Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship

ABOUT ALU

ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors. They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now. Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University team is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment, we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place, which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Centres for a Reimagined Africa (CRA) is ALU’s engine for Africa-centric innovation. These are our Centres of Excellence (COE). Unlike some academic models in Africa that replicate global-north practices, the CRA mandate is to approach every domain with an innovation mindset that rejects unthoughtful replication in favor of "reimagining." We develop intellectual property and educational frameworks designed specifically for the African context, ensuring our graduates are not just globally competent, but locally transformative leaders who can confront prior orthodoxies and establish new approaches that work.

To achieve our vision, we are evolving into a matrixed organization that differentiates Market Execution (Business Units) from this Innovation Engine (CRA). By centralizing our reimagined intellectual capital, we empower our BUs to focus on student acquisition and delivery excellence, while the CRAs ensures that our core academic product is world-class, rigorous, and uniquely fit-for-purpose for Africa’s future. The CRAs themselves will drive reputational impact by delivering a range of programs themselves, particularly professional development and custom programs for corporate and non-profit customers.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship (C4E) is the specialized vehicle tasked with challenging existing business orthodoxies and developing the "Reimagined" frameworks required to navigate Africa’s unique market constraints. It operates a system comprising:

• Domain Authority & Research: Developing "What Works" intellectual property for the African context.
• The Venture Studio: A high-octane building engine that moves beyond education to systematically ideate, de-risk, and launch high-growth enterprises.
• Capital Mobilization: Bridging the gap between student innovators and global venture capital.

The Director is an ambitious and visionary leader responsible for both strategic IP creation and the establishment and operational excellence of ALU’s Venture Studio. This role requires an "Institutional Entrepreneur" who can bridge the gap between ALU’s existing entrepreneurial initiatives and the future-state CRA model.

A key priority for this role is leading and evolving an existing team. The person filling this role will inherit a small, dedicated team that has been successfully delivering entrepreneurship support. Your mission is to integrate this team into the new CRA structure, raising the bar for academic rigor and venture "investability," while leveraging the institutional knowledge they have already built.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Team Leadership & Cultural Pivot
  • Integrate & Upskill: Lead the existing entrepreneurship team through the transition to the CRA model, providing the mentorship and clarity required to shift from the current set of initiative and venture support level  to "high-stakes venture building."
  • Standard Setting: Define new benchmarks for performance, rigor, and output that align with the "Reimagined Africa" mandate.
  • Talent Orchestration: Assess existing capabilities and align them with the new Studio functions (e.g., transitioning current staff into Venture Associate or Market Research roles).
• Venture Architecture & Studio Lead
  • Act as the primary "Venture Architect" for the Studio’s inaugural cohort, personally overseeing the validation and MVP lifecycle.
  • Set direction and oversee the development of the Venture Studio Playbook, ensuring the existing team adopts standardized, repeatable processes for venture creation.
  • Chair the internal Investment Committee to make "Kill/Pivot/Scale" decisions based on rigorous market data.
• Strategic IP & Domain Authority
  • Establish the Centre’s research agenda, focusing on "What Works" in African entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education to establish global thought leadership.
  • Develop core frameworks that differentiate ALU’s "Mission-based" entrepreneurship from traditional global-north models.
• Ecosystem & Capital Mobilization
  • Position C4E as a globally recognized African venture-building platform through strategic partnerships, ecosystem participation, thought leadership, and investor engagement.
  • Build a high-level "Investor Syndicate" to provide seed and growth capital for Studio graduates.
  • Position the Centre for commercial sustainability through strategic partnerships and executive education.
  • Leverage the Centre as a target for fundraising, with an aim to develop a sufficient fund for equity investments in ventures that develop through the centre.

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Leadership of Transition: 12+ years of experience, including proven success in leading teams through organizational change. The person to fill this role must know how to honor past work while driving a team toward a more ambitious future.
• The "Player-Coach" Pedigree: The person in the role must have personally built ventures (Founder/GP) AND managed diverse teams within an institutional or corporate setting.
• System Design: Ability to turn "good habits" into "rigorous systems." Experience building or refining an accelerator, incubator, or innovation hub.
• High-Stakes Communication: Ability to inspire an internal team while simultaneously pitching to global VCs and DFIs.
• Fundraising: Demonstrated track record securing institutional, philanthropic, venture, or innovation capital and building relationships across investor, VC, DFI, accelerator, and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
• Commercialisation: Experience commercialising entrepreneurship, innovation, or venture-building programs through strategic partnerships, ecosystem offerings, executive education, or external venture support models.