Senior Project Officer II – Agri-Finance 61 views

Position:                                  Senior Project Officer II – Agri-Finance

Term of Employment:           One year with possibility of extension

Duty Station:                           Addis Ababa

Required Number:                 One

Application Deadline:            December 16, 2022

BACKGROUND:

The Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) has been established by the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to Ethiopia’s agricultural development. The Institute does this through problem-solving, implementation support, and capacity building of stakeholders involved in implementation of interventions that address the systemic bottlenecks. 

ATI has an exceptional team of highly competent and committed staff with proven track records of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results. Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great results as an individual and as a member of a team. 

ATI provides a unique platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector. We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our teams with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

The programmatic focus of the Institute responds to a core set of needs identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and other sectors along commodity value chains. Across the programs, the ATI engages public, private, and non-governmental stakeholders to support strategic planning, manage and strengthen implementation capacity and test innovative models. Currently, ATI is tasked to coordinate the revised Agriculture and Rural Development policy agendas of the sector and such sectoral level delegation requires high level expertise in the policy areas and skillsets in coordination and networking with multiple stakeholders.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results. 

At ATI, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY:

AgriHub Project is looking to bring on a Senior Project Officer II – Agri-Finance to oversee AgriHub’s access to finance for the MSMEs it supports and its partnerships with financial institutions. One of the three main success criteria of AgriHub is increasing access to finance for MSMEs the project supports. AgriHub aims to do this by providing support to selected financial institutions to help develop an adapted strategy to provide financial support for agricultural MSMEs.

Expected result for the Access to Finance for Agri-MSNEs (Component 2) is “SMEs have been financed by Banks / MFIs and investments funds for the more mature to develop their business (working capital and asset finance)”.

Achievement of this result is measured by the following key indicators:

– Number of partner Financial Institutions (FI) for the delivery of financial services to agri SMEs.

– Number of SMEs having accessed finance from FIs.

– Volume of loans leveraged through Project support.

– Quality of loan repayment.

– Number of SMEs investees of investment funds (for equity, quasi equity or debt), and volumes of funds invested.

The component is implemented through various approaches and financial mechanisms:

– Implementation of formalized partnerships between ATI and     commercial banks to develop and deliver financial services to agri SMEs.  FIs may benefit through this partnership of Technical Assistance support  and linkages with financial instruments like guarantee schemes and credit lines.

– Partnership with Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) for asset leasing and wholesale financing.

– Linkage with investment funds for equity / quasi equity and long term debt (for large and mature SMEs).

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

The Agrifinance SPOII will be responsible for the implementation and achievement of the expected results of  the component 2 of AgriHub. He will be accountable and report to the AgriHub Project Team Lead. His / her key duties will be:

• Develop expression of interest (EOI) and request for proposals (RFP) for the partnership with financial institutions.
• Contribute to the assessment of the EOI and Proposals by the preselected financial institutions.
• Develop partnership agreements (framework agreement and annual addendum) with the financial institutions and conduct negotiations for signature.
• Identify and facilitate linkages of the partner financial institutions with financial instruments (guarantee schemes, credit lines, etc).
• Develop EOI and RFP for the experts / consultancy firms to me contracted for the technical assistance to the partner financial institutions.
• Support regional Business Advisors and AgriHub HQ team help connect AgriHub enterprises to financial institutions
• Support regional Agrihub teams in guiding and providing orientation on banking services, documentation and organization of financial recording as to make the Agri MSMEs bankable
• Monitor implementation of the agreements with the partnership financial institutions and achievements of contractual targets, through desk review of reports, interaction with the financial institutions management and field visits. Develop tools for the monitoring of the implementation of the agreements.
• Monitor implementation of the Technical Assistance by the contracted experts / consultancy firms.
• Develop the ToRs for a scoping study of the investment funds operating in Ethiopia and supervise the study.
• Organize exchange workshops with the partner financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders to draw lessons and document best practices.
• Work closely with international experts that may be mobilized by ATI to support implementation of the component 2.
• Contribute to activities of component 3 related to access to finance.
• Develop draft annual workplan and budget for the component 2.
• Collect, track, and create materials to disburse learned lessons from AgriHub and best-practices for AgriHub-supported enterprises
• Act as a liaison between all relevant AgriHub stakeholders (e.g. regional teams, project teams, HQ management) on anything related to the AgriHub financing scheme
• Help manage the procurement of any additional AgriHub resources related to the financing scheme
• Provide regular documentation and updates to donors, internal stakeholders, and local government stakeholders
• Any other task as may be requested by AgriHub Project manager.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• MBA, Master’s degree in finance, Banking development, economics, management, accounting, agricultural economics or other relevant
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in the Ethiopian financial sector, RUSACCOs, and NGOs with the focus on projects that facilitates financial provisions to MSMEs and agri-SMEs
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively and collaboratively with a broad range of public and private sector counterparts and other key stakeholders
• Past experience working with international donors
• Fluency in English required

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Excellent and demonstrable in-depth understanding of the dynamics of the Ethiopian agricultural private sector, SME financing, and challenges related to financing agricultural SMEs within Ethiopia
• Track record of successfully working with large financial institutions within Ethiopia
• At least 3 years’ work experience in agricultural finance in the banking sector in Ethiopia.
• Specific work experience in product design for agricultural SME financing
• Demonstrable track record of success with program design, performance management, monitoring, and evaluation;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills