Vacancy: Finance Consultant (pro bono)

 

About Silverleaf Academy

Silverleaf Academy is Tanzania’s first chain of affordable private pre-primary and primary schools, educating children aged 3-14. Our mission is to provide lower-middle income urban families with highest quality learning at the most affordable levels. Using the national Tanzanian curriculum, Silverleaf schools deploy an inclusive, tech-supported curriculum inside every classroom, and adopt an innovative team-teaching approach and in-service training program. Our schools are specifically designed to build both student academic competencies and wider life, leadership and learning skills. It is our promise to our students and their parents that Silverleaf students will not leave school without full mastery of the basic skills of writing, reading and math, while also being prepared for a world where critical thinking, team collaboration, and entrepreneurship are paramount. Silverleaf Academy believes that quality education should be accessible to every child.

 

Silverleaf currently has one fully operational campus in Usa River serving approximately 375 pre-primary to standard 7 students. By the end of 2024, the target is to grow the Usa River campus to 900 daycare up to standard 7 students. In addition, the organization will set the foundation for acquisition of two new campuses serving a further 500 students by 2025. For this rapid growth and scaling phase, the organization requires a team of senior managers and experts to develop and codify “The Silverleaf Standard” – a framework for delivery of exceptional teaching and learning across the Silverleaf Academy network in lower-middle income urban and peri-urban contexts in Tanzania. This will initially use the Usa River campus as a flagship school and testing ground from which to launch.    

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About the Role

Position: Finance Consultant (pro bono)

Reporting to: Finance Manager (direct)

Location: In person, Arusha, Tanzania.

Contract: Full-time, Unpaid, Volunteer position 

Term: 3 - 6 months

Starting: ASAP

 

Summary of Position

Silverleaf Academy is looking for a Finance Consultant who will work closely with the Finance Manager and the Managing Director.. The purpose of this Consultancy is to build knowledge and capacities of the finance department, as well as contribute to the strategic design of the business model. As Silverleaf is looking to expand in the future, financial processes and procedures have to be developed and improved to support future growth. Depending on the length of the placement, the consultant will also work with other department managers to improve processes in line with his or her experience. Furthermore, Silverleaf would like to develop different subsidiaries along the educational value chain to compliment the continued growth of the enterprise, as such the consultant will support in the feasibility studies, business modeling and financial modeling of such additional entities. 
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Depending on the length of the placement, the consultant will focus on the following topics.

Work closely with the finance manager, finance team and Managing Director to:

 

• Develop, improve and implement financial processes by making smart use of technology;

• Improve the monthly finance reporting, analysis and management meetings;

• Streamline financial processes of managing budgets and finding efficiencies within existing systems 

• Prepare multi-year forecasts depending on different expansion scenarios;

• Further refine and analyze unit economics of various school models and products within a school eg boarding packages, transport packages etc;

• Prepare different analysis depending on (potential) investor needs;

• Engage with funders and investors on understanding strategic financial model and projections; 

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Work closely with the department managers to:

• Improve company processes, this applies to marketing, operations, HR, technology or education, depending on your experience;

• Work on financial capacity building;

• Mentor and train Finance manager and hold regular PD for rest of finance team (2 people) 

 

Qualifications/Experience

• Degree in Accounting, Finance or Economics, accounting certification;

• +2 years of accounting experience, preferably in an international environment;

• Experience with bookkeeping software, knowledge of Quickbooks is a plus;

• Affinity with technology, including Google Suite, Slack, Advanced Excel, Asana; 

• Experience or willingness to work in an often changing, start-up environment.

• Preference given to professionals with work experience in an international setting/team 

 

How to apply

If you are interested in this position, submit your CV and cover letter to: hr@silverleaf.co.tz and copy nelly@silverleaf.co.tz into the same email. Ensure you put ‘Finance Consultant’ in the subject line. 

 

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