Financial Services Specialist at Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA)

Duties and Responsibilities

• Research and analyse the local market for financial services, identify and assess the financing needs of the project target clients
• Identify screen and build relationships with local organizations (microfinance institutions, rural banks, credit unions, guarantee funds and other potential partners) to develop and expend appropriate financial products and delivery models to meet the needs of project clients and meet project goals
• Assess, develop and facilitate implementation of a capacity building plan for the local partners (rural banks, primarily) to ensure scale, accountability and reporting systems serve the project goals
• Design and manage the loan/guarantee fund with the local lending Institutions (primarily rural banks) in order to ensure appropriate flow of capital to the project client and safety of the MEDA loan/guarantee capital
• Propose new financial solutions for the project value chain participants (primarily embedded finance to women farmers in the form of inputs supply on credit from nuclear farmers or input agents and advance payments from processors, nuclear farmers or traders) and facilitate their implementation by designing, testing, adjusting and ensuring affordability and sustainability of those solutions
• Work closely with the project team to increase the ability of the targeted value chain participants (input suppliers, SME Intermediates, and traders where applicable) to access appropriate financial services through partner and non-partner financial institutions (Fl)
• Research the opportunities, design and manage the partnership to introduce risk management and other insurance services for the project targeted producers, identify local insurance implementing partners, facilitate their capacity building and innovative insurance product designs for small producers both through direct insurance provision or as part of broader value chain business transaction, test and implementation of the insurance delivery
• Participate and support the field team in reporting, documenting lessons learnt, contribute to value chain finance industry development and provide all other necessary inputs to ensure project success
• Other duties as assigned by the Deputy Field Project Manager

Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics or Business Administration
• Minimum five years’ experience in agricultural finance, microfinance, along with experience in value chain development, enterprise development, financial product designs, alternate financial solutions and some exposure to investment would be an advantage.
• Experience in establishing and cultivating successful institutional partnerships with a range of institutional types and levels of actors (i.e. commercially oriented FIs, community-led FIs, technical service providers, government representatives, farmers groups, etc.)
• Experience in training, mentoring and institutional capacity building
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software.
• Demonstrated motivation to help poor and meet project targets, appreciation of MEDA values, business acumen, ability to work with minimum supervision, strong communication skills, willingness to work under pressure and to work extra hours when required
• Appreciation and support of MEDA’s faith, values and goals