Live Show Research and Scheduling Support
Support episode research for the Building Africa live show.
Overview
Support episode research for the Building Africa live show.
You have:
- Strong research skills and ability to synthesise information clearly in written English
- Familiarity with African startup ecosystems, entrepreneurship, or development finance
- Experience using LinkedIn, Crunchbase, or similar platforms for professional research
- Ability to meet weekly deadlines and work independently in a remote setting
Contract
This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.
timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation is a pan-African innovation initiative anchored in UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa. Its mission is to support African founders to start, grow, and scale — targeting 100,000 enrolled startups and the mobilisation of USD 1 billion for African innovation. In 2026, timbuktoo launched 1 weekly live broadcast programme, the Building Africa live show and the upcoming Financing Africa and Innovating Africa, hosted by the Foundation's CEO, CIO and CINO respectively. The show runs for 30 minutes each week on LinkedIn Live and Facebook Live, featuring conversations with African startup founders on innovation and ecosystem development. Research is essential to ensuring each episode is substantive, relevant, and well-matched to the show's audience of founders, investors, and policymakers across Africa and the diaspora.
We are looking for three online volunteers to support episode research for the Building Africa live show already launched, and additional volunteers would support the Financing Africa Show and the Innovation Africa Show's once launched. For each of up to 12 weekly episodes, the online volunteers will carry out background research on the assigned episode theme and compile a structured research brief, communicate with and schedule guests for the show and carry out post-show communication (thank you emails to the guests, and a share of the created outputs such as the posted live sessions and short clips - these are produced by a separate team member.
Each brief will include:
A list of 3–5 potential guest candidates relevant to the episode theme, drawn from the African startup and innovation ecosystem. Where a draft 12-week schedule is present, the role will communicate with, confirm and schedule the guest candidates for the upcoming shows.
A short background summary (150–200 words) on each candidate, covering their organisation, work, and relevance to the episode theme
2–3 suggested conversation angles per candidate The output of this assignment per volunteer is 12 completed episode research briefs - one per episode, submitted to timbuktoo at least 7 days before each scheduled broadcast, upto 36 guests contacted - 3 per show, confirmed and scheduled for the show episodes, upto 12 pre-session briefing calls held with confirmed guests.
Strong research skills and ability to synthesise information clearly in written English
Familiarity with African startup ecosystems, entrepreneurship, or development finance
Experience using LinkedIn, Crunchbase, or similar platforms for professional research
Ability to meet weekly deadlines and work independently in a remote setting
Potential interview questions
| Can you describe a time when you conducted research for a project? | This question assesses your research skills and ability to synthesize information. | Provide a concise example highlighting your research methods and the impact of your work. |
| How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects? | The interviewer wants to understand your organizational skills and ability to manage time effectively. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What experience do you have with the African startup ecosystem? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Describe a situation where you had to communicate with stakeholders to arrange an event or meeting. | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What strategies do you use to analyze and summarize large amounts of information? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Can you give an example of a successful use of LinkedIn or similar platforms for research? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| How do you ensure that your research remains relevant to the target audience? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What motivates you to work in a remote environment? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
Added 3 days ago
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Updated 2 hours ago
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Source:
unv.org
