Principal Risk Mitigation Product Officer at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank (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 Risk Mitigation Product Officer

Reference: 50093748
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: ADB/17/371

The Complex

• The Vice-Presidency for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization is central to the Bank’s mission of developing the private sector, improving infrastructure and accelerating industrialization.
• The complex main functions are to (i) strengthen the enabling environment for private sector [and financial sector] development conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development, (ii) support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including cities and urban development, and (iii) place renewed emphasis on industrial and trade performance in support of structural transformation across Africa.
• The Complex leverages knowledge, co-financing, and partnerships to attract private capital and work with governments on delivering the Bank’s development agenda.

The Hiring Department

• The role of the Bank’s Private Sector Development Department is to promote private sector in Regional Member Countries, ensuring that it plays a central role in laying the foundations in the development role of the Bank, in line with the Bank’s 10 Year Strategy and HI 5 initiatives.
• As part of the Private Sector Development Department, the Strategy and Transaction Support Division is responsible for preparing strategies, policies, guidelines, and analytical tools relevant to the private sector development; it also ensures global client management and undertakes specialized assignments for the Regions and the Sectors.
• It also provides ad hoc advice on transaction bankability and structuring of transactions.

The Position
The purpose of the job is as follows:

• Provide assistance to institutional counter-parties in the design and use of products aimed at scaling up Bank’s Non-Sovereign Operations development impact while mitigating risks;
• Encourage enhanced private sector investment in Africa through effective use of the Bank’s risk mitigation products;
• Conduct business ecosystem assessment including by sector.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the general guidance and supervision of the Chief Private Sector Strategy Officer, the Principal Risk Mitigation Product Officer will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Improve risk allocation through better use of risk mitigation instruments in infrastructure and real economy; and for all markets (from middle-income to post-conflict countries);
• Improve technical capacity of staff from Operations, in using risk mitigation products and more generally across stakeholders such as governments, banks and other private sector investors.
• Improve knowledge of potential investors of new products and risk mitigation instruments offered by the Bank.
• Optimize the use of risk capital deployed by the Bank in private sector transactions, in line with the Bank’s policies and guidelines.
• Contribute actively to the work conducted by the other Bank’s departments, with rating agencies, to explore possibility of using new products and mechanisms to boost private sector development,
• Perform capacity building trainings for Investment Officers (IOs), business partners and other stakeholders
• Disseminate and communicate best practices.
• Perform market testing and pipeline building for pilot transactions;
• Participate in due diligence on new products/programmes, conducted by concerned Bank’s departments.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master's degree or its equivalent in Finance or Economics.
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience in the Bank or a similar institution and/or in strategic consultancy, business development.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Disciplined approach whilst maintaining creativity and lateral thinking for effective problem solving;
• Sense of initiative and innovation in proposing solutions to client needs.
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills.
• First-hand knowledge of financial instruments and techniques.
• Strong experience with Credit enhancement instruments.
• Sound knowledge of tailored products (such as guarantees) for sector based investments.
• Experience with aggregation and pooling structures for investors.
• Ability to respond swiftly to new situations and to anticipate new issues.
• Proven ability to acquire new skills (particularly in legal, investment, risk capital, technology and innovative sectors).
• Proven ability to integrate socio, environmental and economic indicators in the model.
• Capacity to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of the Bank’s NSOs ecosystem.
• Solid negotiation skills, diplomacy and credibility to deal with clients at all levels.
• Builds talent and capability inside the organization through coaching, mentoring, training, developmental assignments and knowledge sharing.
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint). Knowledge of SAP is desirable.

Application Closing Date
23rd August, 2017.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online