Finance Manager

Position Overview

Educate! an award winning non-profit social enterprise is seeking an enthusiastic, systems-oriented, ethical and analytical individual with great interpersonal and communication skills to fill the Finance Manager position. S/he will be the finance lead in the organization ensuring the implementation of accounting and financial management functions, design and co-ordinate the implementation of sound accounting and financial management and control systems and procedures for all operational and administrative areas and to facilitate the maintenance of accurate and up to date financial and accounting records for effective and smooth running of all business operations under fast changing and complex circumstances.

Educate! is looking for someone who has non-profit experience, delivers results while leading multiple projects, is willing to improve on processes and able to lead change management processes. The Finance Manager will supervise a team of two, and shall report to the Managing Director.

About Educate!

Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. 

At Educate!, we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent. 

Educate! prepares youth in Africa learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by: 

1. Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary; and, 
2. Delivering livelihood bootcamps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 250,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 250 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth-oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows. 

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Big Bang Philanthropy,  #startsmall, Generation Unlimited, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year. By 2025, we aim to scale our annual reach by 4x and measurably impact over 400,000 new youth. 

Performance Objectives

Financial Management & Oversight (30%)

• Provide leadership to the finance and accounting areas of the organization, proposing and implementing improvements in processes to increase efficiency.
• Provide useful financial insights to help make better decisions about formulating and executing strategy, and provide guidance and analysis to executive and operational management to improve results.
• Maintain control of the following areas: general ledger, accounts payable, expense reports, and payroll.
• Prepare a variety of ad hoc financial scenarios as requested.
• Ensure full compliance with Tanzania Revenue Authority, NGO Board and returns requirements
• Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting for decision making
• Overall responsibility for maintenance of internal control systems
• Collaborate and lead finance functions with Educate! team, especially with the budget owners/managers.
• Provide finance support and collaborate closely with the operations team
• Key contact with bank support personnel and Tax Advisors
• Periodic meetings with the Group Finance team (Country Finance Managers, Controllers and CFO) for all Educate! accounting needs and deliverables
• Work in close collaboration with other contracted finance support teams

Financial Reporting (30%)

• Ensure the monthly budget balances report is up to date and shared with budget holders
• Confirm expense codes on all requests as they are received, correct where necessary through the budget manager.
• Minimize the number of errors from the team through constant feedback and also in reporting.
• Prepare and analyze accurate monthly financial and management reports, including; income statement, balance sheet, budget and variance, projections and forecast, and cash flow
• Submit accurate, complete and timely management reports.
• Coordinate the preparation of the audited financial statements and all tax returns
• Reporting as needed to the regional finance team on Educate! financials

Financial Control & Accounting (20%)

• Observe and implement all Educate! accounting systems, payments, bookkeeping, and statutory filing.
• Ensure that all financial transactions are processed accurately, in a timely manner, and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles through the Quickbooks system, identifying and correcting any variances.
• Develop, implement, and maintain processes and controls that are current best practices related to transaction processing.
• Manage, oversee, process (as appropriate), all of the following transactions: payroll, accounts payable, revenue and expense, fixed assets, cash, bank reconciliations, and allocations.
• Perform month-end closing procedures, including account reconciliations, and updating schedules.
• Maintain an orderly accounting filing system
• Revenue management & improvement of payment systems

Budget Management (20%): 

• Involved in the preparation of periodic budgets and updates
• Collaborate with budget managers by sharing budgets and providing support and clarity where needed.
• Ensure budgets are entered into the accounting system.
• Ensure BVA reports are prepared and have clear explanations at month-end.
• Share monthly BVA reports with budget holders for ease of planning.
• Share quarterly BVA reports with clear explanations
• Monitor the budget memos and update the approved budgets and Quickbooks with the Budget Memos where needed
• Offer periodic training or refresher training to the teams aimed at improving financial management, discipline and accountability as stipulated in our policies and procedures.

Qualifications

• BSC in Finance, Accounting or Business Administration or Commerce
• Must be a Member of CPA (T) (NBAA) in good standing
• Proficiency in Ms. Excel and Quickbooks.
• Finance & Accounting experience working in a non-profit environment.
• Minimum of 5 years of finance and accounting experience, including finance, accounting, audit, and analysis (including gathering, evaluating, presenting, and reporting financial information to management and external stakeholders).
• Minimum of 3 years of managerial experience leading finance teams and cross-function collaborations.
• Solid experience in coordinating audit activities and managing reporting, budget development and analysis, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, payroll, and accounting.
• Entrepreneurial drive and proven ability to take ownership and lead the team’s combined learning.
• Collaborative, data-oriented approach to problem-solving.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a self-directed manner, seeking out areas that need attention rather than being asked to look at specific problem areas.
• Consistently asks for help and seeks advice from colleagues to let the best idea or process win.
• Engaging and interactive communicator with a passion for coaching others.
• Fits our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here

What Is Educate! About?

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey.

1. We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We never forget that Educate! exists to impact youth. We are purpose-driven. We obsess over impact daily and if it doesn’t lead to impact, we want nothing to do with it. We prioritize interacting with and listening to youth. We design and manage the organization to ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences that youth value.
2. We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results. When we know what needs to be done, we do it. We don’t wait to be asked and we don’t stop at what is asked of us. We look for solutions as much as we identify problems.
3. We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded. We know there is always another way and we are excited to learn about it. We continuously look for resources of all kinds from multiple disciplines. We try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
4. We are One Team, Many Views - We say what we think while treating each other well. We believe that all people have the same inherent value and that diverse ideas and open dialogue fuel excellence. We constantly strive to create an environment where everyone can and does express themselves freely. We support and respect each other as people and colleagues. We act as one team: We prioritize the organization's mission and goals over team or individual goals.
5. We have the Startup Mindset - We will always keep innovating to grow our impact. We aspire to be game-changing. We never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.” We question the status quo in our industry. We move fast and embrace change to move towards our long-term vision. We’re not afraid of failure. We interrogate anything that slows us down.

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do.

Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community.  In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team.

Child Safeguarding: Educate! is committed to child-safe/youth-safe recruitment, selection and screening. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to the safety and protection of children in our programs. The successful candidate will be required to provide a satisfactory Certificate of Good Conduct as a condition of employment. We reserve the right to decline to offer employment to an individual or terminate an employment contract with an employee that may pose a risk to children and youth.