Wednesday 25 March 2020

Country Officer at World Bank Group

Do you want to build a career that is full of meaning and impact? The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities where they are needed most. Visit www.ifc.org

IFC is recruiting a Country Officer who will promote and coordinate IFC’s investment and advisory activities for Kenya, and East Africa in general. The Country Officer, under the guidance of the Country Manager, will assist in leading, overseeing and monitoring performance of IFCs entire program in Kenya, and East Africa in general, to create an environment attractive to private sector investment and that results in sustainable development impact and support the supervision of staff under the guidance of the Country Manager.

The role requires close interaction at a high level with the private sector, government, and international development organizations, as well as key counterparts in the World Bank Group (WBG) to develop new business and support the structuring and negotiation of deals.

The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya and reports to the IFC Country Manager.

Duties and Accountabilities

Overall

  • Together with the Country Manager, oversee IFC’s activities and program in the country and East Africa in general;
  • Promoting and coordinating IFC’s investment and advisory activities, and developing and maintaining relationships with IFC stakeholders, WGB, counterparts, governments, and private sector clients to develop IFC business
  • Supervision of staff as assigned by and in collaboration with the Country Manager;
  • Mentor and coach junior staff and share experiences

Strategy

  • Provide input to the development of IFC’s country strategy and provide substantive input to country diagnostics and WBG strategy documents such as such as Country Strategies, Country Private Sector Diagnostics, and Country Partnership Frameworks;
  • Participate in the design of approaches and interventions to create upstream markets and the identification of needed market and regulatory reforms;
  • Together with the Country Manager, oversee the implementation of IFC’s strategy in Kenya, and East Africa in general, and the preparation of business plan updates as needed.

Business Development & Portfolio Management

  • Develop and maintain a good understanding of the country, and East Africa in general, and stay on top of key economic and political issues;
  • Work with investment, advisory, upstream and relevant WBG teams to continue to roll out the IFC 3.0 strategy and develop the project pipeline;
  • Together with the Country Manager, oversee integration and delivery of IFC’s investment and advisory activities in Kenya, and East Africa in general, to ensure needs of clients and objectives of IFC strategies are met;
  • Build and maintain strong working and high-level relationships across IFC, with WBG counterparts, with the private sector, relevant government officials and key development partners to support business development;
  • Participate in client selection and help ensure that IFC is working with the right sponsors;
  • Assist in project structuring and implementation using relevant market intelligence;
  • Track the project pipeline and assist in moving transactions forward;
  • Help manage development partner relations to support the raising of funds for advisory projects;
  • Contribute to the preparation of board papers and other documents, as needed;
  • Develop a good understanding of the IFC Kenya portfolio, and portfolio in East Africa in general.
  • Assist with resolving issues and maintain good relationships with existing clients.

Country Operations, Staff Supervision/Development & Resource Management

  • Manage and contribute to management of administrative and logistical operations of IFC Kenya and East Africa in general, as may be assigned by the Country Manager;
  • Oversee or supervise assigned staff and consultants;
  • Develop assigned staff and members of the broader team through mentoring, coaching, and providing on-the-job learning opportunities;
  • Ensure quality control of work products
  • Ensure efficient and effective use of office resources
  • Prepare/coordinate high-quality briefs for WBG senior management;
  • Track and oversee the preparation of visiting missions/trips to the country.
  • Represent IFC externally and provide visibility for IFC through organizing/participating in high profile events (high-level visits, press interviews, seminars and conferences);
  • Ensure internal and external requests are addressed.

Selection Criteria

  • Master’s degree, preferably in finance, business administration, management, economics, or a similar field;
  • 8-12 years of relevant operational experience in an investment and/or advisory role; preferably in areas such as investment, public-private partnerships, management consulting, development finance or commercial banking;
  • Demonstrable work experience and a strong interest in the country’s sustainable development and a strong interest in development in Africa in general;
  • Strong analytical, finance, financial modeling, credit, and transaction structuring skills is an advantage;
  • Good understanding of IFC’s investment and advisory business lines, their products, how they complement each other, and how they may be leveraged to match the long-term needs of clients and open new markets;
  • Ability to assess the viability of business opportunities and risks;
  • Track record in developing and maintaining strong high-level relationships in the private sector, relevant governments, and development institutions;
  • Demonstrable understanding and ability to enable and participant in market creation opportunities and interventions to strengthen investment climate in the country by demonstrating long-term perspective and understanding of IFC/WBG roles and value-add in new markets; 
  • Ability to represent IFC externally with the private sector, government, development partners, media, and other stakeholders;
  • Team management experience including supervising, mentoring and training staff; 
  • Team player with strong leadership and influencing skills, and track record in working in a matrix structure;
  • Strong client service orientation;
  • Ability to resolve challenging issues;
  • Excellent critical thinking, analytical and presentation skills, and ability to work with or supervise the use of data utilizing standard office software Excel, Word, PowerPoint; and,
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills in English is required; knowledge of a second working WBG language is a strong added advantage.

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