African Guarantee Fund Senior Business Development Officer Job in Nairobi Kenya

Vacancy: Senior Business Development Officer

Reporting: The Senior Business Development Officer reports to the Head of Business Development. 
 

Position Location: AGF offices in Nairobi, Kenya with frequent travels

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: Under the supervision and guidance of the HOBD,the Senior Business Development Officer supports the HOBD in the Implementation of AGF’s business development strategies and plans to meet the department’s targets.

Major Responsibilities
Business Development

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

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Manage assigned projects effectively;
• Manage assigned work teams including coaching and mentoring staff within the department;
• Supervises Business development officers assigned to you.

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

Desired Qualifications, knowledge, skills & Experiences

• Masters’ degree in finance, or business administration or related field;
• 7 years’ experience in a professional or technical role in the Financial services or Banking sector;
• Experience in bank financing (specifically SME), including 3 years in a management role in the financial services sector;
• Sound understanding of SME lending and the SME context in Africa;
• Demonstrated track record in the banking industry in portfolio management with focus in consultative and solution oriented sales and marketing approaches;
• Strong marketing skills
• Demonstrated understanding of guarantee products;
• Good knowledge of CAMELS;
• Demonstrated experience as client-facing staff.
• Ability to compile and report results of activities

Additional eligibility competences and desired characteristics

• Self-driven individual with a passion and flair for helping SMEs succeed;
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and management skills;
• Excellent marketing and IT skills;
• Excellent negotiation and problem solving skills;
• Detail oriented and systematic with a high level of accuracy;
• Ability to work in a professionally and culturally diverse setting;
• Willingness to travel;
• Bilingual – fluent in English and French.

Eligibility: The position is open to bilingual candidates of any 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. 

The employment contract is for an initial period of three (3) years with the possibility of renewal. AGF prides itself on its collegial, supportive and gender sensitive working environment and believes that staff diversity promotes excellence. 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 Senior 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