Job Description
Water Market Systems & Business Development Services (BDS) Officer – Multiple Locations
Position Water Market Systems & Business Development Services (BDS) Officer
Function Business Development Investment Associate
Duty Station Multiple Locations
Contract Type 6 – Months Renewable
Reports To Water Market Systems & Business Development Services (BDS) Lead
About Braintec Consulting Limited
Braintec Consulting is an emerging consulting and advisory firm delivering high-impact solutions across the Horn and East Africa. The firm specializes in Market Systems Development (MSD), Private Sector Development, Enterprise Competitiveness, Business Development Services (BDS), Investment Readiness, Inclusive Finance, Institutional Strengthening, Organizational Development and Public Sector Advisory.
Braintec partners with development agencies, INGOs, financial institutions and the private sector to design and implement sustainable, market-driven solutions that improve livelihoods, strengthen institutions and promote inclusive economic growth.
Braintec designs and implements interventions that strengthen market systems, improve enterprise performance, facilitate private sector participation, enhance unlock investment and build sustainable business models for service delivery across Somalia.
About the Assignments and Programmes
Braintec delivers consulting, advisory and implementation assignments across the Horn and East Africa. Its work spans market systems development, private sector development, enterprise support, institutional strengthening, investment readiness, inclusive finance and related development initiatives.
Assignments may involve coordination with Water Service Providers (WSPs), community-managed systems, SMEs, O&M providers, district and local authorities, financial institutions, private sector service providers, development partners and other ecosystem actors.
The Water Market Systems & BDS Officer provides Braintec with a strong field-level presence, supporting actor identification and diagnostics, hands-on BDS delivery, enterprise improvement, investment-readiness preparation and district-level stakeholder engagement within assigned programme locations.
The Opportunity
Braintec is seeking hands-on, field-oriented Water Market Systems & Business Development Services (BDS) Officers to support market systems development and enterprise strengthening within assigned programme corridors and districts in Somalia.
The role combines practical enterprise support with local market facilitation and stakeholder engagement. The successful candidate will work directly with WSPs, SMEs, community-managed systems, O&M providers and other ecosystem actors, while maintaining constructive working relationships with district authorities, local institutions, financial actors and private sector service providers.
Reporting to the Water Market Systems & BDS Lead, the Officer will support actor mapping and diagnostics, deliver BDS and coaching, facilitate adoption of improved business systems, support investment-readiness progression, coordinate field-level linkages and ensure that district-level relationships and ecosystem dynamics are effectively integrated into programme delivery.
Key Responsibilities
1. Market Systems Mapping, Actor Identification & Diagnostics
- Conduct field-level identification, mapping and profiling of WSPs, SMEs, community-managed systems, O&M providers, suppliers, service providers and other relevant market-system actors within assigned locations.
- Administer approved enterprise and market-system diagnostic tools covering operations, revenues, costs, customers, service delivery and commercial sustainability.
- Support actor segmentation and classification by maturity, support needs, risk and potential progression pathways.
- Identify local market constraints, supporting-function gaps, rules, relationships and incentives affecting sustainable water service delivery and enterprise performance.
- Maintain accurate actor profiles and field-level pipeline information and communicate material changes to the BDS Lead and relevant technical teams.
2. Business Development Services & Enterprise Strengthening
- Deliver hands-on BDS and coaching to WSPs, SMEs and community institutions in line with approved BDS packages and enterprise improvement plans.
- Support improvements in revenue collection, tariff application, customer management, cost control, inventory, record keeping, basic financial management and service delivery practices.
- Support rollout and adoption of business SOPs, including billing, financial records, customer tracking, inventory and other management systems.
- Assist actors to develop and implement practical 90-day improvement plans, with clear actions, responsibilities and follow-up milestones.
- Work with the Digital Systems, Innovation & Communications function to support adoption of appropriate digital business and service-delivery tools where relevant.
- Coordinate with Technical/O&M teams where infrastructure functionality, maintenance practices or technical constraints affect business performance.
3. Coaching, Capacity Building & Follow-Up
- Provide regular field-based coaching, mentoring and problem-solving support to programme-supported actors.
- Conduct structured follow-up visits to assess adoption of agreed improvements, identify implementation barriers and provide corrective guidance.
- Support delivery of workshops, group training, peer-learning sessions and practical demonstrations for enterprises and community institutions.
- Promote ownership and institutionalisation of improved practices so that supported actors can sustain them beyond direct programme assistance.
4. District-Level Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and maintain constructive working relationships with water authorities and other public institutions within assigned programme locations.
- Serve as a field-level liaison for routine programme engagement with district authorities, facilitating introductions, consultations, activity coordination and follow-up.
- Keep district authorities appropriately informed on relevant field activities and support alignment with local priorities and institutional processes.
- Coordinate district-level meetings, consultations and joint field engagements as required, documenting agreed actions and ensuring follow-through.
- Identify local institutional, regulatory, or coordination issues affecting water actors and escalate matters requiring higher-level engagement to the BDS Lead or Director – Partnerships.
- Maintain a simple district stakeholder map and engagement record covering priority authorities and ecosystem actors.
5. Ecosystem Actor Engagement & Market Linkages
- Engage local financial institutions, suppliers, O&M service providers, technology providers, business associations, community structures and other ecosystem actors relevant to enterprise and water-service performance.
- Facilitate practical linkages between supported actors and appropriate suppliers, service providers, market platforms and local commercial partners.
- Identify gaps in locally available support services and opportunities to strengthen sustainable commercial service markets around water actors.
- Support stakeholder consultations and market-sounding activities led by the BDS, Investment & Finance or other technical teams.
- Provide field intelligence on emerging actors, partnerships, market opportunities and constraints relevant to programme objectives.
6. Investment Readiness & Access-to-Finance Support
- Identify enterprises with potential to progress toward investment readiness and refer them through the agreed programme pipeline.
- Support collection and organisation of business, financial, gand operational information required for readiness assessment.
- Assist enterprises to strengthen basic business plans, financial records and supporting documentation required by financial institutions.
- Coordinate with the Investment & Finance team on enterprise readiness actions and follow-up requirements.
- Facilitate local introductions and engagement with banks, MFIs and other financing actors where requested, while recognising that financing assessment and decisions remain with the relevant financial institution and Investment & Finance Lead.
7. Field Evidence, Reporting & Knowledge Management
- Maintain accurate records of enterprise visits, coaching sessions, stakeholder meetings, agreed actions and follow-up requirements.
- Collect and submit programme-required operational and enterprise information using approved tools, without assuming ownership of programme-level performance analytics.
- Document field-level lessons, emerging systemic changes, enterprise improvement stories, stakeholder issues and examples of effective practice.
- Provide concise field updates highlighting progress, constraints, risks, opportunities and matters requiring management or technical action.
- Coordinate with BI, Digital/Communications and other functions to ensure field evidence and learning are captured accurately and responsibly.
Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Agribusiness, Development Studies, Public Administration, Water/Environmental Studies or another relevant discipline.
Professional Experience
The ideal candidate will demonstrate;
- Minimum 3-5 years’ professional experience in enterprise development, Business Development Services, private sector development, market systems or programme field operations, ideally within donor-funded assignments.
- Demonstrated experience conducting enterprise or institutional diagnostics and collecting operational and financial information at field level.
- Practical experience delivering hands-on BDS, coaching or capacity building to SMEs, service providers, cooperatives or community-managed institutions.
- Experience engaging authorities and coordinating programme activities with public institutions.
- Experience building relationships with private sector actors, financial institutions, suppliers, service providers or other local ecosystem actors.
- Familiarity with business planning, financial management and investment-readiness documentation.
- Experience supporting rollout of business SOPs, billing, record keeping, customer management or related enterprise systems is desirable.
- Strong local knowledge of, and prior work experience within, the assigned corridor/district or similar Somali operating environments is highly desirable.
- Previous experience in water, WASH, infrastructure, climate resilience or related market systems will be
Core Competencies
The successful candidate should demonstrate;
- Strong practical understanding of Business Development Services, enterprise strengthening and market systems facilitation.
- Good financial literacy, including basic bookkeeping, cash flow, cost recovery and business planning concepts.
- Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills with enterprises, communities, district authorities and private sector actors.
- Strong local stakeholder awareness, diplomacy and ability to navigate district-level institutional relationships professionally.
- Ability to facilitate meetings, coaching sessions and multi-stakeholder discussions.
- Ability to work independently in field locations with regular travel and community engagement.
- Good documentation, field reporting and follow-up discipline.
- Ability to coordinate effectively with BDS, Technical/O&M, Investment & Finance, BI/Digital and programme teams.
- Fluency in Somali and good professional working English; knowledge of relevant local languages/dialects is an advantage.
- High standards of integrity, professionalism, confidentiality and accountability.
- Commitment to inclusive development, gender equality and climate resilience.
Role Boundaries & Interfaces
The Water Market Systems & BDS Officer is Braintec’s field-level enterprise and stakeholder interface within the assigned corridor/district. The Officer delivers and follows up BDS interventions and maintains local relationships, while specialist technical accountability remains with the relevant Braintec leads.
- Water Market Systems & BDS Lead: BDS methodology, market-systems approach, enterprise-strengthening standards and technical quality assurance.
- Programme Operations, Partnerships & Enterprise Development Lead / Director – Partnerships: higher- donor, financial-sector and strategic stakeholder engagement requiring escalation beyond district level.
- Investment & Finance Lead: investment-readiness criteria, financial diagnostics, transaction structuring and formal FI/investor engagement.
- Technical/O&M team: engineering, infrastructure and O&M technical matters.
- BI & Analytics / Digital functions: programme analytics, digital solutions, evidence and communications support.
Why Join Braintec?
Joining Braintec offers the opportunity to work directly with water-sector enterprises, communities, district institutions and private sector actors, helping translate market-systems approaches into practical improvements in service delivery, enterprise performance and local market functioning.
The role provides strong field exposure across enterprise development, stakeholder engagement and investment-readiness support within a dynamic consulting environment committed to sustainable development impact.
How to Apply
Interested candidates are invited to submit;
- A cover letter outlining their suitability for the position.
- An updated Curriculum Vitae (maximum four pages).
- Contact details of three professional referees.
Applications should be submitted in English and sent to jobs@braintecconsult.com. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Braintec Consulting Limited is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace. We encourage applications from qualified women and men and are committed to safeguarding against all forms of discrimination, exploitation, abuse and harassment in the workplace.
The application deadline is 21st September 2026.
How to Apply
This role is listed on FursadLink and applications are submitted on the organization's official email. Use the “Apply on External Website” button above to proceed. Please reference "Water Market Systems & Business Development Services (BDS) Officer, Nationwide". Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Braintec Consulting is an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourages women to apply.
