Investment Specialist P4 (Technical Assistance Facility Manager), UNCDF

Job Description

UNCDF’s LDC Investment Platform (LDCIP) serves as UNCDF’s hub for innovative development finance by engineering the conditions for investment viability in the “missing middle” or in riskier market segments. Ensuring investment viability can be done by using financial instruments designed to absorb and mitigate risk, and not least provide technical assistance to the investees.

Position Context: There is increasing agreement on the value of dedicated Technical Assistance (TA) to be provided alongside investment funds. A recent DFID survey of impact investments found that a majority of the impact investors also used technical assistance alongside the financial investment, with approximately 2/3 saying they use TA “often” or “nearly always”. Most TA facilities currently focus on post-investment support, or late stage pre-investment support. But as the pool of capital in developing markets (such as the world’s Least Developed Countries/LDCs) and higher risk segments (such as SMEs in sectors like agriculture) grows, there is an increasing need for pre-investment TA to build a pipeline of investment-ready companies. In practice, the UNCDF TA facility will try to achieve this by working closely with the deal sourcing team to be able to support and assess the build-up of potential investee’s, i.e. providing pre-investment support.

The post-investment support will help the businesses to take advantage of the invested funds in a more efficient and effective way. The post investment support is also a way to mitigate the risk for the Fund investor(s). UNCDF’s post-investment support can help business grow through sector-specific and functional business support (i.e. strategy, finance, marketing, human resources, legal etc.). This recognizes that many of UNCDF’s investees are generally still small or growing, management structures are heavily reliant on founding shareholders and finally, that basic systems (particularly, financial) are not strong enough to meet the needs of a growing business.

The actual TA service will be provided by a combination of internal (UNCDF) and external expertise. There needs to be flexibility in the deployment of the TA facility support and the investee companies should participate in selection processes of the TA provider in order to maximize their buy-in and optimize the chances of the relationship between company and supplier being positive. The TA Facility manager can be critical in helping to navigate this period, to speed it up, and ensure it turns out positively. TA facilities with local networks should be able to find qualified local or regional service providers except for the most specialized projects. Initial funding for the UNCDF TA facility has been secured from a donor.

The approach of the implementation and management of the Facility is based on the following principles:

• Delivery of high-quality business advice services
• Fair and transparent processes and procedures
• Provision of services based on clients’ needs

The aim of the TA facility is to be part of a system that with the right type of financial and technical support demonstrates to domestic and international investors that LDC markets can and do generate returns, provide opportunities for successful investment, and merit the attention of a wider range of investors.

The main function for this new role of Investment Specialist, P-4 ( Technical Assistance Facility Manager) will be to design and then manage the TA facility, providing business advice both pre- and post-investment through a roster of internal experts and external consultants.

He/she should be able to directly support LDCIP staff and consultants in their work, both with business advice and sometimes also in the underwriting. The pipeline of prospective investees will be generated from UNCDF’s programs, mainly through open competitions. Close collaboration with UNCDFs programmatic units, with the LDCIP team and with the Fund manager is expected from the Investment & Technical Assistance Specialist. The role will report directly to the Director LDCIP Investment Platform and will be based in New York, USA headquarters.

Detailed Description of Job Roles and Responsibilities:

1) Technical Assistance (TA) Facility Design and Implementation

• Design a technical assistance facility which will include technical assistance services both aimed at pre-investment support and post-investment support to SMEs, financial institutions or revenue generating projects. The companies/projects will predominantly be located in East and West Africa and South and South East Asia.
• The technical assistance services may include support in the following areas; governance, business planning, risk management, internal control, product development, human resources, finance and accounting, marketing and customer relationship management, institutional development and transformation, management information systems, impact measurement, how to make businesses inclusive and more.
• Develop, structure and draft a TA facility project document, incl. budget for the implementation of the business support mechanism.
• Preparation of funding proposals for the TA facility to be presented to donors and other potential funders;
• Identify and list internal UNCDF staff capacity and external consultants that can match the business advice needs of the businesses.
• Manage a global portfolio of companies in need of various kinds of technical assistance support and deploy support to the businesses as needed.
• Draft TORs, issue and evaluate tenders in accordance with tendering procedures, negotiate and draft service contracts with external consultants, manage consultants, manage investees receiving technical assistance, travel for project identification needs etc.
• From time to time provide strategic pre- and/or post-investment business advisory support to enterprises.
• Maintain contact and provide information to the managers of UNCDF’s investment facilities as well as the managers of the third-party managed Fund initiated by UNCDF and Bamboo Capital Partners.
• Manage administration and reporting- (i) supporting TA facility clients in the preparation of monitoring reports, (ii) preparing periodic performance reports for the entire technical assistance portfolio; and (iii) providing budget updates.

