Agricultural Coordinator at Lorache Consulting Limited

Job Description

• Agricultural coordinators are responsible for the daily planning, organisation, supervision and administration of activities on farm estates.

Requirements

• Reporting to the Agribusiness Specialist, the Agribusiness Coordinator will work with agricultural enterprises of all sizes along the rice, maize, soy, fish and cowpea value chains. Based at the State level, the Agribusiness Coordinator will become familiar with the agribusiness sector; develop an effective and participatory network of agribusiness stakeholders, including public and private sector value chain participants; conduct needs assessments; report on policy constraints; and identify opportunities for the project to facilitate agribusiness finance and investment transactions.
• The Agribusiness Specialist will work directly at the State level with established agribusinesses (‘Lead Firms”) in the target value chains, in addition to their key suppliers, distributors, service providers, MSMEs, smallholder farmers, and other service providers within their value chains.
• Serving as the Project’s main lead generation engine, the Agribusiness Coordinator will help identify (I) the most critical legal and/or regulatory burdens constraining the partner firms’ growth and competitiveness, (ii) valid and justified access to finance requirements of the Lead Firms and their value chain partners (e.g. smallholder farmers, farmer associations, inputs dealers, aggregators, transport and storage firms), and (iii) potential agribusiness investment opportunities.
• The Agribusiness Coordinator will also communicate and coordinate with the other State-based Agribusiness Coordinators as well as with the 3 Component Leaders, M&E Specialist, and Strategic Communications team.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Represent the project at the State level.
• Advise the Agribusiness Specialist and Component Leads on state-specific challenges related to the challenges and opportunities for improvements in the business enabling environment, access to agribusiness finance, and opportunities for agribusiness investment.
• Serve as the primary lead generator for investment and financial transactions
• Organize forums and meetings, including but not limited to project launches, policy reform focus groups, and agribusiness lending stakeholder roundtables, with Nigerian government officials, business associations, business development service providers, investors, financial institutions.
• Ensure stakeholders and beneficiaries are aware of and interested in collaborating with the project, resulting in the project’s ability to capitalize on any shared efficiencies.
• Meet with agribusinesses to develop a strong understanding of the legal, regulatory, and other barriers constraining agribusiness finance and investment in each value chain, and in association with the Enabling Environment Unit, actively contribute to the development of a clear and coherent vision for the reduction of these barriers.
• Closely coordinate with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team to collect and utilize data to adaptively manage the effort and report on project achievements.
• Backstop and support domestic and international short-term specialists.
• Other ad-hoc duties as assigned by the Agribusiness Specialist.
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Business Administration, Finance, or another related field;
• At least (5) years of relevant, progressively responsible experience is required;
• Experience in agricultural finance and in working with MSMEs, financial institutions, and investors;
• Proven track record in developing, analyzing, and implementing projects focused on agribusinesses, agricultural finance, and agricultural value chains;
• Demonstrated experience in facilitating private-sector investments and familiarity with the workings of government legal and regulatory frameworks at the State level;
• Experience in overseeing and working with short-term domestic and international specialists;
• Able to maintain a rigorous focus on project deliverables, indicators and results, including being able to engage stakeholders to capitalize on any shared efficiencies;
• Experience with Monitoring and Evaluation
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English (knowledge of local languages is an advantage).