Career Openings at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Principal Investment Officer, SNOU

Reference: ADB / 20 / 112
Location: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50086960

The Complex

• The Senior Vice-Presidency (SNVP) is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results
• The SNVP provides effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions
• The SNVP leads senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions
• The hiring Unit, SNOU reports to the SNVP.

The Hiring Unit:

• The SNOU provides specialized knowledge and services to resolve distressed and underperforming corporate/project finance loans and equity exposures and assists with the identification and management of problem projects on the Bank’s watchlist.
• The SNOU works closely with Portfolio Management and Risk Management to plan, organise, resource and implement the activities related to private sector project identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation and portfolio management.
• SNOU leads “Jeopardy” projects where there is a risk of loss to the Bank and supports portfolio management on “Joint Venture” watchlist projects. Restoring positive operations restructuring Balance Sheets and rescheduling loans to match sustainable debt service capacity is the ideal outcome, returning the project to portfolio management. Other outcomes may range from one-time cash settlements to exit (severing the Bank’s relationship before potential adverse PR associated with failure and job losses) debt for equity and warrant conversions of excess unsustainable debt (to preserve the Bank’s upside value after improvements) through to enforcement of collateral and business or asset sales.
• SNOU carefully balances purely commercial remedies against the development, social and environmental mandate of the Bank when assessing resolution strategies, whilst managing the overall reputation of the Bank.
• In addition to managing the unit’s portfolio of underperforming projects, SNOU also shares key lessons learned and promotes “early warning signs” across front office teams to identify and react to problems when they start, not just when the projects are deeply impaired. This preserves value for the Bank and keeps Non-Performing Loans, loan arrears and provisions to a minimum and assists with improving the quality of investments at entry.

The Position

• The Investment Officer will utilize in-depth knowledge and experience to deliver resolution strategies for problem projects and demonstrate strong leadership skills for direct reports in the Unit as well as internal and external interaction and consensus-building.
• S/he leverages the prior project knowledge from portfolio managers who can be highly valuable temporary members of a tailored SNOU Jeopardy or Joint Venture team and will bring a new vision and objective thinking to decide on the best path forward for the underperforming project
• S/he will lead others in the rapid diagnosis of distressed situations and design and implement optimal rehabilitation and exit strategy; take into account the unique characteristics and issues for each project.
• The incumbent may also be invited from time to time to observe the Credit Risk Committee (CRC) investment process and Board Approval process in order to bring his or her experience to the attention of the Bank. S/he will also represent the Bank professionally with external parties, including auditors/advisors/consultants, Government representatives, Co-investors, Central Banks, Regulators and also at technical and DFI conferences.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the Head of Unit (SNOU), the Investment Officer will undertake the following:

• Monitor the financial and operational performance of impaired projects, offer recovery solutions and effect execution and implementation of agreed workout strategies;
• Prepare regular reports as required on all project resolution activities;
• Identify Lessons Learned to disseminate SNOU’s workout experience to other investment departments within the Bank to assist Portfolio Management to identify warning signs at an earlier stage and improve quality at entry;
• Preparation of financial forecasts and perform cash flow analysis to determine the debt carrying capacity of borrowers and the return potential for equity investments, participate in due diligence of companies and determine, document and present options for approaching investment resolutions (e.g. trade sale, restructuring, refinancing, turnaround, workout, enforcement and insolvency processes, debt for equity swaps or any other rescue approaches);
• Conduct business reviews to understand the issues facing companies and offering practical solutions; interact with accountants, legal, financial and sectoral consultants; interact with senior management of investee companies; liaise with other co-investors and DFIs and construct financial and valuation models with sensitivities as required;
• Prepare action plans and different resolution options for each non-performing or impaired investee company for the SNOU Head and other team members to present to the internal CRC including recommended strategies to resolve and optimise problem investments whilst understanding the need to protect the over-arching developmental mandate of the Bank and minimise any reputational fall-out.
• Prepare internal papers and memoranda for investment proposals.

Selection Criteria

• A Master’s Degree in Economics, Business Administration, Finance or related discipline.
• Professional qualifications in Accounting, Legal or Banking are a strong advantage.
• A minimum of six (6) years of relevant progressive experience.
• Formal insolvency practitioner license/membership of professional trade bodies is a strong advantage.
• Demonstrable track record and professional experience of working either in a workout or recovery team for a bank or financial institution; or having worked for a major accounting or consulting firm advising clients on workouts, restructurings or non-performing investments or portfolios.
• Diverse experience both geographically and sectorally of investing and divesting across different types and sizes of businesses. International investment experience is a must.
• Experience with Private Equity Funds adding value to investments and/or Project Finance would be an advantage
• Ability to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of incumbent management teams, making recommendation on how to change or improve teams in investee companies.
• Sound business judgment, with creative problem-solving skills and ability to think laterally in order to solve problems; and the ability to apply innovative approaches and new methods to solve problems while remaining efficient in a fast-paced, changing and challenging institutional environment.
• Strong analytical and modelling capabilities and ability to lead transactions from inception to completion.
• Advanced corporate negotiating and influencing skills in workout and investment situations.
• Solid experience in project management and cross-functional working with diverse teams.
• Possess the necessary team skills required to lead specialized teams and analyze actions from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to make effective and timely, well-determined recommendations or decisions.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to deliver results that meet the needs and interests of clients within and outside the Institution. Understanding cultural sensitivities is key to this role
• Ability to operate effectively in a matrix management environment, both as team leader and team member.
• Ability to deal sensitively in a multi-cultural environment and build effective working relations with clients and colleagues.
• Demonstrates integrity, Sound judgment, and highest ethical standards.
• Excellent written and verbal communications in English or French, with a working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint). Ability to provide strategic advice to the Bank on emerging financial and development issues, as well as corporate issues.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Job Title: AFAWA Officer – Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (For West & North Africa), AHGC0

Reference: ADB/20/114
Location: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4

The Complex
The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The complex objectives are:

• To develop, policy and strategy;
• Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions;
• Develop new financing instruments;
• The Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department:

• Within the Complex, the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is designed to improve coherence and coordination across Complexes on Gender and Civil Society Organization issues. The Department ensures strategic priorities are reflected in resources allocation, enhances monitoring and management of performance, and strengthens the focus on results.
• The Department also houses a number of special initiatives including the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a flagship program of the Bank that aims to bridge the gender gap in access to finance and unleash women’s entrepreneurial capacity across the continent. AFAWA’s holistic approach focuses on 3 pillars: (a) access to finance, leveraging AfDB’s various instruments such as lines of credit, equity investments and risk sharing mechanisms, (b) technical assistance, to financial institutions as well as women entrepreneurs, and (c) policy dialogue to reform the legal and regulatory frameworks affecting women businesses.

The Position

• The Principal AFAWA Officer will be based in ABIDJAN, CÔTE D’IVOIRE, under the supervision of the AFAWA Program Coordinator and the leadership of the Director, Gender Women and Civil Society Department.
• The Principal AFAWA Officer will work on the design, structure and implementation of operations under the access to finance and Technical Assistance (TA) / Capacity Building pillars of AFAWA.
• He / She will deliver substantial, innovative and measurable results related to increasing access to financial services and markets for women-owned SMEs and support the knowledge and learning agenda for banking women-owned SMEs. Given the importance of the enabling environment to enhance access for women-owned SMEs, the Principal AFAWA Officer will oversee and monitor progress on the pillar working in close collaboration with the regional gender specialist and the AFAWA Enabling Environment Officer.
• The AFAWA Officer should have extensive experience in SME and Gender Finance/Gender Lens investing or related consulting services and be familiar with designing, implementing and managing banking advisory programs.
• He / she will have a deep understanding and practical experience working with key banking operations and have strong capabilities in data management and analytics.
• He / She will also contribute to the AFAWA team’s knowledge management initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities
The AFAWA Operations Officers under the oversight of the AFAWA Coordinator (AHGC.0), will perform the following duties and have the following responsibilities:

Business Development:

• Working closely with the Private Sector Finance Department and other relevant Bank departments, organize / participate in business development missions through market analyses and meetings with existing and potential clients to identify potential areas for AFAWA support to increase access to financial services for women. This will include pipeline identification and participation in client due diligence and appraisal, identification of technical assistance and capacity building support
• Prepare AFAWA TA pitch books and project proposals approval reports including project objectives, scope of work, key deliverables, timelines, budget and expected outcomes and impacts with input from the client and relevant Bank Departments
• Participate in drafting donor proposals and securing funding for AFAWA programs as needed.
• Work closely with Digital Financial Services to design and implement projects to facilitate women-owned SME’s access to digital finance and the digital economy.
• Contribute to tools and standards to further enhance the Bank’s ability to deliver strong and impactful access to finance and markets programs for women entrepreneurs on the continent.

