Director General at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/19/030
Locations: Pretoria, Nairobi And Yaounde
Grade: EL4
Position N°: 50092484 ; 50092486 ; 50092487

The Position

• Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. The Bank’s development agenda to deliver the financial and technical support for transformative interventions that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In addition to providing finance, the Bank is Africa's voice on global economic, financial and development issues, a role that has taken significant importance in light of increasing global integration and interconnected risks.
• The Bank has prioritized five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate developmental impacts for Africa: Light Up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life of the People of Africa. The Bank is building a world class senior management team to lead the successful implementation of the vision.
• The Bank is adapting its operating model to ensure the effective delivery of these priorities. A critical part of this is the establishment of five regional development and business delivery offices: West, East, Central, North and Southern Africa. The Director General will report to the Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery.
• The Director General will ensure that the Bank operates efficiently, effectively and successfully in the relevant countries, and ensure the full implementation of all aspects of the Bank’s work.
• Energetic and results driven candidates for this role will combine regional knowledge with excellence in delivery. They will have a proven track record of building effective teams and of cultivating successful partnerships with both governmental and private sector counterparts.

Duties and Responsibilities
Position Specification:

• The African Development Bank has rolled out a new development and business delivery model in order to bring its operations closer to its clients; grow its portfolios from sovereign and private sector operations; and expand the revenue of the Bank. This model will enable the Bank to better deploy high quality knowledge and advisory services, and, most importantly, to accelerate its developmental impacts across Africa.
• The Bank has established five (5) regional development and business delivery offices, with one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central.
• The Directors General will drive and ensure the operational efficiency, effectiveness and overall health of the Bank's portfolio across his region to achieve significant developmental impacts. The Director General will oversee the full implementation and integration of all aspects of the Bank's work in that region. S/he will spearhead regional business development and investment, driving resource mobilization across the countries under his/her remit and growing significantly the business of the Bank.
• S/he will work closely with Sector Vice Presidents and Directors to deliver on the Bank's program the region to achieve transformational development impacts.
• The regional Director General will collaborate with internal and external partners to accelerate private sector investments through the development and implementation of the African Investment Forum, amongst other initiatives.

Additional objectives include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Advancing regional integration through the development and execution of major regional infrastructure and development projects and by supporting Regional Economic Communities.
• Strengthening the human and institutional capacities of countries, and deepening the capacity of the Bank to become the thought leader on knowledge products and advisory services to countries.
• Building effective collaboration with bilateral and multilateral finance and development institutions to ramp up co-financing and loan syndications.
• Developing and deploying special programs and advisory services to support fragile states.

The Director General will operationalize his/her mandate by undertaking the following:

• Building a team of highly talented and motivated technical and operational staff, drawn from all sector complexes. This will enable the Bank to improve the quality of all projects and deliver high- quality portfolios to meet the needs of regional member countries and the private sector.
• Supporting countries in the development of country strategy papers and regional integration strategies that will drive country ownership and accelerated delivery on all "high-five" priorities of the Bank.
• Developing critical resources and the technical capability necessary for sourcing and originating bankable projects. This will include collaboration with the private sector on projects with regional social impacts.
• Ensuring efficient and effective project completion by streamlining and speeding up internal processes, enhancing operational efficiencies, and driving accelerated disbursements on all approved projects.
• Driving greater value for money in all operations and ensuring country and regional offices are cost- effective through prudent management of human and financial resources.
• Fostering a culture of accountability for results across all offices in the respective regions.
• Cultivating and ensuring a culture of "ONE-Bank", with the highest levels of ethics, fiduciary responsibility and professionalism to protect and enhance the reputation of the Bank.
• Representing the Bank in the region and building strong partnerships with countries, regional economic communities, and other development partners.
• The Director General will report to the Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery.

Selection Criteria
Desirable Experience and Qualifications:

• A minimum of a Master's degree or its equivalent in Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Business Law, or related disciplines.
• A minimum of fifteen (15) years relevant and demonstrable experience in international development finance or with a leading private sector financial institution. The last ten (10) years should be at a senior management level.
• A record of delivering results in complex project, portfolio, country, and partner arrangements in Africa, with substantial experience in project planning, development, and management.
• Proven ability to engage effectively at the senior-most levels across the public, private, and civil society sectors, and to mobilise partners for transformative action.
• The ability to communicate orally and write effectively in English and/or French, with a working knowledge of the other language.

In terms of performance and personal competencies required for the position, we highlight the following:
Business Acumen:

• Excellent understanding of multilateral development institutions, strategies and operational issues.
• An acute appreciation and understanding of the elements essential for the effective delivery and measurement of development impacts through projects and programs in Africa.
• Ability to identify and create meaningful linkages across sectors to drive development impact at a country and regional level.
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with senior counterparts, both internal and external.

Setting Strategy:

• Ability to innovate, communicate, and implement new strategic approaches essential to the creation and success of the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex.
• Highly developed strategic thinking skills allied to an ability to translate strategic concepts and direction into the implementation of workable and sustainable projects and programs.
• Able to define and drive effectively the Bank’s activities under uncertain and challenging circumstances.

Executing for Results:

• Excellence in project planning, development and management, with a superior ability to deliver and manage high quality portfolios.
• Demonstrated ability to take prudent business risks and make effective, timely and well determined decisions.
• Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural and distributed organisation.

Leading Teams:

• Ability to design long-term plans and programs to develop staff competences in line with the Bank’s strategic priorities.

Position Specification:

• Proven ability to build and lead motivated and committed teams across functional and geographic boundaries, and to utilize the talent and expertise of team members in a productive way.
• Ability to inspire, generate and sustain staff commitment and professional excellence.
• Agility and resilience to drive successful change management processes.

Building Relationships and Using Influence:

• Strengthens and builds partnerships and synergies internally across functions and geographies, and externally with key institutions to drive regional integration and development.
• Develops constructive working relationships at the highest Management level within the Bank and externally so that important, sometimes contentious, issues can be dealt with effectively.
• Ability to listen and communicate effectively with stakeholders at the highest levels across sectors.
• Strong negotiating skills, ideally in both English and French.

Other:

• The roles will be based out of the African Development Bank’s regional development and business deliver offices. The DG will travel frequently to Bank headquarters, country offices, and throughout her/his region to collaborate with teams and to engage strategically with key stakeholders and partners.
• The scope of this role is dynamic and is not limited to the responsibilities as set out above; it will evolve over time and as a result of further organisational reviews.