Entrepreneurship in the territories: is it the right time?
Position Summary
Reporting to the Country Representative to Viet Nam and Senior Officials, the Program Officer, Green Entrepreneurship will deliver end-to-end startup acceleration across flagship initiatives in Viet Nam: (i) AIS4EE Program (Acceleration for Innovation in Energy Efficiency) funded by European Union, (ii) Climate Tech Program, funded by KOICA, and (iii) the upcoming Climate-technopreneurship Program, funded by Korea Development Bank and Green Climate Fund. The position holder will coordinate with key stakeholders in the Government of Viet Nam, including the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance, National Innovation Center (NIC), and the National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (NATEC). The role covers cohort design and delivery, pipeline scouting, selection and investment readiness, coaching/mentoring orchestration, demo days, ecosystem partnerships, and donor/government coordination/reporting. The postholder brings deep familiarity with Viet Nam’s innovation landscape, hands-on experience structuring accelerator programs, and strong stakeholder management across government, donors, investors, corporates, and ecosystem partners.
PURPOSE
- Design and execute multi-cohort acceleration programs (climate tech & energy efficiency), from sourcing to graduation and post-program follow-up.
- Build robust deal pipelines; assess startups’ technical and commercial readiness; design tailored support (coaching, clinics, pilots, investment readiness).
- Coordinate multi-donor workplans, budgets, and results frameworks across GGGI’s portfolio, ensuring compliance with each donor’s requirements.
- Drive high-quality monitoring and evaluation and impact tracking (KPIs, climate impact outcomes, gender and social inclusion, safeguards, among others).
ENGAGEMENT
- Map, engage, and manage relationships with incubators/accelerators, government agencies, industry associations, universities, corporates, VCs/angels, and banks/DFIs.
- Partner with ministries/regulators and city/provincial agencies to unlock pilots, testbeds, and public-private partnerships.
- Orchestrate investor engagement (pitch prep, data rooms, due diligence support) and corporate innovation partnerships (PoCs, commercial pilots).
- Coordinate with donors on governance, reporting, visibility/comms, and joint visibility events.
DELIVERY
- Program design & operations: scouting funnels, selection rubrics, curriculum, mentoring rosters, expert clinics (tech, finance, legal, IP), demo days.
- Coaching/mentoring: structure customized tracks; coordinate expert and mentor pools; match founders to mentors; monitor progress with clear milestones.
- Challenges/Demo-days: design innovation challenges, run bootcamps, and integrate winners into accelerator cohorts or pilots.
- Pilots & market linkage: broker MoUs/LOIs for PoCs with corporates/industrial parks/municipal partners; support procurement and compliance steps.
- Results & reporting: maintain monitoring dashboards; compile donor reports; capture case studies, toolkits, and policy/market insights.
- Events & exposure: organize networking events, investor days, and study tours/peer-learning in Viet Nam and the region, aligned with donor communication requirements.
- Compliance: adhere to GGGI and donor rules on procurement, branding, safeguarding, data protection, and E&S screening where applicable.
