Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Kenya is a youth-led movement of daring social innovators who have the tools, knowledge, and networks to create opportunities and transform their own communities. We support youth to become innovators and leaders, and to create and apply digital solutions that have a positive impact in their communities. DOT Kenya works with youth, the private sector, governments, and community-based organizations towards a collaborative vision of communities shaped by daring social innovators, and has been running youth-led programs focused on sustainable economic growth since 2005.
The Impact Makers Advisory Board (IMAB) Member role is a strategic position providing youth-driven perspectives to inform DOT’s wider direction in entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, and MSME financing. This role requires a time commitment of approximately 5 hours per month to IMAB-related meetings and activities.
Key Objectives
- Championing Innovative Financing
- IMAB members will advance non-traditional financing approaches for DOT MSMEs, such as mobile-based lending, village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), rotating savings groups (chamas or tontines), crowdfunding, micro-leasing, and strategic partnerships that improve access to capital.
- They will also drive learning and innovation by producing papers that highlight gaps and opportunities, co-developing a practical Innovative Finance Playbook for DOT-supported MSMEs, and helping to identify suitable financing opportunities for DOT youth-led businesses.
- Serving as a Catalyst for a Community of Practice (COP)
- Fostering collaborative engagement, knowledge-sharing, and the exchange of best practices with DOT and its network of partners by sharing insights, raising awareness of innovative finance, and identifying practical approaches that DOT youth-led MSMEs can use to become investment-ready and access appropriate financing for their growth and sustainability.
- Provide Strategic Advisory Support to DOT
- IMAB will offer youth-driven perspectives that inform DOT’s wider strategic direction in entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, and MSME financing. Members will provide feedback on programme design, highlight barriers affecting young entrepreneurs, surface opportunities for innovation, and help strengthen linkages between DOT and external financing or enterprise support networks.
- Their insights will contribute to DOT’s long-term planning and the refinement of the Going Beyond project.
Key Responsibilities
- Dedicate approximately 5 hours per month to IMAB-related meetings and activities.
- Contribute to DOT’s strategic direction in entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, and MSME financing through practical, youth-driven insights.
- Lead or support activities linked to the three focus areas: innovative financing, the Community of Practice, and strategic advisory inputs.
- Participate actively in knowledge-sharing by producing insights, contributing to learning papers, and supporting the development of the Innovative Finance Playbook.
- Stay up to date on trends in impact finance, digital tools, MSME growth, and youth entrepreneurship, and apply these insights to IMAB workstreams.
- Strengthen engagement within the Community of Practice by encouraging collaboration, sharing lessons, and helping identify practical opportunities for MSMEs across the network.
- Uphold consistent participation by attending scheduled meetings, completing assigned tasks, and contributing reliably to group outputs.
- Build and expand connections between DOT, financing partners, enterprise support organisations, and other relevant networks.
Qualifications
Applicants must possess a BA/BSc/HND qualification.
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