Principal Investment Officer - Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism at World Bank

Reference: ADB/19/145
Location: Abidjan, Cote D'ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50100762

The Complex

• The Vice-Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority 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 Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department/Unit

• In 2006, at the Abuja African Green Revolution summit, the African Union Member States, conceived the “African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism” (AFFM), an initiative to improve agricultural productivity by providing finance to debottleneck the use of fertilizers. The Summit charged the African Development Bank (AfDB) with the responsibility to establishing and manage the AFFM.
• The specific objective of the AFFM is to increase fertilizer use in Africa from its current average of about 17 kg per ha to 50 kilogram per hectare, so as to boost agricultural productivity.
• In order to respond to actual financing needs of the fertilizer value chain, AFFM adopted its “Strategy” which has identified two key intervention areas: (i) support the provision of credit guarantees and other financial solutions along the fertilizer supply chain; (ii) support policy advocacy and targeted technical assistance to governments committed to addressing key obstacles to fertilizer supply chain growth and efficiency.
• In this regard, AFFM needs collaboration with AfDB, other development financial institutions, commercial banks and private sector actors in the fertilizer value chain to issue the credit guarantee and develop other financial products that meet fertilizer sector financial needs.

The Position

• The AFFM Principal Investment Officer will work under the day-to-day supervision of the Coordinator of the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM).
• As part of AFFM secretariat, the team will be supported by relevant Bank Divisions for the development of programs of activities at the Bank’s headquarters and to facilitate the implementation of AFFM’s field programmes and allied initiatives at the country level.
• His/her performance reporting will be to the Coordinator of AFFM.

Duties and Responsibilities
The specific responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Contribute in the development and implementation of the AFFM Work programs, by managing all investment-related interventions in the countries, and provide technical advices during the programme implementation.
• Work closely with the Bank’s private sector and financial inclusion departments to partner with relevant financial and non-financial institutions for the development and structuring of fertilizer financing deals for new entrants or existing actors in the fertilizer sector;
• Drive new business development and resource mobilization for fertilizer sector financing with relevant departments of the Bank as well as sovereign, multilateral, bilateral, financial institution and private sector partners;
• Mobilize innovative initiatives to close financing gaps for the development of major fertilizer operations by promoting innovative financial products, and  mobilizing new sources of financing;
• Establish synergies between the Bank’s various initiatives in the fertilizer sector with the Bank’s strategies and programs;
• Build and maintain strong relationships with relevant partners in the area of fertilizer businesses, banking, with private sector and government officials to further develop the sector and to develop specific investment opportunities.
• Formulate alliance strategies with actors along innovative fertilizer financing, service delivery with a particular focus on public private partnerships (at the country and continent level) to engage stakeholders in alignment of sustainable development goals;
• Analyze the constraints and opportunities related to fertilizer investment options with emphasis on the functionality of fertilizer industry, support services, trade policies, market institutions and organizations, risk management systems and private sector engagement.
• Support fertilizer value chain strengthening through structured finance in syndicate deals with commercial banks and other creditors (fertilizer finance and innovative fertilizer financing schemes).
• Actively involved in all the activities of projects development cycle, as task manager (identification, preparation and appraisal), follow up with different departments for project approval process, and work with legal department to ensure that all projects have appropriate legal documentation.
• Monitor project implementation by recipients, provide required technical assistance and follow up project periodic reporting;
• Contribute towards building a strong pipeline of good quality investment opportunities for the AFFM operations particularly identifying entry points for private investments in public sector transactions.
• Working with the Agricultural Finance and Rural Development units, understand the landscape of various guarantee schemes or risk sharing facilities utilized to finance fertilizer supply chains and agro-dealer networks around the continent, their advantages, achievements, challenges, and weaknesses;
• Enhance project implementation quality, timeliness and integrity through developing and implementing result based performance monitoring and evaluation systems and reporting activities to enable transparent assessment of AFFM financing outcomes and impacts, for both internal and external audience.
• Collaborate with other AFFM team and Banks’ Units in reviewing the operations performance, preparing completion reports, etc., so as to ensure that the lessons drawn from the implementation of past operations are taken into account in new projects.
• Undertake any other assignment relevant to the successful implementation and performance of the AFFM.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Masters’ degree in Finance, Banking, Business Administration, Agri-business or related areas;
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of investment finance experience, with track record in investment structuring and project finance. Have a strong understanding of the agriculture financing in Africa, good command of undertaking comprehensive due diligence, including financial and economic analysis of clients (financial institutions, medium and larger enterprises
• Good working experience with, or working knowledge of, multilateral or bilateral development agencies;
• Experience of Multi-lateral development banks (or similar financing institutions) and their operations in terms of private and/or public sector project development and implementation process.
• Experience with a broad range of financing and implementation modalities including but not limited to budget support, loans, equity, partial credit risk guarantees, and results-based finance.
• Very good understanding of Finance and business, especially fertilizer value chain or agriculture financing;
• Recognized ability to identify and articulate finance, corporate finance and project finance issues and to provide sound advice;
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, and to prepare, analyze, review and disseminate knowledge products with easy uptake and that add value in financing the fertilizer sector
• Client orientation - Anticipates and identifies client needs and business trends and proactively consults with them to deliver integrated, customized solutions;
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French. A working knowledge of the other will be an asset.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable
• Ability to work independently, to be creative and innovative.
• Demonstrated Integrity, dedication and ability to work in team.Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SAP and/or other integrated document management system).