Postdoctoral Fellow in Business and Entrepreneurship Analytics

Title:  Postdoctoral Fellow in Business and Entrepreneurship Analytics

Location: Kepler College, Kigali

Reports To: DVC for Academic and Research Affairs

Position Type: Full-time (2 years, possibility to transition to full-time faculty, subject to performance and funding

About Kepler College

Kepler College was established in Rwanda to offer affordable, scalable, competency-based higher education programs with the best job prospects for graduates; ensuring graduates have jobs drives everything the College does.

Kepler College's pedagogy centers on learning by doing, with a primary focus on equipping students with 21st-century transferable skills that help them stand out in the labor market. In this program, students gain the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today's global economy.

Vision: To become a leading competency-based higher education institution in Sub-Saharan Africa with outstanding graduate employment outcomes that lead to economic mobility.

Mission: To offer competency-based, accessible, employment-driven tertiary education; conduct applicable research; and provide innovative, scalable community service to support Rwanda's development.

Motto: Educating Africa's youth for tomorrow's opportunities

Core Values: We work with Purpose · We drive Innovation · We embrace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion · We practice Transparency · We seek Balance

At Kepler College, we value diversity as a paramount aspect of growth; therefore, we do not discriminate against applicants based on gender, race, religion, physical abilities, social status, beliefs, culture, and values.

About the Position

Kepler College aims to be a thought leader that organizations and governments turn to for evidence-based insights and proven practices. Through its Entrepreneurship Center, the College trains young people in design thinking and entrepreneurship, and incubates, accelerates and helps scale promising businesses. This work generates valuable data on what it takes for young entrepreneurs and small businesses to start, survive and grow.

The College now seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow in Business and Entrepreneurship Analytics to join its Business and Entrepreneurship Analytics Research Group. The Fellow will analyze Kepler College’s entrepreneurship incubation and scaling practices, and SMEs and other businesses in Rwanda, to provide evidence-based business insights for entrepreneurs, investors, support organizations and government.

The Fellow will be engaged in research on any of five connected areas:

• Entrepreneurship education and mindset: how design thinking and entrepreneurship training shape students’ and alumni’s skills, intentions and venture creation.
• Incubation and acceleration: which selection, mentoring and support practices help early-stage ventures survive, grow and become investment-ready.
• Scaling and access to finance: what helps promising businesses reach more customers, raise capital, increase revenue and create jobs.
• SMEs and business performance in Rwanda: the growth drivers and constraints of small and medium enterprises, including productivity, digital adoption, markets and formalization.
• Youth entrepreneurship and employment: how self-employment and youth-led ventures contribute to jobs, incomes and economic mobility.

The Fellow will work closely with the group lead, faculty, the Entrepreneurship Center team, students and partners in Rwanda’s business ecosystem, and will help mobilize resources to grow the group’s research portfolio. This role directly supports the College’s mission to conduct applicable research.

Objectives

The objectives of the role include:

1. Develop and lead a rigorous research agenda on entrepreneurship, incubation, scaling and SME performance, starting from Kepler College’s own practice.
2. Build and analyze high-quality data on ventures and businesses to generate credible evidence on what works, for whom and why.
3. Publish findings in peer-reviewed (refereed) journals and turn them into practical business insights for entrepreneurs, investors, support organizations and policymakers.
4. Mobilize resources for research by writing competitive proposals and building partnerships across Rwanda’s business ecosystem.
5. Advise and engage students in research, building their analytical, data and writing skills.
6. Feed research findings back into Kepler College’s entrepreneurship programs and into wider policy and practice.

Key Responsibilities

1. Research design and data analysis

• Design and conduct quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies on the five research areas above.
• Build and maintain a venture-tracking dataset for Kepler’s incubation, acceleration and scaling programs (e.g., survival, revenue, jobs, investment raised).
• Analyze secondary data on businesses in Rwanda, such as national establishment censuses, labour force and enterprise surveys, and partner data.
• Evaluate the impact of entrepreneurship and business-support programs, using experimental or quasi-experimental designs where appropriate.
• Apply strong analytics, including econometrics, data visualization and, where useful, machine-learning methods.
• Ensure all research follows high ethical standards, including informed consent, data protection and business confidentiality, and obtain the required ethics approvals.