2) Financial Analysis and Underwriting

• Support the structuring of investment opportunities using UNCDFs financial instruments, while ensuring financial sustainability over the long run and maximizing the potential of the expected development impact
• Complete discrete due diligence tasks such as company, industry and economic analysis
• Comments on project, program, policy and other papers with regard to UNCDFs financial instruments, especially when there are linkages to the TA support.

3) Advocacy and Knowledge Management

• Adopt approaches to ensure that the lessons learned from the TA assistance work are captured and disseminated. Document and share lessons learned from the advisory work to inform UNCDF, investors, government officials, DFIs, and development partners.
• Support policy work based on the experience of TA assistance to help increase funding/investment interest to areas related to the SDGs.

The key expected results from the Technical Assistance Specialist are;

• Design of a Viable TA facility
• Effective management of the TA facility
• Ensuring long-term funding for the facility
• Maintaining good working relationship with the Fund manager(s) and other stakeholders.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Economics, Finance, or Business Administration. A professional Accountancy/Financial qualification with master’s equivalence is also acceptable.
A first university degree in related fields, with two additional years of relevant experience will also be acceptable, in lieu of a master’s degree.
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) diploma, or similar, is regarded as an asset.

Experience & Technical Competency Profile

A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant work experience in either the financial sector or the private sector or a mix, preferably with investment and/or business management expertise is required.
A minimum of three (3) years of providing technical support/business advice to businesses considered highly desireable.
Deep knowledge of building early stage companies, preferably in the energy, agribusiness and financial inclusion sectors in emerging economies; considered highly desireable
Experience working in venture capital and/or banking within an international financial environment, preferably in development finance institution, impact investor or similar, is highly preferable.
Experience in private credit and/or equity for investments with a social mission in emerging/frontier markets, is highly preferable.
Experience in project preparation and/or in development of investment opportunities, especially for projects in developing countries iis considered highly desireable.

Further, the interested applicants should be to demonstrate:

Active interest in investing in developing countries and understanding of emerging market environments, opportunities and barriers to investing
Strong knowledge of financial markets and financing for sustainable development, with ability to apply it to strategic and/or practical situations.
Full familiarity with a range of debt and equity instruments.
Competency with financial modeling and analysis in Microsoft excel.
Ability to work in a multicultural environment, with a willingness to travel

Language Requirements:

Full working proficiency in English is required
Knowledge of French is considered a distinct advantage.
Knowledge of any other local/regional languages knowledge will be considered an asset.

About the Organization

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: inclusive digital economies, connecting individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; local development finance, that capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and investment finance, that provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to Sustainable Development Goal-SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a broad diversity of SDGs.

Approximately US$1.7 trillion flows from the developed world to the developing world from a diversified set of actors and with equally distinct motivations, ranging from purely philanthropic to market-rate return on investments. By being innovative in the way development assistance is deployed the aid can have the potential to extend the reach through for example the complementary deployment of private capital i.e. by blending public and private funds for enhanced development results. The development assistance then has the potential to expand the pool of foreign and domestic capital available for economic development for e.g. small and medium enterprises, agriculture, infrastructure and key public services.

UNCDF uses a combination of grant, reimbursable grant, loans, guarantees and/or technical assistance to support early stage businesses, SMEs, projects, microfinance institutions and municipal investments. UNCDF’s use of loans and guarantees is growing and there is now an ambition to provide better access to finance by using a range of financial products to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis.