Palladium  recruits a MSME Global Trade Hub Lead – Brazil

Company Overview:

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with foundations, investors, governments, corporations, communities and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental and financial benefits. 


For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of more than 35,000 technical experts, Palladium has improved – and is committed to continuing to improve – economies, societies and most importantly, people’s lives. 


Palladium is a child-safe organisation, and screens applicants for suitability to work with children. We also provide equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status. 

Project Overview and Role:

The Brazil Trade Facilitation Programme is a 4-year, £14 million component of FCO’s Brazil Prosperity Fund Programme. The programme aims to assist Brazil to increase trade flows, make foreign trade more inclusive in the country, creating jobs for women and men which will drive economic growth that supports inclusion, women’s economic opportunities and poverty reduction in the country. The programme will modernise and integrate processes in Brazilian ports and ensure that they catalyse growth by acting as strategic assets around which clusters of Brazilian SMEs can grow and enter global value chains. The programme is divided into 2 key projects:


Ports Modernisation – The programme will focus on the three areas which will deliver the most effective time and cost savings in the ports: the Governance of the port community, the Processes that they use to move goods through the ports, and the Technology systems that support them.


SMEs Inclusion – The programme will improve access to guidance, information on exporting, and opportunities for millions of SMEs, while also providing intensive acceleration and linkage services to a subset of high growth, inclusive SMEs. Our programme will maximise the benefits for the Brazilian economy, optimise usage and allocation of existing public funds, deliver development impact in targeted regions, and create opportunities for UK businesses and investors.

 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Overview

The MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will be based in Brasilia and manage the MSME component of the Brazil Trade Facilitation Programme, namely the MSME Global Trade Hub (or ‘Hub’). 

The primary aim of the Hub component is to stimulate inclusive economic growth in Brazil by improving the export performance of Brazilian MSMEs through increased access to quality trade-related support services.

The Hub is a single overarching initiative that will develop and pilot new or improved (existing) MSME trade support services and integrate them into a centralised IT system with a clear governance and sustainability structure.

The Hub is therefore structured around three workstreams: (1) Governance; (2) Services; and (3) Systems that will work together to meet the needs of Brazilian stakeholders and beneficiaries and deliver the scale of impact expected.

The MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will be responsible for managing the successful delivery of the Hub component and managing activities across the three workstreams.

1) Governance

Existing programmes and MSME support services are dispersed across several different Federal Agencies and Ministries at the three levels of government that will require a clear coordination and governance structure to make the Hub a success.

Key responsibilities of the MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will include: 

  • Manage a kick-off meeting with the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee; 
  • Organise a presentation to Senior Management of each stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee to get buy-in; 
  • Review MOU vehicles (e.g. PNCE) existing between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee; 
  • Working closely with the IT Systems team to ensure the needs of the MSME users are accurately captured in the Hub system (e.g. ensuring the ‘hangers’ and the ‘wardrobe’ are fit for purpose);
  • Support the development of new or existing MOUs between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
  • Facilitate the signing of new or updated MOUs between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee; 
  • Coordinate the Quarterly Steering Committee Meetings of the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee; 
  • Provide ongoing support, communication and Technical Assistance as appropriate to the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee; 
  • Contribute to the monitoring of and development of scopes of work, implementation plans, budgets and forecasts; and 
  • Responsible for MSME Global Trade Hub programme subcontractor relationship management

2) Services

The MSME Global Trade Hub Initiative will work closely with the public and private sector to enhance the quality and effectiveness of selected trade-related services offered. The core of the Services workstream, and where we expect the programme to deliver the greatest impact within the life of the programme, is through the piloting of context-specific support services and content targeting particular geographies, sectors/ sub-sectors, and/or ‘clusters’ of MSMEs (e.g. direct exporters, export supporters and indirect exporters). It will especially seek to reach vulnerable populations and women-owned or women-led businesses.

Key responsibilities of the MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will include:

  • Manage the design and delivery of the MSME pilots and ensure they are delivered on-time, on-budget and to the agreed quality/ scope;
  • Manage all pilot implementing partners (including EY, OCO, Nextrade, IADB etc.) and ensure their compliance with their agreed contracts and scopes of work;
  • Ensure regular communication/ check-ins with implementing partners to ensure issues and risks are identified, mitigated (and escalated where necessary) so that delivery is not ‘negatively impacted;
  • Work closely with the MREL Lead to ensure each pilot has a clearly articulated results chain and measurable indicators that can feed into the programme’s MREL reporting system;
  • During the design process, ensure all pilots follow the 5-stage pilot development process, i.e.:
    • Stage 1: Idea/ Hypothesis development
    • Stage 2: Concept note produced
    • Stage 3: Pilot planning
    • Stage 4: Due Diligence
    • Stage 5: Sign-off
  • Ensure all pilots are responding to a critical constraint or ‘pain-point’ hindering Brazilian MSME exports, can be locally tested/ piloted with stakeholders’ support, and can be integrated and scaled-up through the Hub IT system;
  • Manage the process of prioritising and selecting MSMEs/ clusters to work with and pilot services incorporating criteria such as market opportunity, feasibility and pro-poor impact;
  • Keep pilots results-focused, ensuring each is delivering on and contributing to Primary Purpose (e.g. poverty reduction GESI, green growth etc.) as well as Secondary Benefits (e.g. supporting UK or international trade and business);
  • Work closely with the learning component of the programme to identify priority research needs to help implement and monitor the pilots effectively.


3) Systems

Each pilot will address a specific priority constraint and result in a tangible digital/ automated output (or service module) that can be plugged into the IT Hub system (for example, a new module, content piece, new or enhanced functionality, etc.) and contribute to both Primary Purpose and Secondary Benefits within the life of the programme (i.e. by delivering quantifiable results for MSMEs seeking to export).

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy, business administration, or a closely related field.
  • Experience with private sector engagement in Brazil and in international development. 
  • A substantial amount of years of progressively responsible work experience with MSMEs and/or in project management roles.
    Demonstrable experience working with teams, with strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills. 
  • Effective oral and written communication skills, including strong writing and editing capabilities in Portuguese and in English.
  • Extensive experience in project management, contract administration, compliance, and other project operations and management areas. 
  • Strong skills in effective client relationship management.
  • Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to multitask, and ability to work well under pressure. 
  • Eligibility to work in Brazil.

 Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Apply here