Head of Platform & Community

Location: Lagos, Nigeria (Hybrid)

Reporting To: Head of Strategy

Employment Type: Full-time

About SME100Africa

SME100Africa is a leading social enterprise committed to empowering young entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses across the continent. We provide access to resources, training, mentorship, and funding while building a vibrant and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Since 2015, we’ve supported over 40,000 entrepreneurs through dynamic programming, accelerators, pitch competitions, and capacity-building initiatives. We are now entering an exciting phase of growth, with a renewed focus on building a world-class platform that supports African founders from ideation to investment-readiness.

We believe that when founders thrive, economies grow, jobs are created, and communities are transformed.

About the Role

We are seeking an entrepreneurial and visionary Head of Platform & Community to lead the design and execution of our founder support ecosystem. You will be responsible for building out SME100Africa’s platform strategy, designing founder programs and incubator curricula, deepening community engagement, expanding our venture partner network, and scaling our operational team.

This role is ideal for someone who lives at the intersection of program design, community building, and ecosystem strategy, with a passion for supporting underestimated founders and driving scalable impact across Africa.

Key Responsibilities

Platform & Program Development

• Design and implement high-impact entrepreneurship programs, including accelerators, incubators, and sector-specific labs.
• Develop and deliver outcomes-driven founder curricula—from ideation to go-to-market to fundraising readiness.
• Establish a portfolio-wide venture support model including founder playbooks, expert mentor access, and toolkits.

Community & Ecosystem Engagement

• Grow and manage a thriving pan-African founder community, curating opportunities for collaboration, learning, and support.
• Lead community initiatives such as pitch events, demo days, roundtables, and digital engagement experiences.
• Build and nurture relationships with founders, mentors, alumni, and key ecosystem stakeholders.
• Forge partnerships with top-tier service providers to offer founders exclusive resources (e.g., legal, tech, brand, IP, cloud credits).

Team Building & Leadership

• Hire, train, and manage a cross-functional team of program managers, community leads, and operations coordinators.
• Create a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning within the team.
• Define team KPIs and implement systems to track and evaluate performance.

Ideal Candidate

Must-Have

• Experience in ecosystem building, startup programs, platform strategy, or venture operations.
• Proven track record of designing and executing incubators or accelerators with measurable outcomes.
• Experience building founder support communities and external expert networks (e.g., venture partners or mentors).
• Strong leadership skills with experience hiring and managing high-performing teams.
• Deep understanding of the African startup landscape and the needs of early-stage entrepreneurs.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a strong ability to build relationships.

Nice-to-Have

• Prior founder or investment experience, or background in supporting founders through capital raising.
• Experience in curriculum design, venture support services, or working within a donor-funded or multi-stakeholder environment.
• Network of mentors, investors, service providers, and ecosystem enablers across Africa and globally.
• Familiarity with tools like Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Airtable, and digital community platforms.

What You’ll Gain

• A leadership role at the heart of one of Africa’s most vibrant entrepreneurship support organisations.
• Opportunity to shape the future of thousands of high-potential African founders.
• A collaborative, mission-driven work environment with autonomy to innovate.
• Access to a powerful ecosystem of changemakers, builders, and backers.