When you join Bridge International Academies, you become part of an exciting, innovative, fast-scaling global start-up. More than that, you become part of a movement to reform global education in ways that dramatically improve the lives of millions of children from the world’s poorest communities.
Bridge International Academies is an education company founded in 2008 on a simple belief: high-quality education is priceless, but it shouldn’t cost a fortune. Bridge is the world’s largest chain of primary and pre-primary schools, operating nearly 500 academies in under-resourced communities across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, and India. Bridge is now the largest education organisation in Africa and one of the fastest growing social enterprises in the world. Our scalable, data-driven, technology-enabled approach to education allows us to provide 100,000+ children living below the international poverty line with access to affordable, high-quality education and the opportunities they need to reach their dreams. Through our innovative, effective methods, Bridge serves as a model for what all schools should (and can) be—powerful places of learning that inspire trust and pride by delivering real results.
The Bridge team is great people, made greater together, working towards the greatest goals. From our teachers and Academy Managers to the software developers in charge of building our tech platform, Bridge aims to recruit, hire, and retain the most talented people who share our vision, philosophy, and mission of democratizing education making a lasting difference in the lives of children, families, and communities by providing access to high-quality education and the opportunities the need to succeed.
Manager, Public Relations
- Job TypeFull Time
- QualificationBA/BSc/HND
- LocationLagos
- Job FieldMedia / Advertising / Branding
About the Role
Bridge has done what many people thought was impossible. We have given all families access to the high-quality education that will allow their children to have a better life. As a rapidly expanding organisation, we have focused first on our operations and our communities. But we have come to realise that we need help! In order to help children learn their way into a better life, equalize the playing field, and change their communities, we need governments, individuals and organisations to help us in our mission. To maximise our impact and achieve our strategic aims we must communicate efficiently and effectively with our stakeholders and audiences
Bridge has done what many people thought was impossible. We have given all families access to the high-quality education that will allow their children to have a better life. As a rapidly expanding organisation, we have focused first on our operations and our communities. But we have come to realise that we need help! In order to help children learn their way into a better life, equalize the playing field, and change their communities, we need governments, individuals and organisations to help us in our mission. To maximise our impact and achieve our strategic aims we must communicate efficiently and effectively with our stakeholders and audiences
We are looking for someone to drive support and advocacy for Bridge through external communications. The role will include telling the Bridge story across all channels, creating content, and strengthening and overseeing communications with journalists, stakeholders and opinion leaders.
Our ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of all mass communications channels and the ability to design content that optimises news and social media. They will be an extremely effective written communicator, a strategic planner, creative, and able to plug into an international Communications team. A keen sense of ownership, speedy execution, and scrappiness is a must.
The PR team is the hub for all press and media work that comes in to the organisation or goes out from it. It works proactively to generate positive media coverage for all activities and campaigns. It delivers media plans and develops opportunities both proactively and reactively to service a huge array of media/journalists that make contact for comment, information and sign-posting on day to day events and upcoming issues. The team is responsible for developing a comprehensive media approach including statements and press releases to feature/audio visual material and campaign packs. It also continually monitors and evaluates all media coverage gained.
The PR Manager reports into the VP Communications who is based in London. The PR Manager will be the only dedicated PR person in Nigeria, so we are looking for someone who can thrive and be self-motivated despite having a remote team.
We strive for top performance and excellence in all that we do. We are committed to building positive staff and stakeholder engagement, a high public profile, strong reputation and a world-class brand.
What You Will Do
- Lead an effective and efficient press office, at national level, in a fast-paced environment;
- Audit Bridge’s current communications in Nigeria and develop a plan for optimisation and improvements;
- Develop proactive external focused multi-disciplinary media campaigns and stories;
- Crisis communications management;
- Communications project management;
- Offer advice on the best media approach to colleagues within the organisation;
- Map and prioritise external contacts within the media, and external stakeholders.
- Prepare and place media spokespeople into broadcast and print news media
- Plan and lead political engagements in Nigeria
- Plan and lead on Bridge engagement with conferences and events in the Nigeria
- Contribute to internal communication content and stakeholder news content
- Develop a content calendar for all Nigeria channels
- Build partnerships with other education or social enterprises/non-profits, and education innovators
- Conduct influencer mapping audit and design a strategy for engagement
- Lead all external communications for the Nigerian operations
- Pro-actively engage with Communications leaders and colleagues around the world to ensure all work is completely aligned with the global strategy and global campaigns
- Actively participate in regular department and team meetings, contributing to strategy and tactical discussions which will be beneficial to the brand reputation;
- Maintain an awareness of own and others’ Health and Safety and comply with the Health and Safety policy and procedures;
- Take personal responsibility for keeping up to date with Bridge work globally.
What You Should Have
- Substantial experience of success in a fast-paced national press office or equivalent in the corporate, charitable or political sector;
- International experience working for political, campaigning, non-profit, and other social enterprise type campaigns that concern an idea or movement rather than a product;
- Experience of developing and delivering comprehensive media strategies and complex media campaigns across a range of platforms for a range of audiences;
- Experience of successfully developing and managing effective working relationships with internal and external senior stakeholders including senior journalists and broadcasters and editors;
- Highly developed and proven creative skills to lead a significant communications team with flair, innovation and new ideas;
- Able to present in person, as a company spokesperson, to large audiences in a highly engaging way;
- Highly developed verbal, written, and oral skills to promote and represent the company;
- Experience of offering media advice and guidance to colleagues at a senior level;
- Broad grasp of Nigerian media and political context and full understanding of all media disciplines and external media environment and experience in crisis communications
- Excellent project management and organisational skills in a communications context;
- Experience of successfully managing budgets.
- A bachelors degree (or equivalent) with superior academic performance;
- Extensive experience of PR and Communications within a campaigning organisation;
- Detailed knowledge of the role of social media channels in PR and how to best utilise each channel for Bridge’s benefit;
- A clear understanding of how to grow the distribution/popularity of channels based upon audience segmentation;
- Experience of digital content editing;
- Experience of film editing and direction;
- Appreciation of PR and Communications in emerging markets or underdeveloped countries;
- Ability to work independently and across country teams;
- Experience of engaging in public media debates with policy makers
You’re Also
• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind – You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates. You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in volatile, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging just $6 a month per pupil. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. Every dollar you spend is a dollar our customers, who live on less than $2 a day, will have to pay for.
• A customer advocate – Our customers – these families living on less than $2 a day per person – never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their customer benefit, experience, and value.
• A life-long learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind – You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates. You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in volatile, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging just $6 a month per pupil. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. Every dollar you spend is a dollar our customers, who live on less than $2 a day, will have to pay for.
• A customer advocate – Our customers – these families living on less than $2 a day per person – never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their customer benefit, experience, and value.
• A life-long learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
Method of Application
Interested and qualified? Go to Bridge International Academies career website on www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com to apply
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