General Counsel - Readvertised

Position: General Counsel – Village Enterprise

Location: Remote/Flexible (Global), with periodic international travel required (approximately 15–20%)

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer, with regular interaction and reporting to the Board of Directors and its Audit/Governance Committee

Department: Legal (Newly Established)

Direct Reports: None initially; expected to grow as the legal function is built out

Position Type: Full-time, Executive Leadership

Compensation: USD 188K, commensurate with experience, plus benefits

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Organization Overview:

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship and innovation. Village Enterprise targets the poor, provides business training, seed capital/startup funds and on-going mentoring to over 10,000 new entrepreneurs to start 3,000 enterprises each year. Since its inception in 1987, Village Enterprise has started over 40,000 micro-enterprises.

Summary of the Role

Village Enterprise seeks an experienced, strategic, and mission-General Counsel to establish and lead the organization' first formal Legal Department. As the department's founding member, the General Counsel will operate as a hands-on practitioner as much as a strategist - personally handling day-to-day legal work in addition to setting the long-term legal strategy, at least until the function grows to support additional staff. Village Enterprise expects to build a small legal team over time as the organization's needs grow. This executive-level role will serve as Village Enterprise's lead legal advisor, responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive legal framework that supports Village Enterprise's global operations across Africa and the United States.

As Village Enterprise's lead legal advisor, the General Counsel will advise on and support Village Enterprise's efforts to maintain the highest standards of legal and regulatory compliance operating internationally. The role requires strategic oversight of legal matters across multiple jurisdictions while engaging local counsel and other outside counsel as needed to support the full range of legal needs of a dynamic, growing international organization.

The General Counsel will oversee all legal affairs, advise on compliance with international donor requirements, manage organizational risk, and provide counsel to the CEO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership. This is a unique opportunity to build and shape a modern legal function from the ground up within a rapidly growing, high-impact international nonprofit dedicated to ending extreme poverty through entrepreneurship.