Jobs at African Development Bank

The Chief Investment Officer is being recruited to originate, develop, and lead the due diligence up to Board approval, financial closure and first disbursement of private sector transactions in the industries & services sectors. Applicants will be considered based on their specific skills, expertise and background. Depending on the profile of candidates, the position could be based in Abidjan, Tunis, Nairobi or Pretoria.

Duties and responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the Division Manager, the Chief Investment Officer will:

• Project Development and Processing
• Liaise and coordinate with other Investment Officers and Bank staff in business development and the origination of a good quality investment pipeline.
• Proactively identify potential investment partners and opportunities based on industry experience, reputation, market potential, financial capability, and strategic fit;
• Assess the attractiveness of specific investment opportunities with a strong focus on credit quality and development impact and make recommendations management.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with other departments, clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities;
• Prepare project appraisal reports for presentation to the department, review committees, senior management and finally to the Board of Directors.
• Execute loan, [equity, and mezzanine] financings including processing mandates, conducting due diligence, structuring deals, negotiating terms and documentation, arranging syndications, and processing internal approvals.;
• Coordinate with sector colleagues, the internal approvals to proactively find pragmatic solutions to emerging/specific sector challenges.
• Develop investment promotion strategies in Africa, including targeting potential investors and promoting AfDB’s products and services proactively;
• Work with the legal department to ensure that all deals have appropriate legal documentation and that financial close is achieved, and hand over projects to portfolio management staff.
•   Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop a strong pipeline for new investment opportunities.
• Design specific innovative transactions, projects and initiatives
• Undertakes the work on aspects of investments and industrial development and aligns them with institutional objectives.
• Works with regional teams/country offices to design and implement sector development support programs;
• Evaluate, structure, negotiate, and close new transactions, with a strong focus on credit and asset quality (include processing mandates, due diligence, negotiating term sheets and other documentation, syndications and board approval);
• Provide support to other industry and portfolio teams in processing and supervising projects

External Liaison and Knowledge Sharing

• Contribute to the documentation of lessons learned from investment operations and emerging best practices in areas of expertise
• Participate in and contribute to information and experience sharing sessions with internal and external stakeholders
• Participate in and contribute to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building relating to AfDB’s investments/operations, products and initiatives.
• Provide peer review to other colleagues to share industry knowledge and information on respective sector
• Provide technical leadership and support to knowledge and lesson sharing approaches and events with internal and external stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities;

Policy and Project Evaluation

• Provide input and comments on project, policy and other papers related to respective sector operations and development across a range of key themes and sectors.
• Strategy, Planning and Reporting
• Participate in relevant teams for planning and programming purposes.
• Contribute to and coordinate in the investment’s inputs development of strategies at regional level
• Assist in the development of the relevant Department’s knowledge management strategy, and assist in execution of this strategy;
• Coordinate closely with social, environmental, advisory and technical assistance colleagues in order to champion AfDB’s value to our clients’ businesses, find pragmatic solutions to the specific sector challenges, and achieve sustainable development impact;

Selection Criteria

• Must have a minimum of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance or other relevant field;
• Have a minimum of Seven (7) Years professional experience in project finance, banking, consultancy, with specific experience in Africa;
• Ability for business development, structure and negotiate deals;
• Strong analytical and financial structuring skills (including financial modeling experience) and sound business judgment”;
• Working experience in multinational organization in Africa and/or specialized experience in similar organization/s would be considered an advantage
• Demonstrates ability to coordinate, participate in, and act as a catalyst for, strategic cross-sector dialogues within the networks, across the country, among Bank colleagues and other development institutions, governments and other organizations.
• Knowledge of economic developments and market trends in Africa
• Ability to contribute to sound decisions and contribute to the execution of the decisions
• Ability to initiate, effectively and independently interact with the senior government officials, senior management of potential clients
• Strong commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits to the Bank and its clients.
• Excellent problem-solving capabilities applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization.
• Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills
• Proven ability to work with limited supervision and efficiently to deliver under pressure and meet tight deadlines;
• Willingness to travel extensively and geographic flexibility;
• Excellent presentation skills
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing 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)

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The Chief Transaction Support Officer is responsible for leading the Equity and Structuring Support Team that supports and advises Non-Sovereign Operations towards credit enhancement, transaction bankability, and financial sustainability.

S/he is also responsible for (i) Developing structuring approaches in response to the Bank’s specific commercial and legal requirements, including market requirements of co-financiers where the Bank is acting as Mandated Lead Arranger and (ii) Supporting NSO sectors departments to evaluate equity project proposals, teasers, pitch books and financial models to assess their feasibility and readiness for investment by the Bank.

Duties and responsibilities

• Under the supervision of the Division Manager, the Chief Transaction Support Officer will lead the Equity and Structuring Support Team and will perform the following duties:

Structuring:

• Lead and review structuring opinion drafts, present proposed solutions for investments under consideration, clarify the pros and cons of diverse structuring options;
• Coordinate, through written opinions, the drafting and review of finance and project documentation;
• Lead the review of legal and financial terms of potential investments and transactions, with a view of achieving the future secondary sale of assumed exposures to commercial investors, financiers and insurers;
• Coordinate structuring guidance to Investment Officers through active engagement in the presentation to clients/sponsors of financing proposals, negotiation of financing mandates, emphasizing the benefits of loan syndication and co-financing services.
• Develop review tools for transaction structuring in LICs and Fragile countries in particular.
• Act as focal points for the department on PPP related institutional activities.

