Thank you for your interest in becoming an Uplift Business Alliance Pro Bono Business Coach. Please read on to learn more about the difference in another's life, and how it will make a difference in yours!

About Us

Uplift Business Alliance builds the capacity of impoverished Kenyan urban entrepreneurs through peer-to-peer mentoring, one-to-one business coaching, and administrative support. Uplift works with entrepreneurs who (a) have attended / are attending some type of business training; and (b) have a product or service targeted toward for-profit or non-profit enterprises (rather than one focused on consumers).

How You'll Make A Difference

Your role as an Uplift Business Coach is to help Uplift Members create incremental income growth beginning the third month of your working together. That growth may come from increasing their sales, instituting operational efficiency, developing and launching a new service or new product, learning more about their customers and improving their current product, or through other means.

The goal of this position is to aid Uplift Members, who are micro-entrepreneurs, in growing the income from their businesses in a manner that is sustainable. Business coaches are a critical part of the success of Uplift Members. Coaches will help by providing mentoring, and building self-motivation. In conjunction with the support of the Nairobi-based Peer to Peer Groups, This will help Members: create goal-oriented structures, clarify important business issues, set goals, write an action plan for those goals, and reach those goals. At the end of the 12-month program, Uplift Members will have improved their ability to self-motivate themselves, and understand how their strengths and weaknesses can help or hinder the growth of their business.

Meet some of our Members who still need coaches!

Benefits for You

As an Uplift Coach, you will:

• Join a unique coaching community
• Challenge and stretch your coaching skills
• Add depth to your resume
• Increase your cross-cultural coaching experience
• experience professional development opportunities through Uplift training, and networking with other Uplift Business Coaches
• Build a lasting, rewarding relationship with a promising but struggling entrepreneur, who will use her/his increased income to meet basic human needs, send their children to school, and more
• Give back to those less fortunate
• Develop potential business partners and collaborators within Uplift's community and with your coachees

But most importantly: Really make a difference in the world, one person and one family at a time!

What You'll Do

1. Attend an Uplift Training (required; online or in-person)
2. Attend at least one (fun!) Uplift Business Coaches networking event (recommended)
3. Conduct two meetings of up to one hour each per month with your coachee, via Skype (coachee may be on cellphone) - three times for the fist two months, then twice a month after that.
4. Submit monthly reports to Uplift Business Coach Director (required - this is a simple report to track your work, and is critical for our fundraising)
5. Respond to e-mails and phone calls from client within 72 hrs if emergency issues or questions arise. (This should not happen more than twice during your year together.)
6. Aid coachees in writing an Action Plan, to be completed within two (2) months after your first meeting.
7. Attend a fundraising event in the East Bay, date TBD (recommended - we hope you'll be inspired to attend!).

Timeframe

• Length of Commitment: 6 or 12 months (rolling, beginning in November 2008)
• Estimated Hours/Month: 2 hours

Worksite

Online, preferably using Skype with video

Experience We Hope You Have

If you don't have this experience, please apply anyway, as we look closely at every application!

1. Small business/entrepreneur coaching certification OR at least 3 years teaching or consulting with entrepreneurs covering strategic thinking, book-keeping/finance, operations, marketing, and/or sales
2. Experience working with at least 3 small business/entrepreneur clients

Skills and Desires You Must Have

1. Willingness to work cross-culturally
2. Willingness to volunteer approximately 2-3 hours / month, for 1 year
3. Ability and willingness to use Skype (visit Skype - Uplift will pay fees)
4. Excellent communication skills
5. Ability to listen, and excitement in helping promising entrepreneurs in developing countries!

Not Ready To Apply?

Become a Founding Donor! If you feel you aren't ready to be a Pro Bono coach, but would like to support us, a donation would help immensely. We will keep you updated as the project progresses via periodic email newsletters. (Uplift is a social enterprise project of Curtis Research Group. Don't worry, we won't overwhelm your email!)