African Guarantee Fund Credit Officer Job in Nairobi, Kenya

Vacancy: Credit Officer
 

Reporting: The Credit Officer reports to the Risk Manager. 

Position 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 supporting the Risk Manager in conducting risk assessment of guarantee approval requests presented by implementing the risk policies and procedures.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct Credit Risk assessment of guarantee approval requests (GAR) presented.
• Discuss the GAR both with Business Development Officers and Risk Manager
• Highlight all identified risks and make risk mitigation strategies recommendations including proposing of conditions and covenants.
• Monitor utilization of guarantee limits and facilities covered under the guarantees
• Ensure conditions and covenants of approvers are complied with and are appropriately captured in the guarantee agreements.
• Follow-up on all outstanding information and documentation required for Risk Departments day-to-day operations.
• Support Risk Manager in the implementation of the Risk processes and procedures
• Compile regular and ad-hoc risk reports as required
• Perform other duties allocated to him/her by the Risk Manager

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

Desired Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills & Experiences

• Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Accounting, Finance, or Business administration;
• A Minimum of five (5) years’ experience in Credit Risk department of a bank or financial institution that is a credit provider. Experience in FI Credit Analysis and/or in SME Credit analysis is an added advantage.
• Good financial analysis skills
• Demonstrated understanding of insurance, guarantee and bonding facilities
• Demonstrated track record in business development and portfolio management.
• Demonstrated understanding of guarantee and banking products;
• Ability to compile and report results of activities

Additional eligibility critical Competencies and desired characteristics

• Excellent analytical and IT skills;
• Ability to work independently and with teams;
• Self-driven individual with a passion and flair for helping SMEs succeed;
• 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.

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 Credit 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