Program Officer – Inclusive Finance at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

• Under its 5-year strategy, AGRA aims to catalyze and sustain an Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa to increase incomes and improve food security for 30 million farmers. In support of the 2017-2021 strategy of AGRA and the Agricultural Transformation agenda of its 14 focus countries, AGRA’s Inclusive Finance strategy seeks to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, farmers and agro-SMEs that seek financial services, and on the other hand, providers and supporters of agricultural finance by:
•  Providing technical support to country governments in developing and deploying blended finance facilities that grow the agricultural finance sector in their countries.
•  Providing agro-SMEs with business development services that improve their access to appropriate financial services, while in parallel, catalyzing and promoting de-risking mechanisms such as value chain finance, guarantee mechanisms and challenge funds for providers of financial services.
•  Providing smallholder farmers with access to appropriate financial products that make them more resilient, by accelerating the development and growth of digital financial products and branchless delivery mechanisms.
• AGRA seeks to strengthen its Inclusive Finance team with an experienced and exceptional individual in the position of Program Officer, Inclusive Finance based in Accra, Ghana or Abuja, Nigeria

Position Summary

•  Reporting to the Regional Head for West Africa and the Head of Inclusive Finance Team (technically), the Program Officer will be responsible for the implementation of the Inclusive Finance strategy in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo) and for contributing to the Inclusive Finance team in furthering the development of its strategy, resources and interventions to make finance work for the agricultural transformation in Africa.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

AGRA’s core activities arePartnership and Grant Development, this means that the Program Officer in close collaboration with Inclusive Finance team and country teams will:

•  Engage with Government in the 4 countries to identify opportunities for blended finance instrument deployment to grow the availability of agricultural finance in the country.
•  Identify potential partners (Financial institutions and Value Chain Actors) for improving Access to Financial Services for Agribusinesses and Smallholder Farmers using the AGRA models for agricultural finance.
•  Identify potential partners for Business Development Services delivery to Agribusinesses that AGRA has invested in view of graduating them to become bankable or investment ready.
•  Develop tri-partite relationships (AGRA – Financial Institution – Donor/investors) to facilitate delivery of local financial solutions to AGRA beneficiaries (SMEs and farmers) and other agribusinesses and financial institutions in the 4 focus countries.
•  Pro-actively contribute to Resource Mobilization for AGRA in the 6 focus countries.
•  Establish and maintain network in agricultural finance and stay abreast of market developments to proactively disseminate knowledge & experience to AGRA’s partners and other stakeholders in Africa.
•  Representing AGRA in Inclusive Finance platforms that include stakeholders such as financial institutions, agribusinesses, farmers’ representative bodies, research institutions, donors and investors, international organizations.

Qualification Required & Experience

Key Qualifications and Experience Required:

•  Master’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, (Agricultural) Economics or a related field and 10 to 15 years of experience in agricultural finance and/or financial management of agribusinesses.
•  Demonstrated experience of having worked with financial institutions, agribusinesses and national and local governments in the West African region as trusted advisor and partner in agricultural finance.
•  Demonstrated experience and responsibility in growing an agri-business in terms of turnover, financial management capability, profitability and asset size is an added advantage.
•  Be entrepreneurial with a demonstrated capacity for working effectively within multi-disciplinary teams for collective success.
•  Ability to excite others about new opportunities and news ways of furthering financial access for smallholder farmers.
•  Excellent communication skills in writing and speaking in both English and French.