Since 1963 and in 145 countries, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society. ACDI/VOCA currently has 79 projects in 39 countries and revenues of approximately $168 million.

Agricultural Finance Specialist, Ghana

We are currently seeking an Agricultural Finance Specialist for an anticipated USAID-funded project, the Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (FinGAP). FinGAP will address one of the key constraints that restrict the development of commercial agriculture in Ghana—access to finance. Together with local and international partners and in support of USAID/Ghana’s Feed the Future initiatives, ACDI/VOCA will identify and develop socially inclusive agriculture-related finance and investment. The first component, an Agribusiness Development Unit, will support agricultural enterprises to develop their ideas and create well-managed, financially sustainable operations, which will generate a pipeline of potential investment opportunities. The second component, an Agricultural Finance Unit, will provide capacity-building support and incentives to financial institutions (FIs) to expand their capacity to undertake agriculture-related investment. Together, these interventions are expected to mitigate perceived and actual risks to agricultural lending and increase the availability of finance for agriculture-related investments.

The Agricultural Finance Specialist will be responsible for overseeing capacity-building activities with partner FIs and potential investors, and managing the financial incentives facility to encourage growth of agricultural lending and equity investment portfolios and enhance the financial sector’s ability to serve its rural and agricultural clients. Position is contingent upon ACDI/VOCA being awarded the program.

Responsibilities:

• Establish relationships with FIs and oversee the provision of technical assistance, advisory support services and mechanisms to incentivize agricultural finance to partner FIs
• Manage relationships with existing government bodies and development partner programs where opportunities to facilitate agricultural finance exist outside of FinGAP
• Build strategic partnerships with key private sector actors and investors and pursue opportunities where project support can improve their investments and operations in the agricultural sector, with a focus on target agricultural value chains
• Design and implement activities that support and improve investment, productivity and competitiveness in targeted agricultural value chains, building upon existing credit guarantee programs where appropriate, with an initial focus on medium-sized transactions
• Form strategic partnerships and provide effective management, compliance and support to local partners and subrecipients
  • Assess the impact of financial products, strategic partnerships and pilot efforts and make adjustments as needed to expand the outreach of finance providers to underserved markets
  • Address obstacles to finance faced by women and ensure outreach is gender inclusive
  • Provide effective management, compliance and support to local partners and subrecipients
  • Contribute to the development of reports for the donor, the host country and/or ACDI/VOCA

Qualifications:

• An advanced graduate degree such as a master’s degree or Ph.D. in business, investment finance, microfinance, business administration and/or business management, or economics
• Minimum of five years of experience working on donor-funded international development projects and an established track record of achieving results within challenging working environments
• Minimum of seven years of experience in commercial banking and agricultural finance
• Strong knowledge of financial sector and investment climate in Ghana and experience with SME finance and agribusiness development in West Africa
• Experience with credit guarantee mechanisms and the ability to provide technical assistance to banks to support these programs; familiarity with USAID’s DCA program is preferred.
• Ability to manage a variety of program activities (including grant funds), evaluate interventions and scale the most successful initiatives
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate, willingness to innovate and ability to think systematically
• Strong communications skills (oral, written, cross-cultural)
• Fluency in English

Please apply online at http://acdivoca.maxhire.net/cp/?E5556C361D43515B7E59192F7756196906627A4B. No phone calls please. Only finalists contacted. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. EOE.