Current Opportunities

Role

Business Plan & Launch Strategy Assistant – Payroll Services & Payroll Lending (Tanzania & Uganda)

Engagement

Fixed-term project, 12 weeks full-time

Location

Remote, compatible with European and East African Time Zones

Reports to

Director, Pharos Holdings. Bi-weekly online meetings or more frequent if required

Overview

Pharos Holdings, with other investors, is establishing a new business offering payroll processing services and payroll-linked lending (salary advances/loans) to employers and employees in East Africa, initially in Tanzania and Uganda. We're seeking an enthusiastic person with good innate business acumen and some experience of the region to assist in developing a comprehensive business plan and a detailed first-year implementation roadmap including organisational design, to support the launch and early scaling of this venture. 

This venture is a commercial enterprise but is intended to operate on a reasonable basis, with a strong duty of care to its customers

Key Deliverables

1. Regulatory and compliance overview for payroll and lending activities in Tanzania (BoT) and Uganda (BoU), including licensing requirements and data protection consideration

2. Full business plan covering market sizing, competitive landscape, regulatory environment, product design, pricing/fee structure, revenue model, and 3-year financial projections for both countries

3. Credit risk framework for payroll lending, including underwriting criteria, loan-to-salary limits, default/collection assumptions, and provisioning approach

4. Go-to-market strategy, including customer acquisition (employer partnerships, HR/payroll software integrations, direct sales) and phased country roll-out sequencing

5. 12-month step plan detailing key milestones, dependencies, and timing for licensing, systems setup, hiring, partnerships, pilot launch, and scale-up

6. Org. chart showing proposed team structure, roles, and reporting lines for Year 1, with headcount phased against the step plan

7. Risk register covering operational, credit, regulatory, and currency/FX risks with mitigation strategies

In most of these areas, some preliminary research has been undertaken by on-the-ground-teams. The role is to pull together the key conclusions and key unknowns, with guidance and assistance from Pharos, its co-investors and related people 

Schedule of work

Weeks 1 and 2 

Discovery phase: Review of existing materials including market research, regulatory review, stakeholder interviews (local partners, potential clients, regulators if accessible), competitor benchmarking. Ascertaining key data gaps, filling them and drawing initial conclusions

Weeks 3 and 4 

Product Design: Creation and testing of initial stawmen, including unit economics and lending mechanics

Weeks 5 and 6 

Business plan development: financial modelling

Weeks 7 and 8

Step plan and roadmap: Sequenced 12-month implementation plan with milestones and   resource requirements

Weeks 9 and 10

Organisational and operational design: Org structure, role definitions, systems/technology requirements (payroll software, loan management systems)

Weeks 11 and 12

Collation of key deliverables 

Experience required

An interest in business and familiarity with at least one of the initial target markets, namely Uganda or Tanzania. You will receive on-the-job coaching and be expected to interface with those team members who may be available to assist further or who have already conducted initial work. 

The critical skill will be to consolidate information and draw conclusions from it – ie always answering the question ‘so what?’

Compensation

To be agreed

Applications

Apply by emailing: admin@pharosholdco.com