Associate Director – Agribusiness at Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)

The key responsibilities are:

Lead Agribusiness Strategy and Implementation

• Be the go-to person for agribusiness expertise for the institution, provide strategic direction for AECF’s agribusiness sector, and develop an innovative and ambitious agribusiness sector strategy with a clear focus on sub-sector interventions across Sub-Saharan Africa to scale up agribusinesses and increase access to finance.
• Champion new opportunities across the organization, working collaboratively to identify opportunities in the agribusinesses-energy nexus, remove key barriers and enable innovation to build sustainable agribusinesses.
• Oversee the implementation (time, budget and deliverables) of the agribusiness strategy, putting in place tools, processes and systems to ensure the realization of the strategic objectives.
• Closely collaborate with and support the Chief of Programs and Investments to amplify his efforts and function as a thought partner, switching between strategic and tactical priorities.
• Lead the integration of AECF’s thematic areas of focus – climate, gender, youth and fragility – into the agribusiness strategy and ensure delivery of impact in the said thematic areas.

Programme Implementation and Execution

• Oversee all agribusiness programmes, ensuring consistent and quality delivery.
• Ensure exceptional management of current agribusiness programs portfolio, and lead portfolio expansion – providing guidance and direction to the portfolio team on competitions, due diligence, structuring, and execution of programme activities.
• Provide technical expertise to assure alignment of the agribusiness portfolio with evolving sector development policies, government development objectives, other donor programmes, and foreign policy priorities.
• Provide oversight to the planning and execution of portfolio activities to ensure that: implementation is on track; performance targets are being met; progress reporting is timely and accurate; and resources are utilized in an appropriate manner.
• Lead and manage cross-functional initiatives in the agribusiness and agribusiness-energy nexus, ensuring outstanding results and a high level of quality in our programs and ensuring coherence between the Agribusiness portfolio and cross-cutting themes and approaches
• Lead regional and country operations, overseeing the composition and strengthening of the capabilities of the team.

Partnership Development

• Maximize mobilization of funds (public and private sector donors including bilateral, multilateral, and foundation donors) and bring co-financier resources to support existing and new programs/products.
• Lead origination, concept note and proposal development towards ensuring the diversification of the AECF programs and product portfolio.
• Working with the partnerships team, identify and onboard partners that may accelerate investment, innovation and market access across regions, countries, and sub-sectors.
• Manage relationships with main donors and partners at a global and country-level for agribusiness programmes.

The Candidate:

Suitable candidates should:

• Possess 12+ years of relevant experience in agribusiness, agricultural economics, private sector agribusiness management, international trade, or any relevant field, with at least 5 years' experience at a senior management level.
• Demonstrate rigorous understanding of the sub-Sahara Africa and global agribusiness context and ability to interact with key stakeholders, from both public and private sectors.
• Have working knowledge of agriculture value chains, agribusiness finance, agribusiness-energy nexus, and Climate Smart Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Possess experience in the social impact investment space or private sector development, working with Agri-SMEs in different Agri value chains.
• Be an excellent and visionary leader with great interpersonal skills to build a strong work ethic, impeccable integrity, and good judgment.
• Have an interest and aptitude in prospecting, cultivating, and managing new donors.
• Possess exceptional planning and analytical skills, ability to discern patterns and insights from research and internal / external data and focus on the critical business issues.
• Possess High degree of initiative and energy, “can-do” attitude, flexibility, teamwork, and attention to detail.