Investment Officer – FIG Southern Africa Region at World Bank Group

Roles and Responsibilities:

The roles and responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:

• Handle client relationships and provide insight into sector developments in the subregion to anticipate new investment opportunities and/or performance issues.
• Establish and maintain relationships with mid-level clients and other external stakeholders (government, development partners, WBG) to explore business opportunities.
• Lead investment transactions incorporating lessons learned from IFC’s earlier investments and portfolio management.
• Work with the team on developing new opportunities, managing internal and external stakeholders, investment processing and portfolio management.
• Understanding of industry drivers, business/ market development cycles, and how business performance and long-term competitiveness/viability are measured within industry and how industry dynamics may evolve within a country/ region.
• Capacity to build productive and mutually beneficial relationships/networks internally and externally to identify business opportunities, discuss structuring alternatives, and resolve issues.
• Collaborate in developing client strategies/ engagement plans and pitch books for industry and countries.
• Provide key support, and in some cases lead in identification, appraisal, structuring and negotiation of financial sector investments.
• Analyze operational and financial performance as well as credit and integrity risks of potential clients/projects.
• Build financial models (including for equity valuations), perform due diligence and financial analysis, and/or provide quality control over financial analysis/projections developed by analyst to evaluate benefits and risks of transactions.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders to identify ways to strengthen development impact and financial sustainability of projects.
• Monitor existing investments in portfolio companies, comprising various types of financial entities.
• Review and analyze the financial and operating performance of clients, including covenant compliance reviews and impact reporting; prepare quarterly risk ratings, annual supervision and other management reports as well as country strategy papers, briefs and project profiles.
• Responsible for rating reviews or loan loss reserve on a quarterly basis for the overall assigned portfolio and monitor changes to risk flags to determine performance of assigned portfolio with limited supervision.
• Handle disbursements, waivers and complex client interactions such as restructurings; monitor and value equity investments and recommends/executes the sale of holdings.
• Follow up-with mid and senior level clients to resolve problems on projects.
• Apply knowledge of project/portfolio lifecycle to identify and meet critical path milestones, and to implement tasks (including production of documents) in a timely and high-quality fashion for the processing or supervision of projects.
• Supervise and ensure quality of portfolio reporting information prepared by junior staff, providing broader industry, sub-sector and country perspective into project risks and issues.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in finance, economics or other related areas; accreditation as CFA or CPA is considered a plus.
• At least 7-9 years of relevant experience in the financial sector, with a proven track-record of sourcing, structuring and closing investments preferably both in equity and debt, including Capital Markets.
• Good understanding of the financial and operational characteristics  of commercial banks, insurance companies and other financial intermediaries, including their business drivers, the scope of their operations, and their interests, to be able to successfully engage.
• Clear experience and expertise in identifying, evaluating, structuring and negotiating debt and equity transactions; experience in portfolio management.
• Proven analytical, financial analysis, equity valuation, and financial modelling skills to analyze and form conclusions on company financial information or projects and industry indicators. Able to oversee and provide quality control feedback on financial models prepared by analysts.
• Understanding of credit and non-financial risks associated with projects, and how to satisfactorily mitigate those risks based on understanding of how IFC assesses risk/ reward tradeoffs.
• Ability to draft documents and reports that are concise, well-organized, and appropriately focused on most critical points that are relevant to the target audience.
• Sound business judgment and strong problem solving/negotiation skills, as well as ability to work effectively on simultaneous projects under time pressure.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills in English. Fluency in French is a plus.
• A keen interest in development finance and working in a multicultural environment.