Careers

Business Development Consultant

About Building Markets

Building Markets’ mission is to build inclusive economies for small businesses so that all people have the opportunity to rise. We do this by opening opportunities for small business owners affected by crises or marginalization to transform their lives and communities.

Building Markets addresses inequality around the world by advancing inclusive economies that work for all. We do this by opening opportunities for small business owners — who fuel more than 70% of the world’s jobs — to transform their lives and communities. Since 2004, Building Markets has combined its deep local knowledge, comprehensive data, and global networks to build confidence and strength in more than 27,000 small business owners affected by crises and marginalization. From securing $1.5  billion in contracts or loans to creating more than 74,000 full-time jobs in places where they’re needed most, Building Markets is elevating small businesses as engines of enduring social impact and economic growth.

To achieve our mission, we concentrate our efforts on four primary outcomes:

• Increased revenue for small businesses from communities affected by marginalization.

• Increased buyer confidence in our target small businesses.

• Job creation for people held back by marginalization.

• Secured working capital for our target small businesses.

As we move ahead, we will use four primary channels to deliver impact:

• Data-Driven, AI Powered Matchmaking Tool: Building on Building Markets’ existing digital services (business directory, tender directory, and export platform) we will provide a critical connection point between suppliers and buyers.

• Bespoke small business data: We will build on our current data capture processes and quality controls to ensure that our data is a high-quality resource for buyers and suppliers and a rigorous source of evidence for policy development.

• Market-access training: Building Markets’ bid training has been proven to be highly effective in enabling small businesses to win procurement opportunities. We will standardize and develop this training service so that it can be delivered directly to small businesses and create an offering to corporations and governments needing implementation support for their procurement programs.

• Access to necessary working capital: Many small businesses we interact with are looking for working capital. This capital represents a binding constraint to small business growth as it reduces their ability to bid on larger volumes of work.

The Business Development Consultant Position

The Business Development Consultant will support business development activities for Building Markets. We seek someone with a solid background in international development who has engaged a variety of donors in business development and fundraising activities (donor outreach, EOI/RFP analysis, pipeline management, and proposal management). The ideal consultant will have experience soliciting both unrestricted and restricted grants. 

Scope of Work

Pipeline Development:

• Conduct comprehensive weekly prospect research and analysis to identify diverse funding opportunities from donors, including governments, multilateral agencies, foundations, corporations, and other relevant institutions.

• Maintain a strong understanding of BuMa’s capabilities, market differentiation, and program expertise to help inform pipeline development. 

• Monitor all relevant procurement sites and foundation directories for new opportunities and manage/track BuMa’s pipeline in Salesforce.

• Continuously update and maintain a robust Salesforce pipeline of prospective projects, contacts, and funding sources.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align project ideas with potential donor priorities and funding criteria.

Business Development Proposal Writing and Management:

• Create proposal management plans and coordinate proposal development timelines with BuMa team members and external partners.

• Lead the end-to-end proposal development process, ensuring high-quality, compelling, and tailored proposals are submitted to potential donors.

• Lead proposal writing, collaborating with technical experts, program managers, and finance teams to create comprehensive project proposals that (1) meet donor requirements, (2) align with the organization's mission and objectives, and (3) present high editorial quality.

• Maintain capabilities statements, templates, CV databases, and past performance databases that provide the proposal process with readily available text that can be used across proposal development.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 4 years of progressive experience in business development, ideally in the international development or non-profit sector

• Proactive, multitasking, self-starter; able to work well autonomously, with minimal supervision

• Preferred experience in working on proposals for UN agencies and public donors (i.e., USAID)

• Team player with high accountability and integrity in all decision making; a collaborative communicator

• Excellent project management skills with very high attention to detail and the ability to coordinate multiple deadlines simultaneously

• Excellent technical skills in writing, editing, formatting, and research

• PowerPoint design skills preferred

• Comfortable working virtually

• Excellent technology skills; proficient in Salesforce, Google Suite, Adobe, Asana, Slack, Microsoft Office

• Bachelor’s degree

• Experience in proposal management with multiple donors and a track record of success

Location

The Business Development Consultant position is a remote position based in the US. Preference will be given to candidates in New York or Washington, DC metro areas.

Compensation

Daily rate ranges between $400 - $550. The Business Development Consultant will work on a pre-negotiated amount of hours per month.

Directions

Interested candidates should email their CV and cover letter to careers@buildingmarkets.org. The submission deadline for this position is January 24th, 2025.