Senior Adviser, Ghana Investment Ecosystem

Responsibilities:

• Leading the delivery of an ambitious set of targets for BII’s technical assistance in Ghana, including its market building objectives to catalyse the market for SME financing in Ghana;
• Leading senior stakeholder engagement, brokering partnerships and influencing ecosystem actors towards a common goal. Building networks and productive relationships with investment funds, financial institutions, business service providers, the broader private sector, development finance institutions, development partners, government organisations and academia;
• Strategic systems thinking to identify opportunities to help catalyse the market for SME financing through partnerships, advisory/ technical assistance 3underpinned by strong links to BII and other DFIs;
• Acting as a liaison for all of BII Plus’s activities in Ghana, including coordinating with the Ghana BII coverage team, FSG Plus (BII’s technical assistance facility for financial institutions), and BII’s portfolio;
• Solid project management to ensure timely delivery of results within the resources available.

The Candidate

Background

• Post-graduate degree (MBA, Economics, Business, Finance, or other relevant discipline);
• Strong track record of working in the areas of private equity and venture capital investment, capital markets and/or financial services in emerging markets and ability to interact with senior professionals within banks, development financial institutions and other investment firms with emerging market exposure, as well as with various stakeholders from the private sector, the public sector and civil society.
• Significant leadership experience in senior positions with a strong record of effectively leading and managing people, partnerships and projects towards desired result.

Skills required for the consultancy assignment:

• Excellent leadership, communication and relationship-building skills. Strong negotiation, stakeholder engagement and partnership development skills
• In depth understanding of the political economy, investment and finance ecosystem in Ghana and West Africa with strong networks with key actors.
• Experience and understanding of Ghana’s funds and financial institution sector as well as a strong understanding of the broader SME finance ecosystem; Understanding of business service providers (legal, financial, ESG etc) that support businesses get to become investment ready
• Systems thinking and ability to conceptualise how to drive change within investment and finance ecosystems through a variety of tools.
• Solid analytical and critical thinking skills: the ability to frame issues, identify key points, draw conclusions, and exercise good judgement.
• Ability to work independently and with initiative while managing a busy workload, doing whatever it takes to deliver results within tight deadlines.
• Project management capacity ensuring results are delivered on time and within budgets.
• Experience in reviewing and producing high quality written communications.
• Significant work experience in Ghana and/or regionally.
• High proficiency in English.