Investment Officer (SADC Water Fund) at Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)

Job Description    

• This position is specific to the SADC Fund for Water Infrastructure and Basic Sanitation. The Investment Officer's responsibilities, under the supervision of the Programme Manager, span a broad spectrum, covering all areas of project origination, investment evaluation and administration and reporting.

Key Responsibilities    
Strategy and Project Origination

• Contribute to the implementation of the strategy.
• Contribute to identifying new clients and prioritise existing key clients based on set criteria (i.e., financial metrics, current and potential revenue and margin) and strategic factors.
• Support the development of a strong project pipeline of good quality investment following the Fund’s investment criteria through proactive origination/ business development and developing and employing sector/ country knowledge within the SADC region.
• Support the development of innovative financing approaches and partnerships.
• Drive project opportunities through to the implementation phase working closely with the SADC project preparation and other preparation facilities to facilitate project preparation, scoping, feasibility studies and business plans to close investment deals.
• Conduct research on clients and develop in-depth knowledge of the water sector regional development landscape in the SADC regions/ clients and partners serviced and leverage such insights/ knowledge across countries and clients.
• Keep abreast of developments, trends and investment opportunities in specific priority sectors and make recommendations to management regarding the competitive dynamics and landscape.

Project Investment Evaluation & Development

• Evaluate the feasibility of investment opportunities/ project transactions to ensure that they are economically and commercially sound prospects for grant and debt financing and the development impact is aligned with the Fund's investment criteria, strategy and mandate.
• Support the development of bankable projects by identifying and mitigating key risk issues by working closely with the Project Manager, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Officer and other specialists.
• Support the development and structuring of proposals to draw in other funding partners.
• Provide value to transactions for the benefit of and/ or the client through knowledge of the subject, innovation, and lateral thinking.
• Coordinate the project Early Assessment and Due Diligence Appraisal in liaison with the Technical Project Manager and ESG Officer.
• Prepare project investment documentation for governance committee submission.
• Work with the Programme Manager, to structure and negotiate the detailed terms of the funding/ investment to drive the approval of project investments.
• Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, drive the investment approval process in its entirety from early review to the relevant approval committees.
• Ensure proposals submitted to the committees are well structured and documented for effective decision making.

Project Investment Administration

• Implement transactions by facilitating the preparation or managing the preparation of complex multiple jurisdiction financing agreements/ documents and compliance with all required procedures, laws, and regulations in liaison with IDD Legal and other specialists.
• Monitor compliance with conditions precedent of financing agreements including engaging beneficiaries on their co-contributions.
• Identify investment risks of the Fund, develop and implement (and/ or coordinate) mitigation measures.
• Support monitoring of the implementation of ongoing projects, including quality and compliance.
• Monitor project disbursement and financial reporting.

Fund Communication and Reporting

• Develop appropriate investment and impact reporting matrices for ongoing projects and regular business reviews.
• Prepare regular partner/ investor reports of the Fund with support from the team.
• Provide input into quarterly Fund reporting, including analysis of the performance of the Fund investments and utilisation of commitments.
• Prepare business overview reports of the Fund.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Revenue performance in terms of interest income and fees generated.
• Delivery on the agreed operations mandate; these include:
• Growth rate in assets of loan book
• Annual disbursements, commitments and approvals
• Quality of loan book
• % of loan book in priority geographies and sectors
• Number of new clients
• Number of potential deals worked on
• Management of client relationships and key stakeholders.

Expertise & Technical Competencies    
TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

Written communication

• Understands that different writing styles are required for different documents or audiences.
• Write effective correspondence, prepares questions and reports, statements of circumstance and briefing notes.
• Reviews others’ documents for clarity and impact.
• Has a solid mastery of writing principles such as grammar, sentence construction etc.

Presentation skills

• Can reinforce key presentation points with examples.
• Is able to translate technical terminology into language understandable to the audience.
• Has insight into the audience’s behavior and motivation and responds appropriately and professionally, adapting communication style as appropriate.

Reporting

• Designs / customizes reports to meet user needs.
• Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report.
• Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs.

Business acumen

• Thinks and plans in future-oriented terms.
• Develops annual business plans that consider longer-term activities, issues, problems or opportunities.
• Develops and establishes broad scale, longer-term objectives, goals or projects (e.g., affecting a business, department, or organisation).

Project Management

• Demonstrates a practical knowledge of project management principles and techniques.
• Plans, defines, and manages projects within a department or area.
• Identifies resources required and their appropriate role and skills.
• Assists in the management of projects where the objectives, milestones and time scales have been defined.

Presentation Skills

• Knows how to deliver arguments persuasively by employing a range of advanced presentation techniques (e.g., the appropriate use of body language, how to close a presentation so that the audience continues to think about the subject matter etc.).
• Has knowledge of various feedback mechanisms to check levels of audience understanding.

Negotiation

• Understands and can apply basic negotiating skills and techniques, e.g. obtaining a full understanding of the other party's agenda and needs before disclosing own perspectives.
• Possesses an understanding of various unspoken communications from other parties and can decipher hidden agendas.
• Is able to successfully conclude negotiations which require the development of an emotional as well as factual argument.
• Is able to develop mutually-beneficial potential solutions.

Minimum Requirements:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Investments, Business Science, Accounting, Economics or other relevant field.
• A minimum of 6 years post-qualification experience in appraising, negotiating and closing project finance, corporate finance, or structured finance transactions in a financial institution.
• A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in originating and/or appraising infrastructure projects.
• Proven/ demonstrated understanding and exposure to infrastructure finance, development finance or wholesale banking.
• Experience in development project origination and financing.
• Demonstrable experience in identifying client challenges and playing an active part in finding innovative solutions.
• Experienced communicator and negotiator.
• Strong negotiation skills with the ability to close deals.

Desirable Requirements

• Master’s degree in Finance / Masters in Business Administration (MBA)/ CA/ CFA.
• Experience working on water infrastructure projects.
• Experience in working with International Financial Institution(IFI) funded programmes in the SADC region.
• Project management and delivery experience.

Required Personal Attributes    
BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

Achievement Orientation

• Delivers work on time and quality and follows through on agreed commitments.
• Views new work experiences as an opportunity for growth.
• Reacts immediately to overcome setbacks or / and obstacles in order to meet goals. Recognises and acts upon current opportunity.
• Make specific changes to systems and processes in order to improve efficiency and quality.
• Formulates own objectives and action plans in order to achieve a measurable improvement in the future.

Conceptual thinking

• Uses knowledge of theory or of different past situation to look at current situation.
• Applies learned concepts across various situations.

Customer Service Orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and matches these needs to available or customized products and services.
• Adapts processes and procedures to meet on-going customer needs.
• Utilises the feedback received by customers, in order to develop new and/or improve existing services/ products that relate to their on-going needs.
• Thinks of new ways to align DBSA’s offerings with future customer needs.

Decisiveness

• Acts promptly to address urgent needs, quickly taking those decisions which need to be taken.
• Assesses available information to reach a clear view of key options and selects the best option at the time.
• Thinks on their feet when necessary.

Integrity

• Publicly admits having made a mistake.
• Speaks out when it may hurt a trust relationship.

Self-awareness and Self-control

• Withholds effects of strong emotions in difficult situations.
• Keeps functioning or responds constructively despite stress.
• May apply special techniques or plan ahead of time to manage emotions or stress.

Driving Delivery of Results

• Sets challenging goals that will have a significant impact on the business or support the organisational strategy.
• Commits significant resources and/or time to ensure that challenging goals are achieved, while also taking action to mitigate risk.

Teamwork and Cooperation

• Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts.
• Creates opportunities for cross-functional working.
• Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.