2. Publication, business insights and dissemination

• Write and publish research articles in peer-reviewed (refereed) journals in entrepreneurship, small business, management, finance and development economics, with a target of at least two journal submissions per year.
• Produce regular evidence-based business insight briefs and reports, and contribute to a flagship publication on the state of youth ventures and SMEs in Rwanda.
• Present findings at conferences, policy dialogues, investor forums and business events in Rwanda, across Africa and internationally.
• Turn data into accessible outputs, such as dashboards, case studies, blog posts, webinars and social media.

3. Proposal writing and resource mobilization

• Identify research funding opportunities from foundations, development partners, research councils, government and the private sector.
• Lead or co-lead the writing of competitive research proposals and grant applications, including research design, work plans, budgets and evaluation plans.
• Build partnerships with universities, research institutes, incubators, investors, financial institutions, business associations and government agencies.
• Contribute to applied research and analytics services for partners that help sustain the group’s work, and manage funded projects with timely reporting.

4. Student advising and engagement

• Advise and mentor students on research projects, capstone projects and other research-based work.
• Engage students, student entrepreneurs and incubated founders as research assistants, data collectors and, where appropriate, co-authors.
• Run short workshops for students and faculty on research methods, business data analysis, data visualization and academic writing.

5. Practice improvement and collaboration

• Work with the Entrepreneurship Center to turn research findings into improvements in training, incubation, acceleration and scaling support.
• Collaborate with the Transformational Education Research Group on entrepreneurship education and transferable skills.
• Support faculty to build their own research, and contribute to a strong research culture through seminars, reading groups and input to research policies.

6. Planning, performance and reporting

• Agree an annual research plan with the Group Lead and the Research and Community Service Director, with clear targets.
• Track key performance indicators, such as studies completed, journal articles submitted and published, insight briefs produced, proposals submitted, funding secured, students engaged, and insights adopted by Kepler College or partners.
• Report progress regularly to the Group Lead and leadership, and adjust plans based on results and feedback.

Qualifications

• A PhD in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Economics or Development Economics, Management, Finance, Business Analytics, Statistics or a closely related field, awarded within the last five years. Candidates who will complete their PhD before the start date may be considered.
• Strong quantitative skills, including econometrics and impact evaluation, using tools such as R, Stata or Python; experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI or Tableau) is an advantage.
• Training in qualitative and mixed-methods research.
• A record of peer-reviewed publications (published or under review) appropriate to career stage.
• Research interest or experience in one or more of the following: entrepreneurship, SMEs, incubation and acceleration, access to finance, private sector development, or youth employment.
• Experience writing research proposals or grant applications; a record of securing research funding is a strong advantage.
• Experience working with businesses, incubators, investors, development partners or government on data and evidence is an advantage.
• Experience advising, mentoring or supervising students in research.
• Knowledge of the business environment in Rwanda or Sub-Saharan Africa is an advantage.
• Commitment to ethical research practice, responsible data management and business confidentiality.
• Excellent academic writing and presentation skills in English, and the ability to turn data into clear insights for non-academic audiences; Kinyarwanda is an advantage.
• Curious, self-driven and collaborative, with the ability to manage several projects and meet deadlines.

What We Offer

• The opportunity to study Kepler College’s entrepreneurship programs and Rwanda’s business ecosystem, with access to rich program and venture data.
• Mentorship from the group lead and senior academic leaders, and support for publishing, conference participation, and proposal writing.
• A collaborative environment where research shapes entrepreneurship programs and informs businesses, investors, and policymakers.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit the following:

1. A cover letter describing their research interests and how they relate to the research areas above.
2. A curriculum vitae (CV), including a list of publications.
3. A research statement (maximum two pages) proposing one study the candidate would carry out on Kepler College’s entrepreneurship programs or on businesses in Rwanda.
4. One writing sample (a published article or manuscript).
5. Names and contact details of three referees.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.