Chief Agricultural Value Chain Financing Investment Officer at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/169
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL3
Position N°: 50091785

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on 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:
  • To develop, policy and strategy
  • Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions
  • Develop new financing instruments
  • The VP will act as the spoke person 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

• The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department works closely with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department and the Regional Directorates to provide support for the delivery of Feed Africa: Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025. 
• The core mandate of Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains.
• The Department is to mobilize and deploy the required expertise; and, provide support the design and implementation of agricultural finance and rural development operations for key commodity value chains.
• The department is structured into two Divisions:
  • Agriculture and Rural Finance Division; and
  • Rural Infrastructure Development Division.
• The Agriculture and Rural Finance Division will be responsible for working with private sector to transform value chains, identifying opportunities for long-term investments to address food security and boost economic growth in Africa.
• The division  has the following deliverables:
  • Non-sovereign operations targeting private sector companies, investment and impact funds, high-quality and innovative debt and equity investments for private and financial sector development for value chain development and transformation;
  • Practical implementation arrangements with key implementing partners, specifically private sector companies and equity funds;
  • Knowledge management of agriculture / rural finance /best practices;
  • Enabling environment and alliances with key stakeholders;
  • Monitoring of performance and recommendations for corrective actions.

The Position

• The Chief Agriculture Value Chain Financing Investment Officer reports to the Manager Agricultural & Rural Finance Division.
• The main work objectives are focused on development and upgrading of 18 key priority value chains articulated in the Feed Africa Strategy in targeted Agro Ecological Zones:
• Identify investment opportunities within key value chains;
• Lead strategic partnerships with key private sector clients, financial institutions and commercial banks, private equity funds, investment and impact funds to finance value chain stakeholders along the 18 key priority agricultural value chains;
• Create and manage a strong portfolio of existing and potential agricultural clients, investors along key value chains and achieve sustainable development impact;
• Evaluate, structure, negotiate, and close debt and equity transactions; use strong negotiation skills to develop solutions and overcome impasses in all transactions;
• Mobilise resources and blended finance initiatives to close the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains;
• Lead, support and expertise to regional directorates for non-sovereign operations with solutions to reach smallholder farmers, productive enterprises (particularly women and youth);
• Monitor and report on the implementation of the financial instruments and their contribution to Feed Africa and action plan.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of  Division Manager- Agricultural and Rural Finance, the Chief Agriculture Value Chain Financing Investment Officer performs the following:

The Technical Oversight:

• Identify opportunities to support the Regional Directorates and country teams for agriculture value chain financing through private sector companies, risk sharing facilities, value chain arrangements  (agricultural finance and innovative financing) ,
• Execute debt and equity investments in strategic opportunities in agriculture value chain financing through private sector companies and investment / impact and investment funds / equity funds (agricultural finance and innovative financing);
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of potential investee companies to initiate new debt and equity investments, follow up on new business opportunities, and liaise extensively with potential clients on the African continent and beyond;
• Solve challenges during negotiations and transaction structuring with potential investee companies as well as due diligence;
• Support existing portfolio investments including strategic and value-add activities with portfolio company management and co-investors;
• Partner with other International Financial Institutions, investors, including venture capital, private equity firms and strategic investors with a particular focus on public private partnerships (at the country and continent level) to engage stakeholders in alignment of sustainable socio-economic development goals;
• Agree upon blended finance arrangements for investments and technical assistance for implementation upon consultation with concerned Regional /hubs, country offices;
• Enhance project implementation quality, timeliness and integrity through developing and implementing controls that minimize slippages;
• Develop and implementing performance monitoring and evaluation systems and reporting activities (including Key Performance Indicators) to enable transparent assessment of agriculture value chain financing outcomes and impacts, both for internal and external circulation;
• Lead the conceptualization and guide the implementation of agriculture value chain financing for Agropoles and Agro-industrialization and other value chain development projects, as a means to crowd in additional funding for these projects.

People Management:

• Guide a team of professional level and support staff in providing efficient and high quality services that support the business.
• Set realistic performance goals and motivate team members to meet them, both for individual staff and for the team as whole;
• Assess the training needs of staff in the Regional Directorates and Country Offices, monitor and evaluate their performance, and recommend personnel actions to the Division Manager;
• Be a collaborative member of the Divisional Team, contribute and share expertise and input and foster a collegial environment.
• Build strong relationship management and understand the business needs to assist in developing practical and effective solutions;

Leadership:

• Manage the efficient use of the financial and human resources.  On the technical front the work requires analytical and strategic skills, as well as personal knowledge and practical experience in the main areas of Bank intervention.
• Ensure high-quality output within available resources, by making the best use of its human, financial and technological assets, and by monitoring and enforcing efficiency targets.
• Supervise complex project identification, preparation and appraisal for Bank Group financing and verify quality of the projects.

Corporate Communication:

• Ensure effective communication between the Management and staff of the Bank, the authorities of member countries, officials from other organizations;
• Monitor best practice in the field and, as appropriate, liaise with counterparts in other organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Minimum of a Master's Degree or its equivalent in Finance or closely related disciplines.
• Minimum of seven (7) years relevant professional experience in the area of investment banking, consulting or private equity/venture capital, and 3 years working on the topic preferably in an international bilateral/multilateral institution;
• Sound experience with debt and/or equity investments in developing markets, venture investing and emerging countries including a satisfactory knowledge of their operational policies and procedures;
• Proven leadership in matters relating to negotiating and structuring debt and equity transactions, technical review of reports and consultation with other financiers, among others;
• Knowledge of Africa and the rural development needs, opportunities, development challenges and possible solutions;
• Comprehensively understands projects structures, including project planning, risk management strategy, communication management strategy, lessons learnt and handover, and other critical success factors, strategies, policies, procedures and practices of other similar institutions;
• Acute knowledge and understanding of the elements essential for the effective delivery and measurement of development impacts through agricultural investments in Africa;
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with senior counterparts, both internal and external;
• Knowledgeable in the execution and structuring of debt and equity investments in the assigned sector projects and programs;
• Networking ability required to build successful relationships and partnerships with a broad range of clients, internal and external, for effective delivery of results. Prudence and skill in identification of such relationships and partners based on meeting the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution;
• Communicate and write 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);  knowledge of SAP is desirable.