Astron Energy Development Fund - Investment Analyst at Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.

The role requires (but is not limited to):

• Interactions with applicants to assess their strategic fit with the Fund Mandate
• The ability to independently perform a high-level investment analysis to make a recommendation to support the requested funding and/or business development support.
• Oversight of the implementing partners performing due diligence and preparing the Investment Memorandum for presentation to the Investment Committee
• Investment Committee scheduling, logistics, agenda, pre-read, minutes and action item tracking
• Applicant Award or Decline notifications.
• Preparation of Funding Requests from the main funder and payment instruction to vendors
• Post investment monitoring
• Preparing social media content on the progress of the programme
• The ability to develop a tangible pipeline of future deals.
• The establishment of an AEDF Community via networking and other events
• The need to manage various tasks, role players and applicants simultaneously.
• Reporting to numerous internal and external stakeholders on Programme progressDesigning and executing monthly / quarterly / annual reports and funding requests:
• Support HOF with designing and providing monthly / quarterly / annual progress reports to the AEDF board, AE as the main funder and various external stakeholders
• Ensure timely distribution of monthly financial management reports to the AEDF board
• Work with HOF to monitor delivery against the AE SLA contract
• Prepare quarterly Funding Requests from AE (based on cash flow forecast requirements)
• Assist with the annual business planning process by providing the required 5 year financial forecasts for the economic development programmes

Assist with Board Meeting and Governance Committee preparation:

• Ensure timely distribution of board decks, minutes & action items from board meetings
• Ensure timely distribution of Investment Committee decks, minutes & action items from I/C meetings
• Monitor action items to completion
• Ensure timely preparation and distribution of decks for internal AE governance meetings as well as the completion of any action items from these meetings

Timely meetings with Applicants:

• Schedule timely meetings with applicants whose applications are 100% complete and passed quality control
• Obtain additional information required to make a proposal to HOF to continue with the application or decline it
• Prepare the business case for the financial and/or non-financial support within 3 days of the application being received from the Procurement Team
• Submit the KYC to the AE Compliance Team
• Submit the completed application to HOF for review
• Monitor HOF for timely decisions
• Handover approved applications to the Implementing partner for DD

Monthly Implementing Partner Engagements:

• Schedule monthly progress meetings with Implementing Partners
• Source monthly progress reports from Implementing Partners
• Ensure action items are completed on a timely basis
• Compile monthly non-financial progress reports for HOF

Ensure AEDF Sharepoint is correctly structured, has all the relevant latest information and access control is strictly managed:

• Signed contracts (Directors, IP’s, AE)
• Board decks, minutes & action items
• Investment Committee decks, minutes & action items
• CIPC & Legal documents (GAR, CIPC, Board Resolutions, Letterheads, etc)
• Internal Governance documents (DOA, Policies, Procedures and Guidelines, etc.)
• AEDF loan applicants and their supporting documents
• AEDF BDS applicants and their supporting documents

Monthly Monitoring meetings with internal or external stakeholders:

• Arrange monthly meetings to provide feedback on company applications in the pipeline
• Obtain input into any new applications that can be expected

Documenting processes, control and procedures:

• Support HOF to finalise the documentation of the AEDF processes (application to funding award, flow of funds from AE to AEDF)
• Amendments to the Investment Committee Terms of Reference

Monitoring the impact of the Programme:

• Develop metrics to measure the impact of the investments made
• Appointment an M&E Specialist to independently verify the outcomes are as expected
• Implement gap closure plans for any gaps to be mitigated

Assist with administrative tasks:

• Process invoices in ARIBA or via Manual Payments as required
• Support HOF with other ad hoc administrative tasks

Collaborative working relationships:

• This role requires the ability to manage the delivery of tasks by people who do not have any direct reporting relationship to the role
• These people are both internal to AE and external to our implementing partners and other key stakeholders
• Being able to influence outcomes via relationship management is very important

Professional Qualification and Certifications:

• Finance university degree with 5 years work experience

Work Experience:

• Development Fund, Venture Capital, financial services, or credit analyst experience in a large corporate environment
• Supplier or Enterprise Development experience
• Work experience must demonstrate the skills required to perform this job.
• Strong process and controls experience as the fund is newly established and still stabilizing its processes

Knowledge and skills:

• Must be able to work independently with the ability to manage multiple tasks, role players and applications simultaneously.
• Strong financial analysis skills required to make a recommendation to support requested funding or business development support grant.
• Have a continuous improvement mindset to drive efficiencies and a smoother experience for applicants.
• Excellent English communication, interpersonal, report writing and presentation skills with the ability to work collaboratively across multiple disciplines, managerial boundaries and stakeholders.
• Analytical and logical, ability to create value by identifying and driving alternative and efficient approaches appropriate to the situation at hand; solutions orientated thinker.
• The successful candidate must be passionate about real SMME development and South African nation building, be proactive and use their initiative to solve problems, have strong communication skills and be focused on execution and meeting deadlines.