Chief Agricultural Officer - RDGS2 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/189
Location: South Africa
Grade: PL3
Position N°: 50052325

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery is responsible for operational relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the Bank Group’s operational programs, and activities.
• This will ensure that the Bank operates successfully across its Regional Member Countries and oversee the full implementation of all aspects of the Bank’s Regional Directorates.

The Hiring Department

• The Southern Africa Development and Business Delivery Office (RDGS) was established following the approval by the Board of Director of the Development and Business Delivery Model (DBDM) on 22 April 2016. RDGS is located in Pretoria, South Africa, responsible for the Bank’s development cooperation with 13 countries, namely: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as with the SADC Secretariat to promote regional integration. RDGS countries have different characteristics in terms of economic size, resource potential, economic infrastructure, human capital, political environment, and official languages.

The Position
The Chief Agricultural Officer reports to the Regional Sector Manager - Industry, Agriculture & Human Development Division. The main work objectives are focused on development of various Feed Africa initiatives in the Southern Africa Region:

• Lead dialogue with regional governments on their Agriculture and Agro - Industry related investment program in the context of various Feed Africa initiatives;
• Lead Business Development for identification of potential business opportunities in the Feed Africa domain in both public and private sectors (with specific focus on PPP opportunities);
• Lead lending program for Agriculture and Agro-Industry related investments to achieve annual targets;
• Lead strategic partnerships with key public and  private sector clients, Other International and Bilateral DFIs, Donor Agencies, Financial Institutions and Commercial Banks, private equity funds, investment and impact funds to finance various Feed Africa initiatives;
• Support Manager - Implementation Support, RDGS in managing existing portfolio of Bank’s Agriculture & Agro-Industry related investments in the Southern Africa Region;
• create and manage a strong portfolio of existing and potential agricultural clients, investors along key Feed Africa initiatives and achieve sustainable development impact;
• Lead input to country and regional CSPs in the Southern Africa region and creation of knowledge work in the Feed Africa domain;
• Work closely with teams in HQ and country offices across the Southern Africa Region to develop and implement Feed Africa strategy.
• Evaluate, structure, negotiate, and close debt and equity transactions ; use strong negotiation skills to develop solutions and overcome impasses in all transactions;
• Mobilise resources and blended finance initiatives to close the financing gap for public sector-led development of agricultural value chains;
• Provide support and expertise to regional country offices for sovereign and non-sovereign operations with solutions to reach smallholder farmers, productive enterprises (particularly women and youth);
• Monitor and report on the implementation of the financial instruments and their contribution to Feed Africa and action plan.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of Regional Sector Manager- Industry, Agriculture & Human Development, the Chief Agricultural Officer performs the following with a focus on Southern Africa region:

The technical oversight:

• Identify investment opportunities to achieve objectives for the Feed Africa Strategy in the Southern Africa Region,
• Execute debt and equity investments in strategic opportunities in agriculture and agro-industry financing through sovereign (pilot) and non-sovereign (co-pilot) operations including PPP transactions;
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of potential investee companies to initiate new investments, follow up on new business opportunities, and liaise extensively with potential clients on the African continent and beyond;
• Solve challenges during negotiations and transaction structuring with potential investee companies as well as due diligence;
• Support existing portfolio investments including strategic and value-add activities with portfolio company management and co-investors;
• Partner with Ministries of Agriculture, other International Financial Institutions, investors, including venture capital, private equity firms and strategic investors with a particular focus on public private partnerships (at the Regional level) to engage stakeholders in alignment of sustainable socio-economic development goals;
• Agree upon blended finance arrangements for investments and technical assistance for implementation upon consultation with concerned HQ, country offices;
• Enhance project implementation quality, timeliness and integrity through developing and implementing controls that minimize slippages;
• Develop and implementing performance monitoring and evaluation systems and reporting activities (including Key Performance Indicators) to enable transparent assessment of Feed Africa related outcomes and impacts, both for internal and external circulation;
• Lead the conceptualization and guide the implementation of financing for Agropoles and Agro-industrialization and other Feed Africa initiatives, as a means to crowd in additional funding for these projects.

People management:

• Guide a team of professional level and support staff in providing efficient and high quality services that support the business.
• Set realistic performance goals and motivate team members to meet them, both for individual staff and for the team as whole;
• Assess the training needs of relevant staff in the Regional Directorate and Country Offices, monitor and evaluate their performance, and recommend personnel actions to the Division Manager;
• Be a collaborative member of the Divisional Team, contribute and share expertise and input and foster a collegial environment.
• Build strong relationship management and understand the business needs to assist in developing practical and effective solutions;

Leadership:

• Manage the efficient use of the financial and human resources. On the technical front the work requires analytical and strategic skills, as well as personal knowledge and practical experience in the main areas of Bank intervention.
• Ensure high-quality output within available resources, by making the best use of its human, financial and technological assets, and by monitoring and enforcing efficiency targets.
• Supervise complex project identification, preparation and appraisal for Bank Group financing and verify quality of the projects.

Corporate communication:

• Ensure effective communication between the Management and staff of the Bank, the authorities of member countries, officials from other organizations;
• Monitor best practice in the field and, as appropriate, liaise with counterparts in other organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Minimum of a Master's degree or its equivalent in Agriculture Finance or closely related disciplines.
• Minimum of seven (7) years relevant professional experience in the area of Public Sector Financing in  Agriculture, preferably including 3 years working in an international bilateral/multilateral institution; Experience of working in private sector would be an advantage.
• Sound experience with investments in developing markets, working experience in SADC would be an advantage;
• Proven leadership in matters relating to negotiating and structuring transactions, technical review of reports and consultation with other financiers, among others;
• Knowledge of Africa and the rural development needs, opportunities, development challenges and possible solutions;
• Comprehensively understands projects structures, including project planning, risk management strategy, communication management strategy, lessons learnt and handover, and other critical success factors, strategies, policies, procedures and practices of other similar institutions;
• Acute knowledge and understanding of the elements essential for the effective delivery and measurement of development impacts through agricultural investments in Africa;
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with senior counterparts, both internal and external;
• Knowledgeable in the execution and structuring of debt and equity investments in the assigned sector projects and programs;
• Networking ability required to build successful relationships and partnerships with a broad range of clients, internal and external, for effective delivery of results. Prudence and skill in identification of such relationships and partners based on meeting the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution;
• Communicate and write effectively in English preferably with a working knowledge of French;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); and knowledge of SAP is desirable.