African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Chief Investment Officer

Position Number: 50052675
Location: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
Position Grade: PL3

The Complex

• The main focus of the Vice Presidency for ‘Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization’ (PIVP) is on: (i) developing the private sector. (ii) deepening the financial sector. (iii) improving infrastructure (transport, urban development, and ICT). (iv) accelerating industrialization. and (v) boosting intra-African trade.
• PIVP plays the lead role in: (i) originating and supervising Non-Sovereign Operations (NSO) in PIVP Sectors. (ii) coordinating NSO processes. (iii) developing and sharing relevant Sector Knowledge. (iv) supporting the Regions on Sovereign sector operations. and (v) managing Complex Sovereign operations.  PIVP combines analytical work and policy dialogue in its sector with financing of specific operations, including loans or equity investments.
• The role of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Directorate is to foster infrastructure and urban development in Africa through appropriate policies and strategies as well as projects and programs interventions, which the Bank might finance on national, regional or continent-wide basis.
• This Directorate comprises of four divisions: Transport & Logistics, Urban Development, Infrastructure Partnerships, and NSO Infrastructure.
• The “NSO Infrastructure” division has the responsibility to structure and originate non-sovereign infrastructure investments in transport (Roads, Highways, Bridges, Railways, Ports, Airports, Pipelines, Logistic Platforms) and Urban Development (Urban Mobility, Public Transportation, Cities, Housing).

The Position

• The core responsibilities of this position is to identify business opportunities and structure transactions related to private investments in transport and urban development infrastructures and services and originate projects for Bank financing.

Key Functions
Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Division Manager the Chief investment officer will:

Project Development and Processing:

• Liaise and coordinate with other Investment Officers and Bank staff in business development and the origination of a good quality investment pipeline.
• Proactively identify potential investment partners and opportunities based on industry experience, reputation, market potential, financial capability, and strategic fit.
• Assess the attractiveness of specific investment opportunities with a strong focus on credit quality and development impact and make recommendations management.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with other departments, clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities.
• Prepare project concept notes and appraisal reports for presentation to the department, review committees, senior management and finally the Board of Directors.
• Execute loans, guarantees or equity financing including processing mandates, conducting due diligence, structuring deals, negotiating terms and documentation, arranging syndications, and processing internal approvals.
• Coordinate with sector colleagues, the internal approvals to proactively find pragmatic solutions to emerging/specific sector challenges.
• Develop investment promotion strategies in Africa, including targeting potential investors and promoting AfDB’s products and services proactively.
• Work with the legal department to ensure that all deals have appropriate legal documentation and that financial close is achieved, and hand over projects to portfolio management staff.

Design specific innovative transactions, projects and initiatives:

• Undertakes the work on aspects of investments and infrastructure development and aligns them with institutional objectives.
• Works with regional teams/country offices to design and implement sector development support programs.
• Evaluate, structure, negotiate, and close new transactions, with a strong focus on credit and asset quality (include processing mandates, due diligence, negotiating term sheets and other documentation, syndications and board approval).
• Provide support to others and portfolio teams in processing and supervising projects

External Liaison and Knowledge Sharing:

• Contribute to the documentation of lessons learned from investment operations and emerging best practices in areas of expertise
• Participate in and contribute to information and experience sharing sessions with internal and external stakeholders
• Participate in and contribute to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building relating to AfDB’s investments/operations, products and initiatives.
• Provide peer review to other colleagues to share industry knowledge and information on respective sector
• Provide technical leadership and support to knowledge and lesson sharing approaches and events with internal and external stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to develop specific investment opportunities.

Policy and Project Evaluation:

• Provide input and comments on project, policy and other papers related to respective sector operations and development across a range of key themes and sectors.

Strategy, Planning and Reporting:

• Participate in relevant teams for planning and programming purposes.
• Contribute to develop sector strategies at regional level
• Assist in the development of the relevant Department’s knowledge management strategy and assist in execution of the strategy.
• Coordinate closely with social, environmental, advisory and technical assistance colleagues in order to champion AfDB’s value to our clients’ businesses, find pragmatic solutions to the specific sector challenges, and achieve sustainable development impact.

Competencies (Skills, Experience and Knowledge)

• At least a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics or in related areas, a professional qualification such as: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Accountant (ACCA) is an added advantage.
• Have a minimum of Seven (7) Years of professional experience in financial structuring and infrastructure project finance origination gained from a Commercial/Investment Bank, Development Finance Institution, Infrastructure/Private Equity Fund, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Project Developer, established Accounting/Consulting Firm etc.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.  Working experience in multinational organization or similar organization/s in Africa and emerging markets would be considered an advantage as well.
• Proven ability to identify, process, and negotiate complex transactions in the infrastructure sector from a private sector standpoint and in particular related to transportation assets and services.
• Thorough understanding of the Transport infrastructure and related services, in particular, Ports, Airports, Highways and Mass Transit Systems, and Infrastructure markets.  A familiarity of PPP infrastructure project development is an advantage.
• Strong analytical and financial structuring/ modeling skills as well as sound business judgment.
• Demonstrates ability to coordinate, participate in, and act as a catalyst for, strategic cross-sector dialogues within the networks, across the country, among Bank colleagues and other development institutions, governments and other organizations.
• A familiarity with climate finance and project development experience in climate resilient infrastructure is an would be considered an advantage.
• Ability to contribute to sound decisions and contribute to the execution of the decisions
• Ability to initiate, effectively and independently interact with the senior government officials, senior management of potential clients
• Strong commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits to the Bank and its clients.
• Excellent problem-solving capabilities applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization.
• Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills
• Proven ability to work with limited supervision and efficiently to deliver under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in English and/or French. A good knowledge of the other working languages (e.g. Arabic, Portuguese) would be considered an advantage.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

Application Closing Date
11th March, 2022.