Director – LiftOff – Wadhwani Foundation

Wadhwani Foundation is a not-for-profit with the primary mission of accelerating economic development in emerging economies by driving large-scale job creation through entrepreneurship, innovation and skills development. Founded in 2000 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, today the Foundation is scaling impact in 25 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America through various Initiatives.  More details on the various programs at the end of the document.

Mission: Accelerating economic development in emerging economies through high-value job creation Objectives: Enabling the creation of 10M jobs and placement of 25M by 2030 across 20-25 emerging economies

The Role Context:  The Director-Liftoff will be responsible for deployment of Liftoff Program and work closely with early stage start-ups to get them investor/funding ready. Assist pre-revenue stage and early traction stage startups with MVP to survive & thrive through incubator connects, grants and commercial funding.

Role type               : Individual Contributor

Work Experience 10-12 years

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with startups sourced and selected from Incubators, Accelerators, State startup missions, angel funds, early stage VCs, startup ecosystem players to deploy the Liftoff Program
• Ensure WE helpdesk support with 2 contact sessions per week per startup per cohort.
• Ensure 360 degree platform support – Case studies, conceptual sessions, masterclasses, solution kits, mentor support, pitching bootcamp and investor demo days.
• Ensure program outcome by getting startups evaluated and ready for selection by investor/commercial funding of $50K and above.
• Work with program managers, consultant and experts for effective deployment and completion of the program.
• Focus on transformational changes that will enable startups to survive & thrive for next 6-9 months
• Provide mentors with sectoral and functional expertise relevant to the startup
• Monitor and track engagement on WE platform

Key Performance Indicators:

• 25% or more traction in revenue or number of customers after the commencement of the program
• Achieving selection for 50 K USD funding by commercial funding agencies after the commencement of the program

Skills & Experience:

•  A seasoned professional with at-least 10 years’ experience with 5 years in the start-up ecosystem in a similar role with an accelerator / Institutional investor role.
• MBA/post graduate degree from a reputed institute.
• Deep experience with CRM software/Microsoft Excel, LinkedIn Campaigns.
• Entrepreneurial mindset – you should be able to think outside the box and hustle/be on your feet to creatively solve problems
• Sales and Business development experience preferred
• Self-motivated, resourceful and ability to operate in a fast changing environment
• A go-getter attitude, full of initiative, persistence and professionalism
• Excellent communication – both written and verbal
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders
• Ability to meet deadlines

Various Programs at Wadhwani Foundation:

1. Wadhwani Advantage: Accelerating the growth of tens of thousands of SMEs by providing personalized, on-demand knowledge and consulting resources through an AI-enabled mobile platform to create millions of new jobs.

2. Wadhwani Entrepreneur: Inspiring, educating, and enabling Startup entrepreneurs

• Wadhwani Venture Fastrack: Maximizes success rates of early-stage startups with enhanced business traction and funding opportunities
• Wadhwani NEN: Empowers students with knowledge and skills through Courses and Startup Labs to create high-potential startups
• Wadhwani Inspire: Establishes a nationwide culture of entrepreneurship

3. Wadhwani Opportunity: Empowering millions of students with 21st century employability skills that drive family supporting wages.

4. Wadhwani AI (a partner program): A first-of-its-kind AI research institute in the world – a non-profit dedicated exclusively to applying AI for social good.

5. Wadhwani Catalyst: Invest in high quality entrepreneurs with scalable business models across emerging markets, with a focus in India. The fund will catalyse businesses across sectors, with the overall objective of accelerating economic development by creating livelihoods/ jobs.

6. Wadhwani Institute of Technology and Policy (WITP): Support government and civil society at large with the dual mission of – (1) Providing information, insights, and recommendations for the application of technology for policy making, policy implementation, and policy outcomes measurement. (2) Creating a Technology-focused Training Academy for upskilling policy makers, bureaucrats and technocrats with relevant technologies and the application of the same to their respective ministries and missions.

Wadhwani Corporate Profile: (Click on this link)

Our Culture:

WF is a global not-for-profit, and works like a start-up, in a fast-moving, dynamic pace where change is the only constant and flexibility is the key to success.

Three mantras that we practice across job roles, levels, functions, programs and initiatives, are Quality, Speed, Scale, in that order.

We are an ambitious and inclusive organization, where everyone is encouraged to contribute and ideate. We are intensely and insanely focused on driving excellence in everything we do.

We want individuals with the drive for excellence, and passion to do whatever it takes to deliver world class outcomes to our beneficiaries. We set our own standards often more rigorous than what our beneficiaries demand, and we want individuals who love it this way.

We have a creative and highly energetic environment – one in which we look to each other to innovate new solutions not only for our beneficiaries but for ourselves too. Open to collaborate with a borderless mentality, often going beyond the hierarchy and siloed definitions of functional KRAs, are the individuals who will thrive in our environment.

This is a workplace where expertise is shared with colleagues around the globe. Individuals uncomfortable with change, constant innovation, and short learning cycles and those looking for stability and orderly working days may not find WF to be the right place for them.

Finally, we want individuals who want to do greater good for the society leveraging their area of expertise, skills and experience.

The foundation is an equal opportunity firm with no bias towards gender, race, colour, ethnicity, country, language, age and any other dimension that comes in the way of progress.

Join us and be a part of us!