Equity:

• Lead origination support on equity investment operations of private sector projects, primarily at origination level but also throughout the project cycle;
• Coordinate activities related to the selectivity and arbitration of Equity pipeline;
• Develop Knowledge basis and benchmarking on equity and Supervise asset class business intelligence gathering (market trends, benchmarking, etc.);
• Contribute to the preparation of guidelines and standard related equity investments.
• Review the process and procedures related to Bank’s equity operations;
• Assist the Equity Portfolio Management Team on an ad-hoc basis.

Selection Criteria

• A minimum of a Master’s degree or its university equivalent in Finance or Economics.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant professional experience in the Bank or a similar institution and/or in strategic consultancy, Business development, Private Equity Fund, Asset Management, transaction modeling and in structuring.
• Strong knowledge of equity valuation methods for sector-based investments.
• Strong Experience in investment appraisal, project finance, and/or corporate finance.
• Experience in direct equity investment and private equity funds appraisal.
• First-hand knowledge of financial instruments and techniques.
• Strong experience with Credit enhancement instruments, Private equity, and/or Risk capital is preferred.
• Sound knowledge of tailored products (such as guarantees) for sector-based investments.
•  Experience with aggregation and pooling structures for investors.
• Ability to respond swiftly to new situations and to anticipate new issues.
•  Proven ability to acquire new skills (particularly in legal, investment, Venture capital, Impact investing, technology and innovative sectors).
• Disciplined approach whilst maintaining creativity and lateral thinking for effective problem solving;
• Sense of initiative and innovation in proposing solutions to client needs.
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills.
•  Capacity to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of the Bank’s NSOs ecosystem.
• Solid negotiation skills, diplomacy and credibility to deal with clients at all levels.
• Ability to communicate effectively in written and oral in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

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• The Regional Integration Strategic Framework (RISF) 2018-2025 provides the strategic guidance underpinning the Work Programme ofthe Regional Integration Coordination Office.  The aspirations of the RISF include: (i) bringing the High 5s together in support of AU Vision 2063; (ii) enhancing infrastructure connectivity; (iii) increasing market linkages and connectivity; and (iv) supporting financial integration and inclusion. The objective of the Regional Integration Coordination Office is to implement activities that support regulatory and policy reforms and institutional capacity development to ensure movement of goods and services across borders to facilitate Africa’s economic integration and global trade.
• The Bank is seeking to recruit a Regional Integration Operations Officer primarily to develop the financial integration pillar of the RISF and support upstream interventions for infrastructure projects.   Furthermore the candidate is expected to lead and advise particularly on innovative financial interventions that could finance regional infrastructure operations.  Under the financial integration pillar, the candidate is expected to support the Bank’s work in regional payment systems, capital markets development and infrastructure finance.
• Furthermore, he/she is expected to deepen the Bank’s regional integration analytical and knowledge work, engage with Regional Member Countries, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), other international organizations, and subsidiary institutions of AU and RECs. Within the Bank, the candidate is expected to lead and provide technical support to regional and cross border infrastructure and regional financial  operations, as well as, develop tools and knowledge products that are operationally relevant.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Manager Operations Office and in collaboration with other staff of the department, the incumbent’s duties and responsibilities will be as follows:

• Provide strategic and business leadership of the regional infrastructure and regional financial integration work stream of the department;
• Develop regional integration programmes/projects that are operationally relevant for Bank intervention especially upstream infrastructure interventions, capital markets, payment systems, prioritization of projects, project preparation and capacity building;
• Build and strengthen partnerships coalitions within and outside the Bank, including the private sector, AU, RECs, local institutions, and NGOs;
• Support AU, AUDA,  RECs and RMCs in implementation of their regional integration programmes especially the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) and major continental infrastructure programs as highlighted in the Agenda 2063 across the Bank.;
• Mentor and provide guidance to less experienced staff in the preparation of programmes, analytical work, tools and other products and services;
• Initiate programs for upstream planning, convening, scoping, brokering and coordinating of regional infrastructure (Energy, Transport, Water, ICT.) projects as well as de-risking regional infrastructure to attract PPP and private sector investments, in close collaboration with  Sector and Regional Departments;
• Initiate programs for the transformation of regional transport corridors into economic development corridors;
• Develop framework for harmonization of capital markets and payment systems and resource mobilization mechanisms using capital markets;
• Initiate and implement dialogue on continental and global initiatives including  integration of payment systems and stock exchanges;
• In close collaboration with other departments develop financial instruments for resource mobilisation of regional projects;
• Provide support to other duties as assigned by the Manager operations.

Selection Criteria

• A minimum Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Development Finance, International or related international development fields;
• Strong analytical skills and ability to produce high quality reports;
• At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in development finance, operational experience in Africa is an added advantage;
• A diverse work background in regional integration issues, especially in upstream and finance infrastructure integration issues e.g. project preparation;
• Strong client orientation with commitment to results on the ground;
• Strong operational experience and ability to contribute to strategic thinking and to integrate strategies and policies into Bank programmes/projects;
• Proven ability to conduct research, analyse and produce reports.  Publications on topics related to development finance, project preparation and regional integration would be an added advantage;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and demonstrated ability to communicate ideas effectively;
• Strong leadership skills including the ability to mentor, coach and to work effectively in a matrix management environment, both as a team leader and team member;
• Excellent computer skills: Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.;
• Language skills: proficiency in English and/or French, with a good working knowledge of the other language.