Investment Officer at BFA Global

Anticipated Start Date: March 2022

Background

• Catalyst Fund is BFA Global’s flagship tech accelerator. Catalyst Fund supports early-stage inclusive tech startups focused on creating solutions for emerging market underserved consumers.
• The program has two mandates: accelerating pre-investable inclusive tech startups and accelerating the innovation ecosystems that enable them to scale. To date, Catalyst Fund has supported 55 fintech companies by resolving their specific capital, talent, and skills challenges so they can deliver accessible, affordable, and appropriate solutions more efficiently, more quickly, and with greater impact.
• BFA Global is an exciting and rewarding place to work, offering a range of opportunities to have an impact. The team is curious, collaborative, agile, and risk-taking, constantly seeking to improve to better support policymakers, financial institutions, startups, and innovation ecosystems in emerging markets. We foster an entrepreneurial environment where we can learn, work with purpose and autonomy, and help each other grow.

About the Role

• We are looking for an investment officer to help develop, launch, and lead the Catalyst Fund’s investment platform and its investing activities.
• The investment officer will support our frontier initiative to fill the early-stage funding gap in emerging markets by supporting the design of an investment vehicle aimed at spurring action in the creation of innovative products that build resilience.
• The role will include working closely with the Catalyst Fund Accelerator and BFA Global teams to source, select, and support early-stage fintech ventures that can improve the resilience of underserved communities.

What You Will Do
As an Investment Officer, your responsibilities will include:

• Conduct market research and company research to support, prove or disprove our investment theses
• Develop a pipeline of early-stage inclusive fintech ventures that improve the resilience of underserved
• communities in emerging markets by cultivating relationships with startup founders, angels, accelerators,
• incubators, venture investors, and other partners in our key markets, and meeting with entrepreneurs
• Actively lead the venture end-to-end investment process, as part of the Catalyst Fund accelerator, grounded in thorough due diligence and quick execution, prepare investment pitch materials, and present opportunities to the Investment Committee
• Manage a portfolio of resilience fintech startups, helping investees leverage the broader Catalyst Fund and BFA Global ecosystem of resources as well as the external ecosystem you have brought together
• Monitor portfolio performance and generate regular reports on the fund’s performance for LPs.
• Oversee fund administration activities.
• Represent the Catalyst Fund on boards of our investees where appropriate
• Support the growth of upstream initiatives to foster stronger resilience fintech startups entering the pipeline.
• Represent the Catalyst Fund investment team in internal and external forums, positioning us as a leader in technology for resilience and impact investing more broadly.

Qualifications

• 10 - 12 years of experience, preferably in VC or venture-backed tech startups
• Commitment to impact investing in emerging markets.
• Deep transaction experience, preferably in emerging markets.
• Angel, scout, or startup investment experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success in leading early-stage investment processes end-to-end (sourcing, due diligence, negotiation, structuring, execution).
• Relevant stakeholder network among financial investors, grant providers, private and public sector partners, entrepreneur support organizations who are active in tech for resilience and impact investments more broadly.
• Experience with portfolio management, including the facilitation of strategic partnerships, follow-on investment, and exits.
• Advanced degrees preferred.
• Outstanding financial and analytical skills (CFA a plus).
• Intellectually curious with a dedication to go the extra mile.
• Collaborative attitude with a team-first approach.
• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal.
• You can self-manage and prioritize in a fast-paced environment.

Any of the following will be considered a plus:

• Familiarity with financial inclusion and digital financial services innovation for low-income populations, economic development, or social business sector
• Familiarity with local startup ecosystems from first-hand experience
• Familiarity working with different cultures and languages
• Experience with investing in solutions targeting low-income populations and/or in low-connectivity environments (i.e USSD or SMS-based products)
• Spoken and written language proficiency other than English.

Compensation
Commensurate with experience.