Design Implementation and Quality Assurance:

• Participate in the review of both lending and non-lending projects within the ambit of the AFAWA Program, strengthen the provision of operational inputs for the mainstreaming of AFAWA key performance indicators, including the identification of women entrepreneurship indicators and development outcomes and specific technical assistance activities.
• Work closely with the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department, as well as the Financial Sector, Private Sector and other Sector Departments (notably the Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department), to harmonize the integration of AFAWA in Bank’s operations
• Provide market intelligence on the women’s market and business case for investing in women; recommend innovative and operational products/toolkits with the aim of addressing adequately the challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing finance and markets and achieve the objective of AFAWA.
• Have overall responsibility for project AFAWA technical assistance and capacity building design at client level, including scope of work definition, timeline and budget setting, outcome target setting, stakeholder identification and mapping, terms of Reference development including procurement of experts and coordination essential to the implementation of AFAWA projects.
• Manage client relations through open and regular communications to assess progress and satisfaction; anticipate and respond to client needs
• Prepare and draft internal and external project documents and reports e.g., project documents, mission reports, project supervision and completion documents
• Monitor and review project implementation, scope of work and resources deployed, to ensure project qualitative and quantitative milestones are achieved, and corrective actions taken when necessary, provide project updates for internal and external audiences
• Meet with clients on a regular basis to assess project progress; continually anticipate and respond to client needs to ensure client satisfaction
• Supervise consultant work to ensure high quality and on-time delivery of work program
• Contribute to research and knowledge management events and publications
• Perform analysis of client-related data and information to derive insights
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master’s degree or equivalent in Development Finance, Business, Economics, or related field; relevant qualification in investment appraisal and project finance is a plus.
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of SME finance experience, with track record in banking women-owned or led Enterprises – experience in developing gender financing products is an asset.
• Good command of undertaking comprehensive due diligence and clients’ portfolio data analysis as well as SME Banking practices;
• Experience in financial and investment policy engagement, particularly in relation to inclusive finance and women’s access to credit.
• Experience in designing and leading technical assistance and capacity building programs for SMEs and more specifically women-owned SMEs.
• Good understanding of Human Centered Design methodology is a plus
• Strong client relationship management skills, including the ability to develop and maintain mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships with senior management and ensure timely and appropriate follow-up
• Ability to identify possible shortcomings of clients (and to propose solutions, formulated through detailed technical assistance proposals.
• Demonstrate strong analytical and reporting skills.
• Ability to perform in non-traditional sectors and work autonomously within deadline.
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English and French. Working knowledge of Arabic is an asset.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Job Title: Afawa Officer – Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (For Central Africa & Nigeria), AHGC0

Reference: ADB/20/113
Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50093595

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department:

• Within the Complex, the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is designed to improve coherence and coordination across Complexes on Gender and Civil Society Organization issues. The Department ensures strategic priorities are reflected in resources allocation, enhances monitoring and management of performance, and strengthens the focus on results.
• The Department also houses a number of special initiatives including the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a flagship program of the Bank that aims to bridge the gender gap in access to finance and unleash women’s entrepreneurial capacity across the continent. AFAWA’s holistic approach focuses on 3 pillars: (a) access to finance, leveraging AfDB’s various instruments such as lines of credit, equity investments and risk-sharing mechanisms, (b) technical assistance, to financial institutions as well as women entrepreneurs, and (c) policy dialogue to reform the legal and regulatory frameworks affecting women businesses.

