Credit Risk Analyst Officer at Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT)

Key Responsibilities

• Credit Risk Assessment & Independent Credit Review:
• Conduct comprehensive credit risk assessments for partner Financial SACCOs and MSME/agri-enterprise borrowers, covering financial, operational, governance, and sector/value chain risks.
• Review credit appraisal proposals and provide independent risk opinions, including key risks, mitigants, and recommendations for approval/decline or restructuring.
• Analyze borrower financials (financial statements, cashflows, ratios) to determine repayment capacity and stress-test affordability where applicable.
• Assess proposed credit structures including pricing, tenor, covenants, and security/collateral arrangements, ensuring risk is appropriately mitigated.
• Confirm alignment of all credit recommendations with MESPT credit policies, risk appetite, and FIYMA Fund lending guidelines.
• Portfolio Risk Monitoring, Early Warning & Portfolio Quality Management:
• Monitor and analyse portfolio performance indicators including PAR (1/30/60/90), NPL ratio, arrears trends, delinquency roll rates, restructures, recoveries, and write-offs.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously refine portfolio risk dashboards, monitoring tools, and periodic risk reports to support decision-making.
• Track and assess concentration and exposure risks across the portfolio.
• Monitor credit lifecycle risks end-to-end (origination → disbursement → repayment → collections) and flag emerging risk drivers.
• Identify and escalate early warning signals across SACCO and SME portfolios, including deteriorating repayment behavior and high-risk segment trends.
• Conduct stress testing and scenario analysis on priority segments/products to assess vulnerability and downside risk.
• Evaluate performance of FIYMA loan products and partner lending models (check-off, SME, agri-enterprise, youth/women lending) and recommend portfolio optimization actions.
• Recommend and support implementation of proactive risk mitigation measures, including tightening eligibility criteria, enhanced controls, restructuring strategies, and targeted recovery actions to prevent portfolio deterioration.
• Credit Risk Policy, Frameworks, Controls & Compliance:
• Support the development, review, implementation, and continuous improvement of FIYMA credit risk policies, procedures, tools, and frameworks across partner FIs.
• Contribute to the design and refinement of risk rating models, borrower grading methodologies, scorecards, and portfolio classification parameters to strengthen credit decision-making.
• Review the adequacy of proposed security/collateral, guarantees, and other risk mitigants, and provide recommendations to enhance risk coverage and enforceability.
• Ensure lending practices remain aligned with: FIYMA credit guidelines and applicable regulatory sector requirements.
• Monitor end-to-end compliance with credit policy controls, including: approval limits and delegated authorities, maker-checker workflows and authorization controls, documentation completeness and KYC compliance and adherence to top-ups, refinancing, rescheduling/restructuring rules.
• Track, analyze, and report approval exceptions, overrides, and policy breaches, and maintain exceptions register to support governance and accountability.
• Identify systemic control gaps, recurring policy breaches, and emerging compliance risks, and recommend: corrective actions, credit process enhancements and targeted capacity-building/training interventions.
• Support internal control strengthening by contributing to: audit preparations and responses, compliance reviews and periodic risk control testing and closure of audit findings related to credit processes.

Knowledge, Experience & Skills

• At least 2 years’ experience in credit risk analysis, risk management, or financial analysis.
• Experience analyzing Financial SACCOs and Financial institutions (A MUST) and SMEs
• Solid understanding of credit risk, portfolio management, and financial modeling.
• Ability to interpret Sacco and SMEs financial statements, cash flows, and management accounts.
• Working knowledge of Power BI (preferred)
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Proficiency in MS Excel and credit/risk management systems.
• Knowledge of cooperative and SME regulatory frameworks