Manager, Africa Accelerator
Praxis · Africa
About Praxis
Praxis began in 2011 with a desire to support and equip Christian entrepreneurs and has grown steadily into a 30+ person, NY-centric team advancing the redemptive imagination and action of founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to address the major issues of our time. As a $15M+/year nonprofit with ambitious growth plans, we're expanding our venture-building work globally, organizing around the major issues of our time, and building media and more to activate the redemptive potential of Christians around the world. We see our team as the first carriers of the mission, building an organization that is great to work at, excellent in its craft, and redemptive in its finances as well as its programs.
Hear more about this role from the Regional Ecosystem Partner, Africa.
The Role
This role reports to the Regional Ecosystem Partner, Africa, at Praxis.
As Manager, Africa Accelerator, you will run the day-to-day of Praxis' accelerators on the continent. This is an operational role. The other members of our team recruit and select the founders, recruit the mentors, and coach the Fellows. You make the program run, owning the calendar, communications, logistics, and systems from the first recruiting push to the outcomes Fellows achieve after the cohort ends.
Each accelerator is a 9-month program built around three week-long in-person gatherings, two on the continent and one in the U.S., with monthly coaching in between. In Africa we run two: a business accelerator led by our Africa Ecosystem Partner, and a nonprofit accelerator led by our Nonprofit Accelerator Venture Partner. You partner with both leads to run each one.
The accelerators are your main work, but they aren't the end goal. They serve Praxis' vision of a dense network of redemptive entrepreneurs across Africa. About 10% of your time goes to supporting that broader regional ecosystem, and we're looking for someone who is happy to flex when the network needs it.
This is a Manager-level role for someone based in Africa who knows its entrepreneurial and faith-based communities, takes full ownership of a program calendar, and cares about the details that make founders and mentors feel well hosted.
Key Areas of Responsibility
Recruitment and Selection (20%)
- Manage recruitment and selection for both cohorts, including the application process, candidate evaluation materials, and interview scheduling, in partnership with the program leads, who make selection decisions
- Draft recruiting outreach and communications with the program leads, and prepare research on candidates ahead of key conversations
- Coordinate the logistics of mentor and venture coach recruitment and onboarding
- Onboard each new cohort into the program and the wider Praxis community
Program Delivery (40%)
- Own the program calendar across the full cycle (e.g., recruitment, selection, onboarding, Kickoff, mentor cycles, and the cohort experience at the Nairobi Regional Gathering), including scheduling, meeting preparation, and follow-up with the program leads
- Draft and send communications to Fellows, mentors, and venture coaches (e.g., pre-event prep emails, schedules, responses to pre-event questions), including communications on behalf of the program leads
- Prepare program materials with the program leads (e.g., event books, schedules, mentor pairings), coordinating with our events team for a clean handoff of on-site logistics
- Provide on-site program support at accelerator events
- Serve as a local point of contact for our events team on vendors and venues in the region
- Run the virtual program between convenings, including monthly cohort calls (scripts, decks, breakouts, recaps), the venture coach cadence, and the pitch coaching cycle
- Track local spend and submit expenses on time
Driving Outcomes (10%)
- Support the program leads to drive outcomes for current Fellows and portfolio alumni, including coordinating introductions and plugging Fellows into the regional and global Praxis network
- Help each outgoing class transition into the alumni community and stay well integrated into the overall Praxis community
- Keep candidate, Fellow, and mentor records current in Airtable, and gather feedback after each program touchpoint to improve the program
- Keep accelerator updates current in Praxis' shared systems so the wider team can see what's happening and how Fellows are progressing
Systems and Playbooks (20%)
- Build and maintain the Africa accelerator playbook so processes, timelines, and templates are documented and easy to hand off
- Document how program leads, venture partners, and venture coaches work together, so Praxis can support venture leaders in new regions the same way
- Capture how the program adapts to local context (e.g., hospitality norms, communication styles, business practices)
Regional Ecosystem Support (10%)
- Support the Regional Ecosystem Partner on broader regional ecosystem priorities beyond the accelerators, such as partner conversations, regional events, and related correspondence
Who You Are
- You're rooted in Africa's entrepreneurial and faith-based communities, and you understand how they work across different countries and cultures.
- You own a calendar. You see the next deadline coming and move on it before anyone has to ask.
- You care about the details that make people feel well hosted: an accurate email, a well-prepared Fellow, a mentor who knows exactly where to be.
- You work as a true partner to program leaders, carrying two programs at once, keeping both sets of priorities in view, and knowing when to ask which comes first.
- When you've done something three times, you write it down so the fourth time is easier for whoever does it next.
- You love making things run. You'd rather build the system that lets a mentor do their best work than be the mentor yourself.
- You reach for AI when you've done something more than once: you build the prompt, template, or automation that makes the next time faster, and you write it down for whoever comes next.
Expected Competencies for the Role
- Bring strong, hands-on fluency with AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT) and use them daily alongside the Praxis set of digital tools, such as Google Suite, Airtable, Notion, Slack, Asana, Typeform, and Dropbox
- 4+ years of professional experience in program management, ideally with accelerator, fellowship, or other cohort programs
- Program Management: Experience running the operations of a cohort, fellowship, accelerator, or similar program from recruitment through outcomes
- Relational Intelligence: Ability to build trust with founders, mentors, and senior leaders across cultures
- Communication Skills: Clear, warm written communication for founders, mentors, and partners
- Partnering with Senior Leaders: Experience working closely with senior leaders on a shared program, including scheduling, correspondence, and meeting preparation
- Remote Collaboration: Comfort working with a team across time zones, with regular overlap with New York (Eastern Time)
- Engage with the Praxis team and community as a student and growing practitioner of redemptive entrepreneurship
Additional Details
Location: Africa-based, in a major entrepreneurial hub (Nairobi, Abuja, Lagos, Accra, Kigali, Johannesburg, or similar)
Travel:
- One U.S. accelerator event within your first year (approx. 3–5 days), to see how Praxis runs its accelerators and bring those practices back to the Africa program
- Potential travel to 1–2 recruitment events per year within the continent to support accelerator recruiting
- Africa Accelerator Kickoff, Kigali (forecast October 2027) for 5 days, and the second accelerator week alongside the Regional Gathering in Nairobi (forecast January 2028) for 5 days
- Two quarterly team meetings a year at NYC HQ (2 days each)
- Annual Summit in Napa Valley, CA for 4 days in May
- All travel expenses covered by Praxis
Reports to: Regional Ecosystem Partner, Africa
- For all Praxis roles, we are open to candidates who are 'outside of range'. That is to say, growth-minded applicants at an earlier stage of career and comp, or candidates with experience above the highest end of the job description and compensation range, are welcome & encouraged to apply.
- Comprehensive benefits including fully paid health insurance for families
- Flexible vacation policy
Cultural Alignment
Praxis finds its theological identity most clearly stated in the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Cape Town Commitment (2010). All Praxis staff and program participants are asked to affirm The Apostles' Creed as a statement of their own beliefs. The ideal candidate will demonstrate alignment with the above, as well as our mission to advance redemptive entrepreneurship.
We're seeking a leader who combines operational excellence with a spirit of humility and service, contributing to our vision of building an organization that embodies redemptive principles in all aspects of its work and culture, which includes shared rhythms such as daily team prayer and a company-wide weekly Sabbath, as detailed in our Rule of Life for Redemptive Entrepreneurs (rule.praxislabs.org).