London,
Oikocredit UK and Ireland
Summary
Oikocredit UK's administrator reports directly to the National Director UK and Ireland and plays a key role in the administration and management of our clients, contacts and office. As the administrator, you will support the National Director and be responsible for the administration of our UK investors, business partners and office as the first point of contact. Specifically, you will deal with the administration of new/existing investee partners (e.g. Divine Chocolate/Cafedirect) who help us to fulfil our social finance mission in low-income countries; new/existing capital-raising partners (e.g. Ethex); new/existing investors (various organisations and individuals); and general office & managerial activities. You will be responsible for maintaining, reporting and reconciling accurate, secure and compliant administration and customer databases; managing our small office; and assisting in campaigns, communications and events where possible. Reporting directly to the National Director UK, you will also be a part of our global teams based at our international office in the Netherlands.
You don't need to have a background in finance, but Oikocredit is looking for someone with a strong interest in working with an entrepreneurial, purpose-led, commercially-minded Third Sector organisation. You will have at least 10 years in client focused, office or managerial roles; with a solid education (3 x A-level equivalent as a minimum, degree preferred). You will have excellent written, verbal and numeracy skills; and good, self-learned IT experience. An affinity with PR, business development and marketing activities is a plus. The role requires a balance between ad hoc duties and routine activities and the ability to work unsupervised, taking your own initiative most of the time.
Remit of the Role
The post will contribute to the UK's business objectives by providing a high quality of relationship and office administration in three core areas:
Relationship and Business Development Administration
-Of prospect partner organisations in whom we may invest to deliver our social finance aims (e.g. Divine Chocolate, Cafedirect); or with whom we may partner to find such potential investee organisations (e.g. ClearlySo).
-Of new and existing individual and organisational investors and/or corresponding capital-raising partners (e.g. Ethex, ClearlySo, Ethical Financial Advisors, Barchester Green, Social Stock Exchange, Castlefield/GAEIA, Griersons Dickinson, Charity Bank):
Handling enquiries about investing in Oikocredit UK.
Administration of investors' accounts for the UK and Ireland - liaising with Oikocredit International where appropriate.
Maintaining, reporting and reconciling accurate, secure and compliant records on Oikocredit's "Titan" investment system.
Transacting compliant investments including use of external software for investor checks.
Communicating efficiently and authoritatively with investors, or third party intermediaries who help us to raise capital.
Marketing and Communications
Designing and developing a UK business development database to capture prospect organisations in whom we may invest (e.g. Cafedirect, DivineChocolate)
Maintaining, reporting and reconciling accurate and secure investor databases (currently MS Access and Social CMS) for inquiries and incoming investments from organisations/individuals.
Developing/arranging mailings of newsletters, corporate information and publicity, as requested.
Managing marketing and other materials for conferences.
Other (e.g. web content) if desired/as appropriate
General office management
General office administration including finances, services, contracts and equipment.
Handling telephone calls and emails by answering or directing enquiries.
Writing and updating office procedures.
Office bookkeeping, including managing monthly office and staff expenses.
Managing leaflet and publicity stocks, reprints, etc.
Arranging meetings, memberships, event subscriptions where necessary.
Other duties as requested/assigned by both parties
5. Education and experience
Minimum education: A-levels. University degree preferred.
10+ years of experience in client based roles, excellent administrative/management skills.
Experience of working in a results-focused environment.
Experience of balancing reactive work with routine elements.
An interest in working in the Third Sector: specifically helping people in low income countries via commerce rather than charity.
Computer literacy (Word, Excel, Access, Social CMS and web based applications).
Ability to learn new database skills and to fix everyday office IT problems when no support is readily available.
An affiliation with marketing/PR/web/media would be an advantage
Additional remarks
Must resonate with our "triple bottom line mission" - namely, investing for people-profit-planet
Must be capable and willing to work without daily supervision and have no problem working alone from time to time. Also happy to make this role their own; bringing new ideas and approaches to the equation.
About Oikocredit International
Celebrating its 40 th anniversary this year, Oikocredit is one of the world's largest and oldest sources of private funding in the social investment sector - a sector which, although still niche in the UK, has seen unprecedented growth and innovation over the past three years both in the UK and on the global arena. Specifically, Oikocredit provides wide-ranging financial and technical support for improving the livelihoods of people and communities in developing countries, so that people can create their own path out of poverty by starting their own ventures with loans and equity. We lend to over 800 social enterprise partner organisations in over 60 countries for this purpose.
Our mission is to reach financially-excluded people; and support them in building their own businesses; sustaining their families & communities, and helping to protect the planet. In 2014, 37 million financially excluded people were reached via Oikocredit's fair trade, social enterprise, microfinance, agricultural and renewable energy partners. Our UK partners currently include leading Fairtrade brands Divine Chocolate, Cafédirect, People Tree and Twin Trading, with hopes for many more UK partnerships in the future. See
About Oikocredit UK and Ireland
Oikocredit UK was established in and is still relatively young compared with other capital-raising/deal-flow driving countries around the Oikocredit network. Our dual business objective is to drive 'inflow' investment capital into our single investment product (the International Share Foundation) and to stimulate 'outflow' deals - namely, seeking partners in whom we can invest (equity, primarily) in order to fulfil our social mission in low-income countries.
Our investor target market consists of individuals and organisations (e.g. Trusts, Foundations, Charities) with a social conscience and/or corporate social responsibility agenda and who are looking to invest between £1,000 and £1,000,000 to help tackle society's challenges - and to make a financial return.
Our investee target market consists of growth companies (or intermediaries who can match-make us) - primarily (Micro)Finance Institutions and agricultural businesses in Africa, LatAm and Asia whose mission is likewise to alleviate the conditions of poverty and financial exclusion in low-income countries:
This social investment business model sits between charity and traditional for-profit organisations, since we seek to drive triple returns (returns on people, profit and planet simultaneously).
Although part of a large, 40-year old international organisation, Oikocredit UK is a small, but growing business (c. 10% year on year between 2016-2020). The challenge for Oikocredit UK is to raise brand awareness, investment income and potential investee partner deals on a small budget and team; in a rapidly growing, dynamic market. And to become a thought leader in the UK social investing space. This is therefore an opportunity for a seasoned person to apply a wide range of skills beside administration, thereby helping us become a part of the growth we're looking for.
For more information about Oikocredit UK, please visit