CHAPTER ONE INNOVATION, a Johannesburg based firm is seeking to employ Junior and Senior Analysts. Chapter One Innovation is a 12-year old business model research and development firm. We apply science, creativity and capital towards bringing high-impact, “born-big” ideas to life and supporting others to do the same. We are a multi-disciplinary team that serves as the platform off which industry-leaders, market-winners and world-changers are launched; by this, we mean both the organizational systems that we build and the people that work on them. We support our clients to build, establish and launch new, naturally-accretive organizational systems and the business models that underpin them at scale.

Experience: 3-5 years
Qualification: Graduate Diploma (min)

Critical skills

Soft Skills:

Multi-tasking in high pressure and fast-paced working environment;
Strong communication, presentation and facilitation skills;
Strong project management skills – particularly stakeholder, task and time management;
Collaborative team player with an ability to work alone with little or no supervision;
Manage personal and professional development plans;
Ability to learn new ways of working, tools and frameworks;
Delivering results through individuals and through teams.

Technical Skills:

Conducting various types of research work – macro and micro levels of analysis;
Scenario/decision modelling using various tools and techniques;
Optimization models
Financial modelling
Simulation models of business systems and processes
Automating business reports;
Strong excel, analytical and database management skills;
Problem-solving and deriving insights;
Synthesize multiple data sources to provide clear and complete perspectives.


Part of Chapter One’s approach of driving team ownership and collective contribution towards the development and growth of the firm internally is to create opportunities for Onesies to exercise some of their unique skills during organisational development tasks that will help the firm evolve to where it needs to be in order for it to achieve its set aspirations. As such the Employee is expected to:

Role-model and contribute towards shaping the culture of the firm and ensure that the overarching firm philosophy that includes but is not limited to its vision, mission, values and anchoring mindsets and practices are firmly embedded, lived out and protected in the firm;

Be an advocate and ambassador of the firm’s values in and out of office;

Develop and implement systems that will enhance the effective management of the operational day-to-day activities of the firm (HR, Project Management, Finance, Admin, etc)

Organise, facilitate and lead training sessions;

Organise, facilitate and lead activities that ensure optimal allocation of resources, alignment of effort and accountability across the firm;

Mentor and train junior Onesies (analysts and interns) and members of portfolio company teams and support them towards the successful accomplishment of their personal and professional goals.

Chapter One’s success is also a function of the firm’s ability to consistently replenish its pipeline of client programmes. BizDev (Business Development) therefore mainly focuses on involving Onesies at various phases of the firm’s business development process to promote collective contribution towards the firm’s growth in terms of revenue generation and business expansion. As such the Employee is expected to:

Develop and update client and prospective client fact packs;

Gather data and generate insights that enhance the ability and effectiveness of the firm to present problems worth solving and opportunities worth exploring to potential clients and investment partners that the firm would want to secure mandates to support clients in solving and/or exploring;

Support the process of preparing reflection letters, meeting discussion points, letters of proposal and engagement letters;

Actively search for, identify and qualify new client and/or investment-partner opportunities for the firm;

Advise Partners on relationship management and business development approaches to take in order to increase the likelihood of successful business development outcomes;

Program Delivery (Advisory, Lab, Research, HQ): Program delivery mainly entails the implementation of various initiatives that are important to Chapter One and the firm’s external clients. During these initiatives, analysts are expected to assume leading and supporting roles - depending on the programs and structure of task teams - that will ensure successful implementation.

Develop appropriate plans and charters for the delivery of mandates or parts of them;

Research and source relevant data to support the delivery of advisory mandates and establish effective ways of sourcing and managing that data;

Develop, construct and produce analytical, decision support and other models and frameworks that enable Program Teams to achieve desired outcomes;

Identify, analyse, follow and surface key program issues (e.g. problems worth solving, opportunities worth exploring, questions worth asking, key realities, design imperatives, discovery themes, etc.) and develop new insights to resolving them;

Develop evidence-based insights and use them to provide or develop answers to critical questions that Program Teams need to deliver;

Develop and deliver recommendations to Program Teams and client;

Develop tools to help clients manage and execute their tasks;

Lead on the delivery and execution of assigned program outputs and workstreams;

Prepare and update program files;

Deliver accurate, well-presented outputs with minimal need for supervision;

Lead and manage client team members and analysts and deliver high-quality team outputs;

Design, facilitate and Program meetings and workshops and distil key, actionable outcomes from them;

Frequently make recommendations on how Program Teams might improve ways of working, outputs and outcomes;

Participate actively and in an engaging manner in team discussions and provide meaningful inputs, insights and recommendations;

Foster healthy, productive and generative working relationships with client and Program team members and support the team to deepen those relationships;

Contribute towards building client capabilities;

Navigate client environment culture and anticipate the impact of the culture on the ability to deliver on program mandates;

Prepare for and conduct interviews in a manner that generates meaningful and relevant insights to the delivery of mandates;

Prepare and deliver presentations that are effective at generating constructive dialogue and driving towards meaningful answers and outcomes;

Preparing sections of client documents according to firm document standards with minor guidance;

Identify and create opportunities for follow-on work from clients.

Give: Giving back to society reflects the firm’s value of Justice and it serves as a constant reminder to the firm of the breakthrough opportunities that were given to it by other world changers. The firm thus continuously encourages Onesies to give back to society out the goodness of their hearts as an opportunity to display and internalise the firm’s key values and practices but also to ensure onesies become active citizens that lead change in South Africa.

Lead an initiative that will have a positive impact on society and reflect Chapter One values.

Process Underpinnings of the Journey To Becoming A Onesie

We hope that in the process of figuring out whether Chapter One is the place where you could best unleash your passion and purpose towards solving some of the most challenging and systemic issues of our time, we will learn from you, just as much as you might learn from us. Some of the men and women who we have learnt from and who continue to be a source of inspiration include Mark Manson, David Whyte, Maya Angelou, Ben Okri and Bill Shore amongst others. Although this is an eclectic grouping of thought leaders the common thread of inspiration that we observe is how each believes that when we converge our passions and purpose we develop a superpower to take on and solve problems for ourselves and for others. David Whyte talks about confronting the questions in your life “that have no right to go away,” Okri provokes us by asking if we will see the harvest of those who have remade their mental and spiritual worlds, Manson also challenges us to think about the most important question in our life while Bill Shore tells a story of building for outcomes and impact that will outlive us. Maya Angelou, in turn, reminds us how even the caged-bird sings of the things unknown and yet hoped for still.