About Pula
We are an insuretech firm that provides agriculture insurance design and execution services, specialising in index based insurance and are backed by top tier VC investors who have invested more than $25 million in the business. Since 2015 we have provided climate insurance to 15.4 million smallholder farmers, 41% of which were women across 19 markets in Africa and Asia who pay an average of $6.8 per season to insure their crops. So far we've unlocked over $2.22 billion of capital from local and international insurance markets for climate risks since we started in 2015 and paid out $40.8 million to our client farmers.
Pula is a fast-paced space, constantly adapting to new opportunities and challenges and we are made up of a high-performance, multi-cultural team. We expect our team to value performance, results and professionalism.
At Pula, our values are:
- Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
- Connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
- Have a Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
- We have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.
According to the UN’s InterGovernmental Panel for Climate Change more than 3.3 billion people globally live in hotspots with high vulnerability to climate change and are now already feeling the impact of climate change through increased temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall.
Insurance is a tool for vulnerable households in these affected regions to adapt to the effects that climate change is already having today on these households. It is a tool that enables for compensation payment for losses and damages that these households had no part in causing. Insurance compensation enables these households to make adjustments to their day to day livelihoods and practices and therefore allows for an equitable and just transition.
At Pula, we are building the systems that enable farmers worldwide to access insurance, using technology to insure this previously uninsured worldwide. We work in over 17 countries across Africa and Asia, and by 2021, have facilitated crop insurance cover to over 6 million farmers, 30% of which are women, across Kenya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. We are a for profit, and have raised over $10 million from leading venture and institutional investors as well as developed philanthropic relationships with private foundations and bilateral donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and German Insure Resilience Solutions Fund that have accelerated investments in our target markets.
Pula is proudly fast paced, constantly learning from the challenges we face and overcome. We are proudly culturally diverse but united in our ambition of continuous high-performance. By challenging ourselves we believe that we can overcome the hard problems we love solving.
At Pula, our culture is defined by our:
1.Obsessed with results: We are responsible for our future and therefore we get things done!
2. Ability to connect the Dots: We continuously identify different customer needs & business problems and build solutions that deliver value.
3. Our Can do Attitude! We dare to do things differently to make things work.
4. Ability to have each others’ back: We look out for each other & we share high quality, timely feedback that makes us better.
What you will be doing
We are seeking a dedicated and detail-oriented Operations Associate to join our team in Ethiopia. The successful candidate will play a crucial role in supporting the operations of Pula in Ethiopia, assisting the local team in various administrative, accounting, and operational tasks.
Who you are:
Your background is only a bonus to what we are looking for. If you have a knack for helping leaders achieve sharp gains in productivity and impact, commitment to our mission and embrace a constantly changing portfolio of projects, then you will excel at this role!
Basic Responsibilities
- Administrative Support: Assist in managing day-to-day administrative tasks for the team, including scheduling meetings, preparing documents, and organizing files. Serve as a point of contact for internal and external inquiries, directing them to the appropriate team members as necessary. Maintain accurate records and databases, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality.
- Accounting Assistance: Support the team in basic accounting tasks such as invoice processing, managing payment to different individuals, expense tracking, and reconciliation. Collaborate with the finance department to ensure timely and accurate financial reporting. Assist financial reporting to necessary tax authorities.
- Travel Desk Operations: Coordinate travel arrangements for the team, including flight bookings, hotel accommodations, and transportation. Manage travel itineraries and ensure all travel-related documentation is in order. Provide support to team members during travel, addressing any issues or concerns that may arise.
- Commercial Operations Support: Assist in the execution of commercial strategies and initiatives in alignment with company goals and objectives. Conduct market research and analysis to support business development efforts. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless execution of commercial activities.
- Field and Insurance Operations Support: Assisting field operations and insurance operations, overseeing and managing the call center team.
- Other Duties: Undertake any other tasks or responsibilities as assigned by the management team to support the overall success of Pula's operations in Ethiopia.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, or a related field.
- Prior experience in administrative support, accounting, or operations roles preferred. Consulting background is a plus.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Understanding of accounting and tax requirements of the country.
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy in work.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
- Effective communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
- Fluency in English and Amharic; additional languages a plus.
- Women are highly encouraged to apply.
What Pula will bring to the table
- Growth potential: With an untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide, on track to doubling the number of farmers insured in 2021 and Pula’s global leadership in Agriculture Insurance, our new staffers have a tremendous upside growth potential.
- Market Leader: Not only is the opportunity massive, but Pula is by far the market leader in it’s category with 11m farmers insured as of 2023.
- Solid: Pula has been funded by leading venture capital investors (Omidyar Network, ACCION, MercyCorps) and global philanthropic institutions (MasterCard Foundation, CGAP/World Bank as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Pula closed a $6m series A funding in December 2020 in the right in the middle of the pandemic a clear testimony of the opportunity that Pula is going after.
- Respected: Winner of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2019, Winner of The InsureTech of the Award, Africa. Featured on TED talks, The New York Times, The Economist.
- Impact and creation: This is a high-impact role, that offers a unique opportunity to bring the company to the next level, whilst developing new strategies, approaches and ideas.
- Leadership: The founders & CEO foster a culture of transparency, respect, high performance, pragmatism, execution and personal development.
- Purpose: It is rare to find a professional opportunity that offers accelerated professional development and a life purpose. Pula is going through a second phase of accelerated growth that will naturally provide professional development, whilst contributing to the financial stability of small farmers in the emerging markets.
- Remuneration: Competitive base salary accordingly with seniority and experience, commission on closed sales and an employee share option plan that offers an attractive equity upside.
To learn more about Pula you can visit
TED Talk: Crop Insurance, an Idea Worth Seeding
New York Times: He Grew up on a Farm. Now, He Helps Protect Them
The Economist: The Poor, Who Most Need Insurance, Are Least Likely to Have It
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.
With your resume send us:
Up to 2 pages of your best written work samples done to date -articles/ op-ed’s/ research work that can be found in the public domain.
Our process:
Stage 1 The Culture Interview: Your complete applications will be reviewed and those shortlisted will be invited for a culture interview to understand if you have Pula DNA
Stage 2 The Technical Interview: Those that pass the culture interview will be invited to complete an assignment that will give you a good sense of what working at Pula is like. This way you will get to know if you like the job, and we get to know you. Those with completed assignments will be invited for a technical interview with the hiring manager.
Stage 3 The Panel Interview: Those that pass the technical interview will be interviewed by a panel of future colleagues who you will be working with at Pula so you can get to know your new colleagues and they can get to know you.
Stage 4 The Reference Check: as described :-)
Stage 5 Offer: If you have gotten this far, you may pat yourself on the back- as you’ll receive an offer!
Pula’s mission is to provide farmer resilience. To achieve this, we put our small holder farmers that use our services and the employees that provide them at the heart of everything we do. For that purpose, Pula was created to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
