Job Description

Job title: Business Development Officer
Reporting to: Chief of staff
Employment status: Full time
Location: Zimbabwe, Harare. This is a national call limited to Zimbabweans only

About the Africa Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology
The African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, AiBST, is the main beneficiary of this intervention. AiBST is research and tertiary education institute with a mission to discover, develop, and deploy innovative healthcare solutions for Africa. AiBST is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. AiBST was founded in 2002 by Professor Collen Masimirembwa and was registered in 2008 with the Ministry of Higher and tertiary Education, Zimbabwe. AiBST, is a biotechnology company established with the objective to come up with life-saving healthcare solutions for Africa. To deliver on its mandate, it is active in three areas: Education and training, Drug and diagnostics research and innovation, and Product development and service delivery. These activities require highly specialised laboratories and highly skilled manpower. AiBST has therefore established the most advanced laboratories in genomics and therapeutics in Zimbabwe for this purpose.
Job Purpose
The Business Development Officer will play a key role as the lead technical writer for AiBST’ s Development team, developing a strategic development narrative that showcases AiBST unique value
proposition for a wide range of donors, writing concepts and proposals, supporting report development as needed, and more. S/he will also focus on conducting due diligence, building partnerships, monitoring the funding landscape, and supporting AIBST to identify and pursue new opportunities with global health and development donors, with a specific focus on technical partners such as health-focused foundations, bilateral, and multilaterals.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Duties and Responsibilities
• Develop and execute a comprehensive and diversified resource mobilization strategy aligned with the organization’s strategic plan.
• Identify new funding opportunities and design innovative approaches to attract donors and partners.
• Build, manage, and nurture relationships with existing and prospective donors (bilateral, multilateral, corporate, philanthropic).
• Represent the organization in donor meetings, conferences, and high-level networking events.
• Maintain a donor database and ensure timely communication and engagement.
• Lead the coordination, development, and submission of high-quality, competitive funding proposals and concept notes.
• Ensure alignment with donor priorities and compliance with application guidelines.
• Work closely with technical and program teams to integrate fundraising with program design.
• Forge and maintain strategic partnerships with development agencies, private sector, foundations, and other stakeholders.
• Identify collaboration opportunities that enhance the organization’s visibility and access to funding.
• Track and analyse donor trends, funding landscapes, and competitor positioning.
• Monitor fundraising performance against targets and prepare regular reports for senior leadership and board.
• Build and lead a high-performing resource mobilization team.
• Train internal teams on fundraising tools, donor engagement, and proposal development.

Qualifications and Experience

2. Qualifications and Experience
• A least a master’s degree in resource mobilization, Business development, development Economics or any other related field
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in fundraising/resource mobilization
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, deadline-driven proposal development processes involving diverse teams across disciplines and driving consensus among internal and external partners.
• Experience working in research, academia, or scientific/technical institution is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated success in securing institutional, corporate, and/or philanthropic funding
• Impeccable writing skills, and ability to communicate effectively and efficiently, distilling
large amounts of highly technical information down to a compelling narrative that informs
and inspires.
• Demonstrated ability to build new relationships with prospective partners at all levels,
and demonstrated cross-cultural sensitivity and ability to build respectful relationships
with colleagues from different cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds.
• Exceptional project management skills, including ability to adhere to deadlines, and manage many teams on different time zones toward a single goal and deadline.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including flexibility and a sense of humour.
• Understanding and application of best practices in donor-centred fundraising.

3. Evaluation Criteria
The credentials of applicants shall be evaluated by a designated technical evaluation committee. Credentials shall be evaluated against the following criteria.

How to Apply

How to apply
To apply for this position, kindly submit in confidence a resume and a cover letter that details why you are a good fit for this role to [email protected] and copy [email protected] with the subject : Business development officer

The date line for the application is the September 30th ,2025 at 17:00 CAT

The African Capacity Building Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer