Head of Self-Employment

Join Harambee as our Head of Self-Employment! Are you passionate about creating sustainable pathways to income and opportunity for young people? Do you thrive in complex environments, bringing people together around a shared vision and turning ambitious ideas into practical action? If so, Harambee could be the place for you. We're not your typical organisation. At Harambee, we're dedicated to solving youth unemployment through innovative partnerships, systems change, and collective action. Our work is fast-paced, collaborative, and grounded in a deep belief that every young person deserves access to meaningful economic opportunity. The Head of Self-Employment will play a critical leadership role in shaping Harambee's contribution to one of South Africa's most important opportunity areas – self-employment. The Role The Head of Self-Employment leads Harambee's self-employment strategy and delivery, driving the organisation's contribution to creating sustainable self-employment pathways for young people. This role is responsible for defining Harambee's position within the self-employment ecosystem, aligning internal teams around a shared strategy, and ensuring the successful delivery of organisational self-employment targets. The role also contributes to broader systems change efforts by supporting the implementation of the national self-employment strategy being developed in partnership with the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) and the Centre for Exponential Change. Your Key Responsibilities - Lead the development and execution of Harambee's self-employment strategy - Define priority opportunities, delivery targets, and partnership approaches across the ecosystem - Drive delivery of organisational self-employment outcomes through interventions, pilots, and implementation initiatives - Provide strategic oversight of supply-side strategies that strengthen pathways into self-employment for young people - Build and manage relationships with government, funders, implementation partners, and ecosystem stakeholders - Lead Harambee's contribution to ecosystem-wide collaboration and collective impact initiatives - Drive innovation, learning, and continuous improvement within the self-employment portfolio - Support the transition from national self-employment blueprint design into implementation - Coordinate action across working groups, partners, and ecosystem stakeholders - Communicate progress, lessons, opportunities, and priorities across strategic forums and stakeholder platforms. How You'll Work - Translate strategic ambition into practical delivery and measurable impact - Build alignment across executive, strategic, and operational teams - Bring together diverse stakeholders around shared goals and implementation plans - Mobilise resources and facilitate collective problem-solving across the ecosystem - Develop and sustain strategic partnerships that strengthen self-employment pathways - Influence without direct authority and enable collaboration across multiple sectors - Balance long-term systems change goals with immediate delivery priorities - Foster learning, accountability, and shared ownership among partners - Use evidence, insight, and stakeholder engagement to guide decision-making - Keep young people and their lived experiences at the centre of the work What We're Looking For We're looking for an experienced leader who combines strategic thinking with strong execution capability. Someone who is passionate about expanding economic opportunity, comfortable navigating complexity, and motivated by creating large-scale impact through partnerships and systems change. Must Haves - Bachelor's degree required (postgraduate qualification advantageous) - Qualification in Economics, Development Studies, Political Science, Public Policy, Law, Entrepreneurship, or a related field - Minimum 10 years of relevant experience - Significant experience in senior leadership, strategy development, and team management - Demonstrat…