Lead Investment Relations Specialist at African Development Bank

The Lead Investment Specialist reports to the Senior Director, Africa Investment Forum, in the Office of the President.

The key objectives of the position of Lead Investment Specialist are to:

• Identify and develop defined long-term strategic partnerships and sponsorships with key institutions, organizations and investors, continentally and internationally.
• Provide leadership assistance to the Senior Director in building efficient processes, strategic thinking and a robust engagement strategy for the Africa Investment Forum.

Duties and responsibilities

• Drive and support the Africa Investment Forum platform under the leadership of the Senior Director, of the African Development Bank.
• Build solid AIF work streams with defined outcomes.
• Develop AIF strategic partnerships and sponsorships with the Bank’s stakeholders (private sector, development institutions, government, foundations, etc).
• Support the Senior Director in internal and external engagement plans.
• Strong coordination capacity and the day-to-day running of the office of the Africa Investment Forum.
• Internally, collaborate with all Complexes, Regions and Teams across the Bank to develop the pipeline of private sector and PPPs deals and relationships needed to make the Africa Investment Forum a success and subsequent Forums.
• Lead related investment fora organized by the Bank’s Sector complexes.
• Lead the development and management of strategic relationships and partnerships related to the event management and the technical programme in relation to the Africa Investment Forum. This includes event management company and related companies, host government, media, etc. This includes supervision of the vendors and service providers.
• Contribute towards business and deal flow development in identifying suitable class of investors – DFIs, Institutional investors – Pension Funds, insurance, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Commercial banks, private equity funds.
• Be responsible for expanding the base (attracting/acquiring) of non-traditional investors – Pension Funds, insurance, Sovereign Wealth Fund to the AIF platform, across the AIF platforms, in addition to traditional investors, including on the AIF Digital Platform.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with a network of high net worth sponsors, financiers – Institutional investors, private equity, SWFs, Commercial, DFIs, pension funds, family offices, etc, and .
• Coordinate the Department work program and budget.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master’s degree or equivalent in Management Science, Business Administration, Economics, Finance, International Development, or related discipline.
• Have a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant experience out of which 3 years should be at a managerial level at increasingly senior levels in the knowledge sector, in global institutions, with proven experience in developing countries.
• Public and/or private sector experience
• Experience in building and maintaining very strong and successful partnerships.
• Experience in core initiatives supporting private sector business growth such as resource mobilization.
• Private sector experience in business environment and/or financial sector as well as an experience in interacting with institutional investors is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to lead relevant, meaningful dialogue with proven experience in providing high quality strategic and policy advice at high levels to national governments and private sector entities.
• Strategic mind-set; strong capacity to analyse actions from the perspectives of stakeholders and translate strategic thinking into compelling plans of action and to take prudent business risks to make effective, timely, and well-thought decisions.
• Evidence of ability to build and utilize talent and expertise of motivated and committed teams across functional boundaries in a productive way.
• Demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas; a good listener; and cultural sensitivity, commitment to diversity
• Capacity to initiate and manage innovations and change.
• Range of inter-personal skills and an ability to vary the use of them according to the audience
• Effective consultation and advisory skills coupled with a client orientation
• Strong convening power and techniques with a knowledge of event organization
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English and French
• Demonstrated ability to coach junior staff
• Excellent people management skills and openness to feedback, new ideas, and ability to guide staff to solve problems.
• Strong planning organization and time management skills
• Good capacity for innovation, creativity, and ability to work in a team to solve problem.
• Highly developed negotiation skills proven to yield positive outcomes with counterparts, both internal and external.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software.