor reports and updates and synthesize findings to share with global BD team; 

• Work with the Key Account lead and West Africa business development leader (e.g. Country Representative, Regional Advisor) to map regional and national agricultural and economic trends to identify business development opportunities; 

• Track key partner and competitor strategies, projects and performance in West Africa to inform IFDC business development activities; 

• Represent IFDC at stakeholder, donor and partner conferences, events, and workshops as needed; 

• Provide support to projects and programs to identify challenges that can be transformed into project opportunities. 

Coordination 

• Collaborate with Country Representatives to provide relevant business development insights, identifying their needs, aligning with their specific BD strategies and driving the countries’ business development activities; 

• Engage with technical experts across IFDC and partner to gather insights and conduct analyses, informing and enhancing proposal design, relevance, and competitiveness. 

Proposal Management 

• Manage, provide day-to-day operational support to opportunities as assigned, including ensuring support for rigorous opportunity assessment, capture, and proposal process implementation, including timely submission of high-quality concept notes, technical and cost proposals. This can include reading and analyzing donor and client request for proposals, background materials, partner capability statements and draft budget notes; 

• Ensure that IFDC proposals are developed according to internal BD processes (e.g. the BD Proposal Coordination Manual) and that proposals align with target timelines; 

• Review technical and budgetary inputs from contributors (e.g., finance, program, communications, and business development), providing guidance to enhance quality, ensure accurate costing, and align proposals with guidelines, donor requirements, and market insights; 

• Draft proposal sections such as capability statements, past project summaries; 

• Edit key documents as part of proposal submissions; 

• Coordinate and communicate with partners. 

Requirements 

• University Degree in Business Administration, International Relations, Agriculture, socio-economic or a related field, graduate studies (e.g., MA, MS) preferred;  

• 5 or more years of experience in proposal development and project management. Experience managing proposal processes and securing funding in an international organization, NGO, or private sector setting, preferably within the agriculture or development sectors. Familiarity with Shipley or APMP is preferred; 

• Fluency in English and French/Portuguese is essential to communicate in writing and speaking; 

• Excellent analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to synthesize complex information into actionable insights; 

• Strong writing, editing, and presentation skills in English (French is a strong asset); 

• Ability to coordinate multiple contributors under tight deadlines and manage competing priorities effectively. 

 Reporting and Work Relationships

The Senior Business Development Associate reports to West Africa Country Director. 

Location 

This is a national recruitment with a duty station at the IFDC office based in Mali, Niger or Burkina Faso.