Vice President Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/19/136
Location: Abidjan, Cote D'ivoire
Grade: EL3
Position N°: 50092321

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization is central to the Bank’s mission of developing the private sector, deepening the financial sector, improving infrastructure and accelerating industrialization
• The main functions of the Complex are to:
  • Strengthen the enabling environment for private sector development conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development
  • Deepen financial markets
  • Support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including urban development, and
  • Place renewed emphasis on industrial and trade performance in support of structural transformation across Africa.
• The Complex leverages knowledge, co-financing, and partnerships to attract private capital and work with governments on delivering the Bank’s development agenda.

The Complex is responsible for:

• Leading ‘Industrialize Africa’ strategy and co-leading the Integrate Africa one;
• Managing the full project cycle in its sectors of responsibilities, from project preparation to completion, for private sector as well as public sector projects, in close partnership with the Regions
• Provide thought leadership in the areas under its remit and related partnerships and initiatives; and
• Acting as the Bank’s spokesperson in these areas.

The Position

• The Vice President (VP) will manage the Complex, its work program, activities, staff and budgets
• The VP will provide leadership on strategy, policy-making, new instruments, resource mobilization, as well as project and program implementation and monitoring in close collaboration with the Bank’s other complexes.

Duties and Responsibilities
The Vice President, PIVP will:

• Ensure the PIVP Complex delivers on its KPIs and targets, including lending, portfolio management, and analytical work.
• Coordinate the Bank’s support to the development of the private sector, in coordination with the RDVP, Economics and Knowledge Management and other Sector complexes.
• Coordinate the Bank’s non-sovereign financing in support of the private sector.
• Lead private sector operations in the sectors covered by PIVP.
• Lead the Bank's efforts to support countries in developing a vibrant private sector, improving their business and investment environments, as well as increasing trade and competitiveness, including work on global and regional value chains;
• Lead the execution of the Bank's industrial strategy for Africa, to including expansion of markets and regional integration to attract more private investment, focused industrial policies in regional member countries, financing of private sector investments in industry and related sectors and of public sector operations focused on improving industrial policies or the business environment;
• Develop new financing instruments and approaches to increase and channel additional funding into Africa's priority programs to achieve industrialization including scaling up investments into targeted industrial, infrastructure, and private sector interventions;
• Lead the work on improving access to finance for African enterprises by supporting the development of liquid and integrated capital markets through support to governments, exchanges, regulators and other stakeholders., as well as developing the Bank's capital markets and portfolio;
• Drive investments to promote and scale up enterprise development along critical value chains, including support to small and medium enterprises;
• Coordinate the Bank’s overall infrastructure agenda, including sectors such as Energy and Water that report to other Complexes.
• Lead the Bank’s work (from analytical work to financing of public or private projects) in the Transport and Information and Communication Technologies areas.
• Engage strategic partners to address the challenges of urbanization and expand investments to tackle transport, housing and other infrastructure necessary for development of safe, productive and resilient cities;
• Provide leadership in the management of change so as to achieve the Bank's Strategic Plan objectives, deliver on the High5 objectives, and meet the evolving requirements of private sector clients, development partners, and other stakeholders;
• Foster an environment that stimulates and rewards performance, initiative and innovation; encourage continuous learning, open communication and teamwork; and employ managerial best practices to motivate staff and ensure the most productive and cost effective utilization of the institution's prime asset;
• Develop effective collaboration with the Regional Development and Business Delivery Vice- Presidency and other complexes, to deploy sector-level staff to the five regional integration and business delivery offices in West, East, Central, North and Southern Africa.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master's Degree or equivalent in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Engineering or related disciplines.
• A minimum of 15 years' experience acquired in the private sector, with at least 5 years being in a senior level management position.
• At least ten (10) years of experience in dealing with Governmental institutions;
• At least five (5) years of experience with multilateral Development Finance Institutions;
• Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural and distributed organization;
• Ability to innovate, communicate, and implement new strategic approaches.
• Highly developed strategic thinking skills allied to an ability to translate strategic concepts and directions into the implementation of workable and sustainable projects and programs.
• A minimum ten (10) years' experience acquired in the private sector or in the private sector financing department of DFIs, with the last five (5) years being in a senior level management position.
• Strong experience in infrastructure development, specifically in Africa ;
• Proven ability for partnership building and resource mobilization
• 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.
• Proven intellectual leadership in managing and maintaining an efficient and transparent work environment;
• Experience working in large, multicultural organizations in the public or private sector with a diverse workforce and sensitivity to diversity concerns of staff and Boards of Directors;
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with senior counterparts, both internal and external;
• Global convening power, based on established track record to work with the private sector and drive investments.
• Demonstrated ability to take prudent business risks and make effective, timely and well determined decisions
• Client orientation; Team work and relationships
• Deep knowledge of infrastructure development in Africa
• Strong knowledge in financial instruments and financial market developments;
• Highly developed strategic thinking skills;
• Deep knowledge in business deals negotiations with private sector partners/clients/sponsors;
• Good understanding of projects finance and trade.
• Ability to listen and communicate effectively with oversight bodies such as multi-national Boards of Executive Directors and Governors and other senior government officials
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.