Purpose:

To assist Finance Department in various finance functions including fee collection, payments, taxation, record management etc.

Context:

The Aga Khan Academies are an integrated network of residential schools in Africa, South and Central Asia and the Middle East, dedicated to expanding access to education of an international standard of excellence to exceptional young men and women. The Aga Khan Academies’ foundational values include pluralism, meritocracy and civil society. Housed in purpose-built, spacious and attractive campuses with outstanding facilities, the Academies offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Curriculum from Primary Years to the Diploma and provide a rich opportunity for both teachers and students to grow professionally and personally. The first Aga Khan Academy opened in Mombasa, Kenya in 2003, the second in Hyderabad, India in 2011, the third in Maputo, Mozambique in 2013, and the fourth Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2024.

Mozambique:

The 1998 agreement signed between the AKDN and the government of Mozambique aims “…to bring sustained benefits and improve the quality of life for the people of Mozambique.” According to the Mozambique Government and USAID (2023) “…less than half of the population finishes primary school, and of those who do finish, only 8 percent transition to secondary school… Among children who finish primary school, nearly two-thirds leave the system without basic reading, writing, and math skills”.[1]

[1] https://www.usaid.gov/mozambique/education

The Aga Khan Academy Maputo:

Our school is a non-denominational, co-educational day and residential IB World School for primary and secondary students. Located in Matola, Maputo Province, Mozambique, our Academy is dedicated towards its mission of providing educational excellence.

Our Mission is to “Identify and nurture exceptional young people from any background with the potential to become effective and ethical leaders. Admission is based on merit and not on a student’s socio-economic background nor a family’s ability to pay.”

The school is focused on the following five ‘strands’: (i) ethics, (ii) pluralism, (iii) cultures, (iv) governance and civil society, and (v) economics for development, which helps to distinguish us from other IB World Schools. AKA Maputo is currently authorized to offer the IB PYP, MYP and DP. We provide a bilingual education in Portuguese and English for students in our kindergarten and primary school, and students in the senior school are expected to develop two first languages, English plus Portuguese, Arabic, Farsi, or French, and thus aim for a bilingual diploma. Currently around 60% of our students receive some form of financial assistance.

To fulfil our mission and vision we also plan to offer the IBCP to help more local students to enter university or to follow a career path, and where their knowledge, experience and preference for learning and assessment would be catered for better than via the IBDP. We believe that this new program will move us closer to the spirit of the agreement we have with the government of Mozambique.

We also aim to develop and leverage partnerships with key external organization such as we have with ABB (Blackbulls Football Club) to help us to enrich our programmes, develop student leaders, increase enrolment and or to support student learning and wellbeing. Currently we are working on agreements with ISCTEM University, and Neurodiversity South Africa.

We intended to promote the school as a centre for academic and sports excellence to drive enrolment both in Mozambique and the wider region. We will continue to develop our sports facilities to this end with the support of additional partners.

This focus and our third-party agreements will help us to increase paid enrolments including via potential scholarships to be paid by local companies. The post holder will be expected to help to support the strong relationships with such organizations to increase the number of such enrolments.

Main responsibilities:

  • Ensure accurate and timely recording of deposits in student accounts (including cheque, POS and electronic transfers) and issue receipts.
  • Set up the finance counters during designated events (e.g., school fairs, sporting events).
  • Process cash and card transactions efficiently and accurately.
  • Reconcile cash at the end of each event and prepare deposit reports.
  • Maintain communication with event organizers and ensure seamless financial support.
  • Prepare weekly cashflow projection of potential receipts from collections.
  • Prepare bank reconciliations and investigate all unknown receipts/payments in the bank accounts in coordination with the banks and ensure entries are posted.
  • Track and maintain accurate records of all school-owned fixed assets in the fixed asset register.
  • Liaise with user departments on new asset acquisitions and disposals.
  • Ensure all fixed assets are tagged and included in the register and all obsolete/disposed assets are removed.
  • Conduct periodic physical inventory of fixed assets to ensure accuracy of the register.
  • Initiate and process depreciation of fixed assets according to established procedures.
  • Monitor projects under construction and ensure that completed assets are transferred from work-in-progress to the appropriate fixed asset category.
  • Disbursement, management and recording of student stipends.
  • Assist the Accounts Officer with various financial tasks and projects.
  • Prepare financial reports and presentations as required.
  • Ensure adherence to finance policy and procedures to minimize exceptions.
  • Provide information requested by auditors in a timely manner.
  • Identify areas for additional professional training & development.
  • Any additional task that the Line Manager may assign from time to time.
  • Maintain a high level of confidentiality and professionalism in all interaction

Required Attributes:

  • Degree in Accounting or Commerce
  • Minimum of 3 years of experience in an accounting or finance related field
  • Excellent written/oral communication in English and Portuguese
  • Computer skills (mainly Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel)
  • Experience with ERP systems and fixed Asset modules will be an advantage.
  • Ability to work independently with discretion and within tight deadlines.

Join us as we work to provide quality education to over 96,000 students across 11 countries, with the vast majority of our schools located in rural and remote communities where access is limited.

Application Procedure

Please submit a full application package to Recruitment.Maputo@agakhanacademies.org

The application package must include:

  1. CV.
  2. Concise covering letter (no longer than two pages), specifically linking how your qualifications, experiences and attributes will position you to be successful in the role.
  3. List of 3 references.

We are only able to contact shortlisted applicants. In the event that outstanding applicants are identified early in the search process, we reserve the right to close the process before the published deadline. For this reason, it is important that interested candidates apply as soon as possible.