Application deadline: February 11th, 2024

Introduction
Rootical business builder enables purpose-driven entrepreneurs in Uganda to build and own their regenerative agri-food companies. Bringing together talent, capital and ideas — a startup studio is a structured endeavor around a repeatable process to build businesses. In 2023, Rootical guided 40 Ugandan talents through an intensive 10-days food system leadership course, and 23 Founders-in-residence in a 3-months systemic venture building programme.
We are now on course to co-found about 6 businesses and further support them to become commercially viable and purpose-driven enterprises, designed to accelerate the transition to a fair and regenerative food system. More info on this website.

Who are we?
Rootical is a collaboration between Shona and Fresh Ventures Studio. Since 2013, Shona has been providing business advisory and business training to help SMEs grow revenues and become profitable businesses. We teamed up with Shona because of our shared urgency to build businesses that matter. They are the expert partner for developing good businesses in Uganda. Fresh Ventures Studio builds new companies that accelerate a circular and regenerative food system in Europe. Fresh launched in 2021 to work alongside founders to address the world’s most pressing problems through scalable agri-food ventures. While they are two cohorts ahead of us, we joined forces with Fresh to build on their experience and implement a similar model in Uganda.

We are frontrunners. We aim to regenerate and reinvent how food is produced and consumed in Uganda, with highly innovative thinking and breakthrough business building methods. With our participatory studio approach to regenerative business development, we are unique in East Africa.
Are you ready to join our mission to equip talented entrepreneurs with the tools, skills, networks and capital to build food system shaking businesses?

Job description
As a communications intern, you will play a vital role in supporting the Rootical team communications and marketing efforts. The intern will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in crafting compelling content, developing social media posts, and contributing to the overall communication efforts of the organisation. This hands-on internship provides an excellent opportunity for a budding communications professional to gain practical experience in a fast paced startup environment. You will work closely with the startup studio officer to execute various tasks and projects aimed at enhancing our brand visibility and engaging our target audience.

Key Responsibilities
1. Content Creation:
o Assist in creating engaging content for various platforms, including social media, website, and newsletters.
o Work with colleagues in the Rootical team to support development of infographics, data visualizations, videos and other multimedia comms outputs.
o Conduct research and interviews to gather information for content development.
2. Social Media Management:
o Assist in managing and updating social media accounts.
o Monitor social media trends and propose strategies to increase engagement.
o Monitor and engage with our online community, responding to comments and messages in a timely manner.
o Collaborate with team members to plan and execute social media campaigns to promote key initiatives and events.
3. Media Relations
o Assist in development and distribution of press releases, media advisories, media pitches and other communications materials.
o Build and maintain relationships with media outlets and respond to media inquiries.
4. Event Support
o Assist in planning and executing events, including logistics, communication materials, and outreach.
o Support the organization of events, webinars, and other communication activities.
o Capture and document events through various communication channels.
5. Monitoring and Reporting
o Monitor media coverage and compile reports.
o Analyze communication metrics to assess the effectiveness of communication strategies.

Qualifications
• Recent graduate with a Bachelor’s in communications, English, marketing, journalism or any other relevant degree.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience with social media platforms such as Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
• Familiarity with trends and digital communication tools.
• Creative mindset with an eye for design is a plus.
• Experience with website content management systems a plus
• Experience with graphics and design software a plus
• Basic knowledge of public relations and media relations.
• Excellent organizational and multitasking abilities.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and /or Google Workspace.
• Demonstrable experience and a tangible interest in communications is a must.

Superpowers that we are looking for
Experience and/or demonstrable skills in writing clear, compelling, and grammatically correct and accessible content about purpose-driven entrepreneurship and regenerative food and agriculture.

Additional Specifications
In every new team member, we look for a strong alignment on values and shared vision.
• You are able to demonstrate how you embody Rootical’s values and share the vision of how our future food systems should look like.
• You are always thinking of creative solutions to challenges.
• You are able to tackle projects without much guidance.
• You don’t fear trying something new and experimenting.
• You are not easily overwhelmed.
• You believe in the power of entrepreneurship to solve some of the greatest challenges that we face and will jump for an opportunity to play a small part in a grand journey as we seek to make our food systems fairer and more regenerative.

This is a 3-6 month internship with an ideal start date of March 4th, 2024.
This internship will be based at the Rootical office at SHONA, Canon Road, Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda with flexibility to work from home on some days.
This internship offers a stipend reimbursement per month based on full-time working hours (40 hours per week).
Thank you for your interest in becoming part of the Rootical team! We look forward to reading your application.

Step 1: Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Rootical Comms Intern”. Please attach the following 3 documents to the email:
1. Your CV with a LinkedIn profile and twitter (X) handle.
2. A document with answers to these questions.
1. Why are you interested in this specific position? What makes you a great fit for this role? (max. 300 words)
2. Why Rootical? Why do you want to support us as a regenerative agri-food start-up studio to communicate better? (max. 300 words)
3. The LinkedIn post attached here was shared after the Rootical pitching day event. How would you improve and create a better post for the Rootical audience?
3. A document listing two references that know you well and can give insight into your ability to do this job. Please include their name, phone number, email, and your relation to them.

If you are selected for the following round(s), you might expect:
Step 2: To have a phone interview with our team
Step 3: Complete a job-specific challenge (which we will explain at that time)
Step 4: Have a final in-person interview with the Rootical Team

We want to encourage women to apply. If you need more context or have any questions before applying, please contact us at [email protected] to schedule a call.

Date of publication: January 24th, 2024.

We accept applications on a rolling basis. Our goal is to have you start as soon as possible. We will no longer receive applications after February 11th. All candidates can expect a short answer regarding the state of their application in the weeks thereafter – we will not ghost on you.

You are encouraged to link to any relevant blogs, projects or other pieces of work that demonstrate your suitability for the internship.

Who will I be working with?

At Rootical we are a small team. So, you will be working closely with the Rootical director and 2 other colleagues. Moreover, Rootical is hosted at the office of our leading implementation partner, SHONA. You might be in contact with some of the SHONA management and colleagues too.