Employer DFS Lab
Job title Senior Policy Researcher
Location Based in Nigeria
Hours Full-time
Start date Immediately
Term 1 year Contract with extension
Compensation Competitive, payment in USD
Travel **Frequent Travel to Kaduna state for first 6 months.
Contact Jake Kendall, [email protected]
TO APPLY, CLICK HERE- APPLICATION FORM
DFS Lab is an accelerator and investor that supports early-stage founders creating a modern digital economy in Africa. We also manage innovation labs and events, and conduct research.
In our accelerator, we try to provide practical advice, support our entrepreneurs as people, and put them on the best footing as individuals and as a company to grow and succeed. We also recognize our own experience and ability to help is inherently limited and so we aim to connect them with a global group of investors and mentors who are best placed to offer deep technical expertise, insight on founding a similar company, or who can offer other tailored value to our entrepreneurs.
We’ve invested in over 30 companies in the past three years alongside leading venture capital firms like Tiger Global, Accel, 500 Startups, NYCA, Anthemis, Omidyar Network, and Accion. We have recently raised a fourth fund for our accelerator to invest in a larger number of new companies per year, expanding the support structure, and exploring even more ambitious new directions to help African founders create great companies.
Alongside our investment business we have a rapidly growing consulting business where we do leading edge strategy, investment advisory, policy research, and innovation programs. Examples include a series of innovation bootcamps that bring together leading fintechs and digital commerce companies (e.g. Flutterwave, Paystack, PiggyVest, TeamApt, Pocket, PalmPay, and other market leaders have all joined recent events) supported by the Stellar platform and another example is an expansive multi-year data collection and research project funded by the Gates Foundation to understand how users of digital platforms like Grab and Tokepedia in Indonesia are making income and changing their economic status.
You have deep experience working in the financial inclusion and digital commerce space in Africa and have managed or led initiatives aimed at empowering women. You have policy advocacy and research skills with an understanding of how regulations are developed as well as great interpersonal skills to artfully engage with policymakers and regulators. You have deep experience in doing rigorous research and care how the digitization of the African economy is proceeding and how policymakers can better support digital development. You are able to work with a diverse set of stakeholders and have a great market research, and strategy mindset. You have the capacity to be a thought leader in the ecosystem and you believe in DFS Lab’s mission.
As Senior Policy Researcher, you will play an essential role at DFS Lab as we aim to continuously establish our footprint and generate evidence-based research for policy change. The initial assignment will be to lead a major initiative funded by the Gates Foundation to support the outgoing Kaduna State Government in finalizing its financial inclusion strategy but you will be a full member of the team working on many research and policy change projects in the longer term. Your responsibilities include: