African Guarantee Fund Business Development Officer Job in Nairobi, Kenya

Vacancy: Business Development Officer

Reporting: The Business development Officer reports to the Head of Business development
 

Location: AGF offices in Nairobi, Kenya 

The African Guarantee Fund (AGF): The African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (AGF) is incorporated and licensed in Mauritius as a limited liability company and has its office of operation in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Its products and services provide financial institutions with the means which they can leverage in bringing their African SME financing interventions to the required scale.

The AGF contributes to the promotion of economic development, vital for prosperity, stability and poverty reduction in Africa  through two lines of activity:

a) Provision of a mix of financial guarantees and other products which reduce the risks supported by the financial sector when lending to SMEs that have insufficient collateral. These guarantees contribute to reduce the inability of SMEs to provide acceptable guarantees to financial institutions. Loan Guarantee based on a hybrid approach, Bank’s Fund Raising Guarantee and Equity Guarantees are offered.
 

b) Support for capacity development of the client financial institutions. 

The AGF operates according to market principles and is a commercially viable venture with operations in a number of countries in Africa and its gradually expanding to other countries to cover the whole of Africa. 

The African Development Bank (AfDB) together with the governments of Denmark (through Danida) and Spain (through aecid), are the founding shareholders of AGF. 

Position Summary: The position focuses on implementation of business development strategies and plans to meet the department’s revenue targets and development impacts.

Major duties and Responsibilities

Business Development

• Identify and develop new business proposals to meet the department’s revenue targets and social impacts;
• Use multiple prospecting methods to generate leads, set up sales meetings and pitch appropriate solution-offerings to prospects;
• Assist the HBD to manage the Guarantee process cycle right from Lead Generation, Credit appraisal which include credit / risk rating of the borrower on the basis of business & financial analysis, due diligence and site visits;
• Prepare guarantee requests for the HBD for presentation for approval by the relevant approval bodies;
• Assist the HDD in developing and managing relationships with AGF partner lending institutions to meet their guarantee requirements;
• Assist the HBD to carry out market and competitor analysis as part of gathering market intelligence to inform business decisions;

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Manage assigned projects effectively;
• Manage assigned work teams;

In addition to the above duties, the Business Development Officer may be required to perform other related or unrelated duties based on the company’s needs.

Desirable Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Experiences

• Master’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration;
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in a financial institution with sound understanding of SME lending;
• Demonstrated track record in business development and portfolio management with focus in consultative and solution oriented sales and marketing approaches;
• Demonstrated understanding of guarantee and banking products;
• Good knowledge of CAMELS;
• Demonstrated experience as client-facing staff.
• Ability to compile and report results of activities

Additional eligibility critical competencies and desired characteristics

• Excellent analytical skills;
• Ability to work independently and with teams;
• Self-driven individual with a passion and flair for helping SMEs succeed;
• Excellent IT skills;
• Ability to work in a professionally and culturally diverse setting;
• Willingness to travel;
• Bilingual – Fluent in English and French with ability to read and write.
• Good knowledge of private equity environment is an added advantage.

Eligibility: The position is open to bilingual nationals of any African country.

Terms of Offer: The African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (AGF) is an equal opportunity employer and offers a regionally competitive salary with an excellent benefits package. 

AGF prides itself on its collegial, supportive and gender sensitive working environment and believes that staff diversity promotes excellence. The position is on local employment terms. Women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Applications: Applicants should apply by email, sending a cover letter summarizing their relevance to this position, a full C.V. names and contact information of three referees knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to: 

recruitment@africanguaranteefund.com.

“Application for Business Development Officer - AGF” should be clearly marked on the subject line of the email message. 

Applications will be considered until 5th December 2014 or until the position is filled. 

Only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.
 

We invite you to learn more about us at: www.africanguaranteefund.com