Job Opportunity for Specialist – Ecosystem at Wadhwani Foundation in Multiple Locations

Our Culture:

WF is a global not-for-profit, and works like a start-up, in a fast-moving, dynamic pace where change is the only constant and flexibility is the key to success.

Three mantras that we practice across job roles, levels, functions, programs and initiatives, are Quality, Speed, Scale, in that order.

We are an ambitious and inclusive organization, where everyone is encouraged to contribute and ideate. We are intensely and insanely focused on driving excellence in everything we do. 

We want individuals with the drive for excellence, and passion to do whatever it takes to deliver world class outcomes to our beneficiaries. We set our own standards often more rigorous than what our beneficiaries demand, and we want individuals who love it this way.

We have a creative and highly energetic environment – one in which we look to each other to innovate new solutions not only for our beneficiaries but for ourselves too. Open to collaborate with a borderless mentality, often going beyond the hierarchy and siloed definitions of functional KRAs, are the individuals who will thrive in our environment.

This is a workplace where expertise is shared with colleagues around the globe. Individuals uncomfortable with change, constant innovation, and short learning cycles and those looking for stability and orderly working days may not find WF to be the right place for them.

Finally, we want individuals who want to do greater good for the society leveraging their area of expertise, skills and experience.

The foundation is an equal opportunity firm with no bias towards gender, race, colour, ethnicity, country, language, age and any other dimension that comes in the way of progress.

Join us and be a part of us!

Job Description:

The Role Context: As part of the Ecosystem Team, you will build and manage networks of mentors, incubators, accelerators, investors, funding agencies, start-up service providers and all other ecosystem stakeholders to provide 360 degrees support, including funding, to the start-ups that are part of NEN Programs. You will need to conduct calls / send emails / connect via social media to generate leads, schedule “first meetings” for partnership and collaboration prospects, conduct customer surveys, identify relevant experts for online/offline Masterclasses, events, and bring awareness for the NEN product offerings. In the Inside Sales team you will provide support for opportunity generation for the NEN Program offerings. For partnerships and collaborations for the NEN programs, you will be need to garner interest with reputed incubators and/or early stage startups.

Locations : Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad

Key Responsibilities:

• Communicate with future partners via tele prospecting and emailing to generate interest and create rapport;
• Follow up on email marketing, advertising campaigns to warm leads.
• Proactively research and identify new businesses to target for lead generation.
• Research and discover methods to increase partner engagement
• Oversee outreach, selection and onboarding efforts for program partners. Grow and manage network of mentors, investors, funding agencies, ecosystem stakeholders, and other key partnerships.
• Key element of the role will be to support the buildout of the NEN technology platform by onboarding and building a community of ecosystem partners and peer-peer networks to support start-up needs;
• Organize community building activities/meetups to build interest among the ecosystem stakeholders to connect and collaborate for NEN Programs and startup support.

Skills & Experience:

• A seasoned professional with at least 5+  years’ experience with 2-3  years in the start-up ecosystem in a similar role with a reputed incubator/ accelerator / start-up ecosystem enablement role.
• Deep experience with CRM software/Microsoft Excel, LinkedIn Campaigns.
• MBA/post graduate degree from a reputed institute will be a plus
• Entrepreneurial mindset – you should be able to think outside the box and hustle/be on your feet to creatively solve problems
• Sales and Business development experience preferred
• Self-motivated, resourceful and ability to operate in a fast changing environment
• A go-getter attitude, full of initiative, persistence and professionalism
• Excellent communication – both written and verbal
• Ability to establish strong partner relationships
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders
• Ability to meet deadlines

About Wadhwani Foundation (www.wfglobal.org):

Mission: Accelerating economic development in emerging economies through high-value job creation Objectives: Enabling the creation of 10M jobs and placement of 25M by 2030 across 20-25 emerging economies

Wadhwani Foundation is a not-for-profit with the primary mission of accelerating economic development in emerging economies by driving large-scale job creation through entrepreneurship, innovation and skills development. Founded in 2000 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, today the Foundation is scaling impact in 25 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America through the following Initiatives:

1. Wadhwani Advantage: Accelerating the growth of tens of thousands of SMEs by providing personalized, on-demand knowledge and consulting resources through an AI-enabled mobile platform to create millions of new jobs.

2. Wadhwani Entrepreneur: Inspiring, educating, and enabling Startup entrepreneurs

Wadhwani Venture Fastrack: Maximizes success rates of early-stage startups with enhanced business traction and funding opportunities

Wadhwani NEN: Empowers students with knowledge and skills through Courses and Startup Labs to create high-potential startups

Wadhwani Inspire: Establishes a nationwide culture of entrepreneurship

3. Wadhwani Opportunity: Empowering millions of students with 21st century employability skills that drive family supporting wages.

4. Wadhwani AI (a partner program): A first-of-its-kind AI research institute in the world – a non-profit dedicated exclusively to applying AI for social good.

5. Wadhwani Catalyst: Invest in high quality entrepreneurs with scalable business models across emerging markets, with a focus in India. The fund will catalyse businesses across sectors, with the overall objective of accelerating economic development by creating livelihoods/ jobs.

Wadhwani Institute of Technology and Policy (WITP): Support government and civil society at large with the dual mission of – (1) Providing information, insights, and recommendations for the application of technology for policy making, policy implementation, and policy outcomes measurement. (2) Creating a Technology-focused Training Academy for upskilling policy makers, bureaucrats and technocrats with relevant technologies and the application of the same to their respective ministries and missions.