The Position

• The Principal AFAWA Officer will be based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, under the supervision of the AFAWA Program Coordinator and the leadership of the Director, Gender Women and Civil Society Department.
• The Principal AFAWA Officer will work on the design, structure and implementation of operations under the access to finance and Technical Assistance/Capacity Building pillars of AFAWA.
• He/She will deliver substantial, innovative and measurable results related to increasing access to financial services and markets for women-owned SMEs and support the knowledge and learning agenda for banking women-owned SMEs.
• Given the importance of the enabling environment to enhance access for women-owned SMEs, the Principal AFAWA Officer will oversee and monitor progress on the pillar working in close collaboration with the regional gender specialist and the AFAWA Enabling Environment Officer.
• The AFAWA Officer should have extensive experience in SME and Gender Finance/Gender Lens investing or related consulting services and be familiar with designing, implementing and managing banking advisory programs.
• He/she will have a deep understanding and practical experience working with key banking operations and have strong capabilities in data management and analytics.
• He/She will also contribute to the AFAWA team’s knowledge management initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities
The AFAWA Operations Officers under the oversight of the AFAWA Coordinator (AHGC.0), will perform the following duties and have the following responsibilities:

Business Development:

• Working closely with the Private Sector Finance Department and other relevant Bank departments, organize/participate in business development missions through market analyses and meetings with existing and potential clients to identify potential areas for AFAWA support to increase access to financial services for women. This will include pipeline identification and participation in client due diligence and appraisal, identification of technical assistance and capacity building support
• Prepare AFAWA TA pitch books and project proposals approval reports including project objectives, scope of work, key deliverables, timelines, budget and expected outcomes and impacts with input from the client and relevant Bank Departments
• Participate in drafting donor proposals and securing funding for AFAWA programs as needed.
• Design and implement projects to facilitate women-owned SME’s access to  value chains and markets.
• Contribute to tools and standards to further enhance the Bank’s ability to deliver strong and impactful access to finance and markets programs for women entrepreneurs on the continent.

Design Implementation and Quality Assurance:

• Participate in the review of both lending and non-lending projects within the ambit of the AFAWA Program, strengthen the provision of operational inputs for the mainstreaming of AFAWA key performance indicators, including the identification of women entrepreneurship indicators and development outcomes and specific technical assistance activities.
• Work closely with the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department, as well as the Financial Sector, Private Sector and other Sector Departments (notably the Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department), to harmonize the integration of AFAWA in Bank’s operations
• Provide market intelligence on the women’s market and business case for investing in women; recommend innovative and operational products/toolkits with the aim of addressing adequately the challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing finance and markets and achieve the objective of AFAWA.
• Have overall responsibility for project AFAWA technical assistance and capacity building design at client level, including scope of work definition, timeline and budget setting, outcome target setting, stakeholder identification and mapping, terms of Reference development including procurement of experts and coordination essential to the implementation of AFAWA projects.
• Manage client relations through open and regular communications to assess progress and satisfaction; anticipate and respond to client needs
• Prepare and draft internal and external project documents and reports e.g., project documents, mission reports, project supervision and completion documents
• Monitor and review project implementation, scope of work and resources deployed, to ensure project qualitative and quantitative milestones are achieved, and corrective actions taken when necessary, provide project updates for internal and external audiences
• Meet with clients on a regular basis to assess project progress; continually anticipate and respond to client needs to ensure client satisfaction
• Supervise consultant work to ensure high quality and on-time delivery of work program
• Contribute to research and knowledge management events and publications
• Perform analysis of client-related data and information to derive insights
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development Finance, Business, Economics, or related field; relevant qualification in investment appraisal and project finance is a plus.
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of SME finance experience, with track record in banking women-owned or led Enterprises – experience in developing gender financing products is an asset.
• Good command of undertaking comprehensive due diligence and clients’ portfolio data analysis as well as SME Banking practices;
• Experience in financial and investment policy engagement, particularly in relation to inclusive finance and women’s access to credit.
• Experience in designing and leading technical assistance and capacity building programs for SMEs and more specifically women-owned SMEs.
• Good understanding of Human Centered Design methodology is a plus
• Strong client relationship management skills, including the ability to develop and maintain mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships with senior management and ensure timely and appropriate follow-up
• Ability to identify possible shortcomings of clients (and to propose solutions, formulated through detailed technical assistance proposals.
• Demonstrate strong analytical and reporting skills.
• Ability to perform in non-traditional sectors and work autonomously within deadline.
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English and French. Working knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is an asset.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online