Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coordinator

About the division/school:

The Mastercard Foundation Climate Resilience and Sustainability Program is a flagship partnership between the University of Cambridge and the Mastercard Foundation. The programme is unique in its ambition to support the university's interactions with the African continent. It is organized in (i) a Scholarship arm and (ii) in a Climate Collaborative that, in partnership with three African Universities, delivers on curricula development, research and innovation & entrepreneurship.

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coordinator will support the Head of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in delivering (i) the Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund (SEF 2.0) under the Scholarship arm and (ii) the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SI&E) work under the Climate Collaborative. The role holder will act as main point of contact and implementing the operational reality of these activities between 2025-30. 

The role holder will lead on program curation, partnership-building and management, venture growth cycle analysis and event organization underlying the following three main responsibilities:

Manage delivery of the Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund (SEF 2.0)

Coordinate the implementation of the climate SI&E program

Manage the impact future-proofing of the SI&E work.

About the Role:

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coordinator will work with the Head of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship around the operational delivery and content curation of the Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund (SEF 2.0) and the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SI&E) activities of the Program. 

The role will also be responsible for the operational delivery of all aspects of content curation, training delivery, stakeholder liaison, event management and programme coordination. They will be responsible for the design and implementation of the administrative systems and processes to ensure successful delivery of these diverse activities, working closely with a key Africa-based implementation partners and with counterpart role holders in the three Climate Collaborative partners on the African continent.

The Social Ventures activities are to be piloted during 2025 and to expand (in scope and volume) in the subsequent years of the programme (2026-2030), alongside the already running recurrent annual cycle of the Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund training, competition and award for successful entrants who will deliver their projects over two years.

As such, this is a dual role, with responsibility for activities across both the Scholars Program and Climate Collaborative parts of the overall programme, requiring the role holder to work dynamically to respond to the evolving schedule of these varied aspects. The success of these activities will require the role holder to manage different complex projects in parallel, with the need for a high attention to detail and ability to balance priorities.

The role holder will utilise knowledge and experience of the landscape of African entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as excellent communication, planning and organisational skills to implement the varied SI&E programme offerings and activities until the current programme end-date of 31 July 2030.

The University of Cambridge is committed to supporting our staff to thrive both professionally and personally. We aim to support a good work/life balance, whilst retaining the positive aspects of our unique in-person environment and culture. Elements of this role are suitable for hybrid working, where staff can split their time between in-person collaboration and remote working. The frequency of the remote elements of the role can be discussed with the recruiting manager.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

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