Innovation Education Manager at Vodafone Global Enterprise

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• Vodacom Innovation is a Vodacom Group function supporting all Vodacom OpCos. To drive the quality of innovative ideas presented, and subsequently developed within the Innovation Framework, a need has been identified to develop and implement a full Innovation training, coaching and mentoring programme that will enable all stakeholders, including staff, contractors, idea originators, innovation champions, and relevant business units to understand the need for innovation, and learn and apply the relevant models, methods, techniques, and tools to deliver innovation value to the organisation. In totality, this concept is known as the “Innovation Academy”.
• To develop and deliver the Innovation Education programme, the following functions will be implemented.
• Learner – develop the models, content, and delivery channels for an introductory set of training modules on Innovation, aimed at stakeholders who want to familiarise themselves with the relevant concepts.
• Practitioner – develop the models, content, and delivery channels for a practical, how-to, set of training modules on taking an innovative idea from ideation through to the end of the incubation process. This module is aimed at stakeholders who want to practically apply the innovation methods and models, learned in the Learner level, to an actual project, via a lecturing and coaching methodology.
• Expert – develop the models, content, and delivery channels for a practical, hands-on, set of training modules on taking an innovative idea from ideation through to the end of incubation and/or acceleration. To ensure faster time to market of new, innovative ideas, there is a key requirement in the Group Innovation function to support Vodacom Business Units with idea validation, development, and implementation skills in a practical and pragmatic way. A pool of experts must be developed and led to provide skills to the business units such as defined in the Vodacom Innovation and design thinking frameworks. The Education Manager will develop the pool of experts and lead them in providing these services to the relevant business units. 
• Design, build, deliver and develop the models, content, and delivery channels for an Introductory set of training modules on Innovation to allow learners to:
• Gain an understanding of Innovation in Vodacom
• Gain an understanding into Vodacom Innovation programs, tools and events 
• Design, build, deliver and develop the models, content, and delivery channels for a Practioner set of training modules on Innovation to allow learners to:
• Gain practical understanding into innovation models and methodologies to build the feasibility, viability and desirability of their ideas,
• Practically take those ideas from conception to completion
• Design, build and deliver the expert implementation framework and training modules to enable Vodacom Business units to: 
• Identifying opportunities to design and build and take to market core innovations
• Support business units to design, model, test and launch core innovations operationally, commercially, and financially,
• Develop market Awareness, Acquisition, Activation and Retention strategies and plans
• Assess build, buy, and Partner options to accelerate implementation plans
• Build quality business plans, go-to-market and growth plans for ideas to be implemented, 
• Ensure human-centric focus to idea implementation and user experience designs.
• Develop best practices, processes and innovative procedures to improve the quality of idea implementation
• Develop, train and manage a virtual pool of Implementation Experts to provide the above services to the relevant business units
• Understand Design Thinking principles, the lean start-up methodology, the Agile Project Management framework and other Innovation frameworks and methodologies with an ability to transmit these competencies to the business in a practical and pragmatic way 
• Core Capabilities
• Relevant experience as related to innovation, learning and development and training
• Strategic thinking
• Business planning
• Storytelling and pitching
• Proactive problem solving
• End-to-end problem and solution assessment
• Reengineering and radically simplifying operational models

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designs the operating model for Innovation Education including Learner, Practitioner and Expert to increase idea implementation
• Implement and operationalises the operating model for Innovation Education
• Develop Vision and strategy for the Innovation Education function
• Design the operating model for the Innovation Education function
• Implement and manage the operating model for Innovation Education
• Develop best practices, processes and innovative procedures to improve the quality of idea implementation across the business 
• Manage the trained pool of virtual Implementation experts
• Provide written documentation (incl. reports)

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in commercial or engineering disciplines or equivalent degree is a requirement. MBA or another post-graduate qualification is advantageous. 
• Relevant learning and development (training) experience (preferably Innovation training)
• Demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurial experience
• Experience incubating new businesses and/or establishing new businesses or markets 
• Strong preference for candidates with entrepreneurial/intrapreneurial and consultancy industry experience
• 5 years of Business Management hands-on experience
• Ability to apply a disciplined experimental and design thinking approach to solving problems and modelling businesses using data and current technology tools

Skills

• Training content development and delivery 
• Strong interpersonal and communication
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• End to end problem and solution construction
• Business Management
• In-depth knowledge of business design, Ideation, Incubation, and Acceleration 
• Business Modelling – financial and commercial
• Business Plan development and execution
• Strong knowledge of design thinking methodologies
• Networking
• Ability to influence and get stakeholder buy-in
• Time Management and Organisational 

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies