Latest Jobs at The World Bank Group

Description

IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2020, we invested $22 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

IFC has embarked on an ambitious new growth strategy (IFC 3.0) to stimulate more investment activity, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Fragile and Conflict affected Situations (FCS). This strategy calls for generating our own opportunities by proactively working “Upstream” to create, deepen, and expand markets and to imagine, design and implement investment projects. It requires taking a systematic approach to understanding the regulatory and sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in our member countries, and addressing these bottlenecks through World Bank Group engagement on policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level. It also requires capacity to leverage WBG programs and projects to develop our own proactive sector interventions and to imagine and design projects even in the absence of reforms.

IFC is seeking an Associate Investment Officer / Investment Officer to join the Infrastructure Upstream team to be based in one of the three Hub offices in Dakar Senegal, Johannesburg South Africa  or Nairobi Kenya.

The selected candidate will focus on supporting the development of high-quality Upstream pipeline in the Africa region under the supervision of a Regional Upstream Lead.  S/he will also support the identification of possible regulatory or policy obstacles that may be considered for other interventions across the World Bank Group to prioritize various initiatives and to maximize the impact of Upstream efforts.

Duties and Accountabilities:

•  Support the identification and assessment of Upstream opportunities based on country and sector strategies and market creation potential.

•  Contribute to the development of feasibility studies and implementation plans for Upstream projects that lead to IFC investments.

•  Assist in designing and implementing scalable solutions and platforms similar to “Scaling Solar” that can be replicated across markets.

•  Help spot game-changing trends, technologies and business models that can bring solutions to emerging markets.

•  Produce regular reports on the assigned Upstream portfolio including monitoring progress against project milestones and KPIs.

•  Contribute to sector-specific data analysis and stress-testing of various operating models to help generate ideas for new projects, new products and platform businesses.

Selection Criteria

•  Master's degree or equivalent professional qualification in Business, Finance, Economics, International Relations, Science, Engineering, or other relevant field.

•  At least seven (7) years of relevant experience in project and/or program development, hands-on advisory and/or consulting functions in emerging markets, ideally in the infrastructure space.

•  Familiarity with the Africa region, including hands-on work across different countries in the region.

•  Genuine commitment to development and to the World Bank Group and IFC's mission, strategy and values.

•  Understanding of IFC’s strategic priorities and changing business model against the backdrop of IFC 3.0.

•  Capacity to innovate and challenge the status quo and experience in new idea generation, business development, and creating projects/programs from scratch.

•  Understanding of the relevant sector and ability to link policy reforms, advisory interventions, investment, and mobilization to deliver solutions at a country level via the Cascade approach.

•  Ability to engage with private sector clients, local and national governments and other stakeholders to encourage pioneering business and market development.

•  Experience in project/program management, including executing against implementation plans with defined business development milestones.

•  Experience in monitoring and reporting on a portfolio of projects/programs/initiatives.

•  Outstanding analytical and critical thinking skills.

•  Strong written and verbal communications skills in English required; French, Portuguese and Arabic desirable.

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Description

IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, we invested more than $23 billion in long-term finance in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

The Financial Institutions Group (FIG) is one of the major industry groups at IFC, responsible for managing roughly 40% of IFC’s overall business in terms of volume and capital at risk. FIG engages in a wide range of sub-sectors including Microfinance, SME, Gender, Climate, Insurance, Capital Markets, Housing, Distressed Assets, and other areas, with both investment and advisory services delivered to IFC’s clients through IFC’s global network.

As most industries in the age of Internet, financial services are undergoing a rapid transformation.  While incumbents innovate in place mostly around products and channels, tech-enabled newcomers are rethinking the business models and reshaping the entire architecture of the financial services industry.  We call this rising sub-industry Fintech.  

IFC is the largest emerging-market-focused development finance house in the world. For the past 10 years, IFC has built a diverse and promising global Fintech portfolio of about 60 equity investments in more than 25 emerging countries and disbursed over $500m.  Fintech is a critical component of the World Bank Group’s strategy to expand the reach, efficiency and affordability of financial services as well as to contribute to higher productivity in the economy at large.  As part of its strategy, IFC has created a small but fast growing and strategically important investment group that focuses in Fintech as part of IFC’s Financial Institutions Group.  

IFC is looking for an Investment Officer for the Global Fintech Investments Group based in IFC Johannesburg office in South Africa.  The Investment Officer will be a member of the Global Fintech Investments Group within FIG, yet will focus on origination, execution, and portfolio monitoring of Fintech Investments in the Sub-Saharan African region. Investment Officers are part of multidisciplinary teams and professionals who have expertise in the sectors in which IFC does business. Project teams consist of investment officers and analysts, industry specialist, lawyers, insurance, corporate governance and environmental and social specialists. 

Role & Responsibilities:

•  Support IFC regional Fintech lead to build a strong pipeline of potential investee companies and to initiate new investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

•  Establish networks with financial institutions and investors, including venture capital, private equity firms and strategic investors, active in the Fintech sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

•  Conduct analysis on new business opportunities and liaise extensively with colleagues in Sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide.

•  Conduct due diligence for investment decisions; Participate in negotiations and transaction structuring with potential investee companies.

•  Monitor existing portfolio equity investments.

•  Pro-actively participate to the development effective sharing and institutionalization of industry knowledge and lessons from experience with the rest of the team.

Selection Criteria

•  At least 6-8 years of successful Investment track record of which 3-5 years focusing on equity investments (preferably mostly or largely in emerging markets especially Sub-Saharan Africa).

•  At least 2-3 years of investment experience in Fintech, and a good understanding of the industry. 

•  Excellent business development and client relationship skills; Strong sense of service to clients and demonstrated business development attitude.

•  Strong business acumen, ability to screen risks and propose best-fit structures.

•  Experience in negotiating and structuring equity transactions.

•  Excellent financial and analytical skills. 

•  Strong inter-personal skills, ability to interact effectively with clients and colleagues from various cultural backgrounds. 

•  Ability to supervise, mentor and lead more junior staff.

•  Experience in portfolio management, including facilitation of exits.  

•  Highly motivated, committed to highest ethical standards.

•  Written competency and spoken language fluency in English, with writing and speaking capabilities in French preferred.