Principal Investment Officer (Equities) - Midrand at Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)

Job Description    

• The Principal Investment Officer (Equities) is responsible for the implementation of the Bank’s equity investment strategy,  ideation, identification, appraisal and implementation of new equity investment opportunities in key strategic sectors and investment themes.

Key Responsibilities    
Investment and Loan Transactions

• Ideate and identify new equity investment opportunities in key strategic sectors / investment themes.
• Execute equity investment projects in the relevant mandated areas.
• Support the coordination and collaboration of investment initiatives through information exchanges and
• collaboration with relevant divisions of the Bank, to achieve targets and objectives.
• Evaluate the feasibility of equity investment transactions with a view to ensuring that they are commercially
• sound prospects for equity financing and are aligned to the DBSA’s strategy and mandate.
• Undertake project due diligence and approval processes, with emphasis on ensuring key economic, financial,
• technical, and legal issues are considered and mitigants incorporated in the financing structure and legal
• documents.
• Conduct due diligence of opportunities and preparation of investment appraisals for approval by the Investment Committees.
• Provide innovative and flexible financial structures for complex transactions.
• Facilitate deal closure by taking responsibility for optimal financial, institutional, and legal structuring.
• Negotiation and review of equity investment agreements and project documents.
• Develop and maintain investment models, portfolio data, and supporting analytics.
• Undertake continuous research and provide recommendations on significant developments, emerging
• opportunities, and challenges in areas of responsibility.
• Conduct research and provide recommendations on significant developments, emerging opportunities and
• challenges in areas of responsibility and present findings to internal and external stakeholders.

Equity Portfolio Performance

• Facilitate strong investment performance and value addition in the equity investment portfolio.
• Coordinate the implementation of equity investments and monitor the performance of equity investment projects through progressive investment and income reports; monitor collection and recording of income on equity investments.
• Oversee disbursements to approved projects as well as monitor a project’s progress post investment.
• Draft, review and submit of quarterly portfolio reports for the Investment Committee and Investors.
• Identify key risks facing the portfolio and implement mitigating strategies / policies.

Relationship Management

• Build and manage relationships with key internal and external clients to increase the Bank’s reach, equity
• investments and loans transactions.
• Provide reports and information to potential clients and document the same to provide information on customer requirements/ areas of interest.
• Engage with financial intermediaries to offer new products and access new markets that help further DBSA’s
• mission.
• Identify clients’ pain points together with the front-line divisions and coordinate DBSA’s solution offerings to
• address them.
• Network and maintain relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to further develop specific
• investment opportunities.
• Provide value to the Division for the benefit of and/or the client through knowledge of the subject, innovation,
• and lateral thinking.
• Mentor, coach and advise Senior Investment Officers and Investment Officers on transactions and provide key
• knowledge on investments and various areas of the equity function to aid their development.
• Undertake other tasks as assigned by the line manager, from time to time.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Value and number of project approvals, commitments, and disbursements.
• Value of infrastructure catalysed.
• Quality of equity investment book (e.g., NPL ratio).
• % of equity book in priority geographies and sectors.
• Number of transactions that are committed for DBSA funding to black-owned entities (50% shareholding and above) and fund managers.
• Number of jobs created or "to be created" by projects - Direct and Indirect jobs.
• Quality of signed agreements / mandates.
• Implementation of strategic initiatives.
• Clients and Stakeholders service rating.
• Demonstration of thought leadership and a recognised expert in area of responsibility.

Expertise & Technical Competencies    
Minimum Requirements

• A post graduate qualification or equivalent in Business or Finance (CA or CFA), or Engineering, or Economics.
• A minimum of 8-10 years’ experience of relevant work experience in equity investments (funds or direct investments), corporate/project finance gained at institutional and other fund investors, commercial/investment banks and/or development financial institutions.
• Experience in structuring comprehensive solutions across financial products using debt, private equity and funds, and/or capital market instruments.
• Experience in working on investment projects through an established approval process.
• Strong credit, financial, analytical, and modeling skills.
• Experience in financial analysis and/or financial modelling.
• Experience in doing business across Africa and/ globally.
• Successful track record in leading project teams with high level stakeholders and qualified professionals.

Desired requirements

• Financial Modelling knowledge and application experience.

Technical Competencies
Project Management:

• Defines, plans, and manages large and/or strategic projects, including those with a high degree of technical
• complexity, with impacts across the organisation and/or with national implications.
• Assembles and leads diverse and multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring maximum effective resource utilisation.
• Successfully manages substantial project budgets and reports directly to senior managers on the progress and
• results of projects.
• Identifies complex issues that need escalation and proposes appropriate corrective actions.

Solution Focus:

• Identifies broad, highly complex problems based on a multitude of factors, many of which are complex and
• sweeping in nature, difficult to define and often contradictory.
• Creates procedures to articulate the nature of problems and to identify and weigh alternate solutions.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of solutions using approaches tailored to the situation.

Financial Analysis:

• Serves as subject matter expert.
• Evaluates and determines fiscal, operational, and service impacts; analyses and evaluates legislation; and
• implements and evaluates statistical models in their subject areas.
• Demonstrates in-depth technical and administrative knowledge of the rules and regulations in the subject area
• and to defend analyses, testimony, and recommendations relating to a variety of issues before management
• and commissions.

Risk Management:

• Drives integration and standardisation of risk management processes across the organisation.
• Advises on the application of the organisation’s risk management policies, industry best practices and constructs
• organisation guidelines.
• Analyses trends in risk management and internal control, evaluates implications, defines, and implements
• organisation-wide response.

Attention to detail:

• Quickly identifies relevant and irrelevant information to support accurate decision making.
• Maps out all the logistics and details of a situation to ensure smooth and flawless implementation.
• Consistently identifies all relevant details that are not obvious in complex situations.
• Requires the highest standards for accuracy and quality for their work.
• Establishes processes to ensure accuracy and quality of services delivered by the team.

Negotiation:

• Has an appreciation of cultural sensitivities and differences.
• Effectively employs a variety of advanced behavioural/interpersonal competencies to control the negotiation
• situation.
• Can take the lead in a variety of sensitive negotiation situations requiring high levels of tact and diplomacy.
• Can place a discrete negotiation situation within the context of a broader long-term relationship and is not
• threatened by conceding ground to protect the longer-term interests of DBSA.

Commercial Awareness:

• Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can take decisions based on an assessment of alternatives
• concerning complex business situations.
• Deep understanding of DBSA economic priorities and how they can be implemented to meet DBSA's strategic
• objectives.
• Deep understanding of DBSA's core sector role in achieving DBSA's strategic objectives.
• Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations.

Research:

• Demonstrates expert skill levels in strategic and operational research techniques, including process analysis,
• modeling, and forecasting.
• Adapts, creates, and designs new research techniques to meet the organisation requirements.
• Provides specialist coaching and guidance to researchers and other the organisation employees.
• Promotes the professional reputation of the organisation by maintaining a respected profile with relevant external organisations and the research community in general.

Communication and Reporting:

• Able to communicate complex problems or concepts, by making them simple and understandable for others.
• Adapts language to the level of the audience to ensure that the message has a positive impact and is interesting to the audience.
• Is articulate, demonstrates a wide range of vocabulary, and is confident when talking to large/high level audiences.
• 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.

Innovation:

• Develops innovative business solutions that shape industry practices.

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.

Required Personal Attributes    

• Leadership Competencies
• Achievement Orientation:
• Focuses on new or more effective ways of improving own work and meeting targets.
• Focuses on raising quality, customer satisfaction and revenues.
• Makes specific changes to systems and processes to improve efficiency and quality.
• Formulates own objectives and action plans to achieve a measurable improvement in the future.

Analytical Thinking:

• Identifies multiple elements of a problem and breaks down each of those elements in detail, showing causal
• relationships between them.
• Uses several analytical techniques to identify several solutions and weighs the value of each.

Conceptual thinking:

• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others and not learned from previous education or experience to
• explain situations or resolve problems.
• Looks at things in a significantly novel way breakthrough thinking.

Strategic and Innovative thinking:

• Recognizes opportunities or problems emerging in patterns and trends, and their impact on the business and profitability drivers.
• Applies learning from previous situations and experiences.
• Sees underlying causality in current situation. Applies business acumen to make sound decisions.
• Recognizes opportunities or potential problems, before they become obvious, by seeing the connections in a
• range of sources of information, including insights from outside DBSA.
• Restates complex knowledge in a way that makes it easier for others to understand.

Commercial Business Acumen:

• Understands business fundamentals.
• Analyses and comprehends organisational goals and strategies.
• Understands tactical business fundamentals in the public sector environment and incorporates them into
• decision-making.

Teamwork:

• 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.