Principal Investment Officer – Agriculture and Rural Finance – PL4

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2024 – 2033) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

The Bank is seeking to recruit a dynamic and competent Principal Investment Officer who will work on agriculture and rural finance transactions within the Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ (AHVP), specifically in the Agriculture and Rural Finance Department (AHFR) Department.

THE COMPLEX:

The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s High 5s priorities of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The Complex objectives are (i) to develop policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regional Directorates by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; and (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT / DIVISION:

The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department works closely with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department and the Regional Directorates to provide support for the delivery of “Feed Africa: Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025”.

Feed Africa has “7 Enablers”, i) Increase productivity by catalyzing the development of effective input distribution systems and reduction in post-harvest waste and loss; ii) Realize the value of increased production by facilitating increased investment into output markets and supporting market incentives for value addition; iii) Increase investment into enabling infrastructure, both hard and soft infrastructure; iv) Create an enabling agribusiness environment with appropriate policies and regulation; v) Catalyze capital flows (especially commercial lending and private investment) to scale agribusinesses; vi) Ensure inclusivity, sustainability and effective nutrition beyond what the market may deliver otherwise; and vii) Coordinate activities to kick start transformation, align activities and investments of different actors, and guide initial activities to the point where private sector actors can be crowded in.

The Agricultural Finance and Rural Development Department focuses on delivery of the following:

1. Finance, scale and catalyse capital flows of commercial lending and private investment into agribusinesses.
2. Accelerate agriculture transformation through private sector actors.
3. Design, finance and promote Public-Private Partnerships and private sector-led Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ).
4. Design and support disaster risk financing structures to mitigate the financial impact of natural disasters and climate-related events on vulnerable populations in Africa through private sector led and enabled insurance and hedging mechanisms.
5. Support Agri-small medium enterprise (SME) financing through catalytic mechanisms including but not limited to concessional and blend financing.
6. Catalyze and support capital flows to scale SMEs by establishing risk sharing facilities and other products.

The core mandate of the Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the Regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains. The Department is also responsible for mainstreaming the Africa Disaster Risk Financing Program to enable African countries manage disaster risk and access ex-ante insurance financing before major climate events.

The Department is structured into two Divisions: (i) Agriculture and Rural Finance Division (AHFR.1); and (ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Division (AHFR.2).

The Agriculture and Rural Finance Division is responsible for working with the private and financial sector to transform value chains, identifying opportunities for long-term investments to address food security and boost economic growth in Africa.

The Agriculture and Rural Finance Division has the following deliverables:

1. Non-sovereign operations targeting private sector companies, investment and impact funds.
2. High-quality and innovative investments of debt, equity, quasi-equity, guarantees and risk management instruments to facilitate and catalyze investments to the private sector as well as for value chain development and transformation.
3. Practical implementation arrangements with key implementing partners.
4. Knowledge management of agriculture, rural finance and best practices.
5. Enabling environment and alliances with key stakeholders; and
6. Monitoring of performance and recommendations for corrective actions.

THE POSITION:

The Principal Investment Officer is being recruited to originate, develop, lead the due diligence up to Board Directors approval, financial closure and first disbursement of private sector transactions (non-sovereign operations) in the agriculture and rural finance space. Applicants will be considered based on their specific skills, expertise and background. Depending on the profile of candidates, the position could be based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast or Abuja, Nigeria.

KEY FUNCTIONS:

Under the direct supervision of the Division Manager – Agriculture and Rural Finance, the Principal Investment Officer will:

1. Project Development and Processing

1.1 Liaise and coordinate with other Investment Officers and Bank staff in business development and the origination of a good quality investment pipeline.

1.2 Proactively identify potential investment partners and opportunities based on industry experience, reputation, market potential, financial capability, and strategic fit.

1.3 Assess the attractiveness of specific investment opportunities with a strong focus on credit quality and development impact and make recommendations management.

1.4 Build and maintain strong relationships with other departments, clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities.

1.5 Prepare project appraisal reports for presentation to the department, review committees, senior management and finally to the Board of Directors.

1.6 Execute loan, equity, quasi-equity, guarantee and risk management instrument financings including processing mandates, conducting due diligence, structuring deals, negotiating terms and documentation, arranging syndications, and processing internal approvals.

1.7 Coordinate with sector colleagues, internal approvals to proactively find pragmatic solutions to emerging/specific sector challenges.

1.8 Develop investment promotion strategies in Africa, including targeting potential investors and promoting the Bank’s products and services proactively.

1.9 Work with the legal department to ensure that all deals have appropriate legal documentation and that financial close is achieved, and hand over projects to portfolio management staff; and

1.10 Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop a strong pipeline for new investment opportunities.

2. Design Specific Innovative Transactions, Projects and Initiatives

2.1 Undertake the work on aspects of investments and agricultural / agribusiness development and align them with institutional objectives.

2.2 Work with regional teams/country offices to design and implement sector development support programs.

2.3 Evaluate, structure, negotiate, and close new transactions, with a strong focus on credit and asset quality (include processing mandates, due diligence, negotiating term sheets and other documentation, syndications and board approval); and

2.4 Provide support to other industry and portfolio teams in processing and supervising projects.

3. External Liaison and Knowledge Sharing

3.1 Contribute to the documentation of lessons learned from investment operations and emerging best practices in areas of expertise.

3.2 Participate in and contribute to information and experience sharing sessions with internal and external stakeholders.

3.3 Participate in and contribute to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building relating to the Bank’s investments/operations, products and initiatives.

3.4 Provide peer review to other colleagues to share industry knowledge and information on respective sectors.

3.5 Provide technical leadership and support to knowledge and lesson sharing approaches and events with internal and external stakeholders; and

3.6 Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities.

4. Policy and Project Evaluation

4.1 Provide input and comments on project, policy and other papers related to respective sector operations and development across a range of key themes and sectors.

5. Strategy, Planning and Reporting

5.1 Participate in relevant teams for planning and programming purposes.

5.2 Contribute to and coordinate in the investment’s inputs development of strategies at regional level;

5.3 Assist in the development of the Department’s knowledge management strategy and assist in execution of this strategy; and

5.4 Coordinate closely with social, environmental, advisory and technical assistance colleagues in order to champion the Bank’s value to its clients’ businesses, find pragmatic solutions to the specific sector challenges, and achieve sustainable development impact.

COMPETENCIES (skills, experience and knowledge):

1. Must have a minimum of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance or other relevant field; a professional qualification – A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder will be a plus.
2. Have a minimum of six (6) years’ professional experience in corporate / project finance, investment banking, consulting or private equity/venture capital with specific experience in Africa.
3. Ability for business development, structure and negotiation deals.
4. Strong analytical, financial structuring skills (including financial modeling experience) and sound business judgment.
5. Working experience in multinational organization in Africa and/or specialized experience in similar organizations would be considered an advantage.
6. Demonstrates ability to coordinate, participate in, and act as a catalyst for, strategic cross-sector dialogues within the networks, across the country, among Bank colleagues and other development institutions, governments and other organizations.
7. Knowledge of economic developments and market trends in Africa.
8. Ability to contribute to sound decisions and contribute to the execution of the decisions.
9. Ability to initiate, effectively and independently interact with the senior government officials, senior management of potential clients.
10. Strong commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits to the Bank and its clients.
11. Excellent problem-solving capabilities, applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization.
12. Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills.
13. Proven ability to work with limited supervision and efficiently to deliver under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
14. Willingness to travel extensively and geographic flexibility.
15. Excellent presentation skills.
16. Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language; and
17. Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

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