Deputy Country Director - Investment Lead at British High Commission Nairobi

Job Summary

The UK government has committed to radically expand its presence in Africa. The primary objective of your role as Deputy Country Director and Investment Lead is to encourage private sector led growth, by protecting and promoting investment and leveraging the strengths of businesses in order to support the poverty reduction, investment and broader economic objectives of Kenya, as well as supporting the UK’s investment ambitions in Africa.
Your role will be split between Deputy Country Director and Investment Lead. You will:

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a network of high value trade and investment relationships in Kenya,  including in the Government of Kenya and the local British and Kenyan business community.
•  As part of the DIT Leadership Team, help to shape DIT and wider UK prosperity activity in Kenya, identifying and regularly reviewing priorities for trade, outward investment, trade policy and market access work streams, ensuring that these are fully aligned to the DIT Africa Regional Trade Plan, British High Commission (BHC) Country Plan.
• You will work with the BHC’s Prosperity Strategy to develop a deep understanding of their suite of programmes and ensure full DIT support and collaboration on the relevant programmes, balancing resources and priorities to best effect. As part of this you will work closely with colleagues across FCO, DFID and Other Government Departments (OGDs) at post to identify synergies and opportunities for collaboration on areas of mutual interest that will deliver the BHC’s Prosperity Strategy.
• Provide leadership to the DIT Kenya team by providing oversight of:
  • Our sector specific export/investment campaigns, ensuring they have clear objectives, and a clear pipeline of deals and activities in place to achieve those objectives.
  • Our delivery of high quality chargeable services, which includes undertaking market research and organising visit programmes and events on behalf of UK companies.
  • The organisation of visits and trade missions, including by trade ministers, the Trade Commissioner and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy. You will also manage an events schedule in support of the DIT Kenya Country Plan, leveraging the HMTC, Deputy Trade Commissioners, Heads of Mission and Trade Envoys.
• Deputise for the Country Director where required, ensuring that senior stakeholders including Her Majesty’s High Commissioner and Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Africa based in Johannesburg are fully briefed on and active in support of DIT’s objectives in Kenya.
• Represent DIT Africa and HMG at events to promote Kenya to new UK businesses. You will need to be a confident public speaker, networker and relationship builder.
• Work with the Regional UK Export Finance (UKEF) lead – based in Nairobi – to promote, where relevant, the financing products offered by UKEF (the British government’s Export Credit Agency), to support companies win contracts.
• Management of our local devolved budget and ensuring that our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funded work is compliant with ODA criteria.

Investment Lead

• Coordinate the team’s Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) campaign, developing a clear ODI pipeline of deals and managing strategic relationships with industry and driving a strategy to attract new British investment to Kenya as part of the UK’s aim to be Kenya’s partner of choice for Investment – an ambition announced at the recent UK-Africa Investment Summit in January 2020. In doing this you will work very closely with the Market Access Adviser, who coordinates the interface with Kenyan partners.
• You will promote Kenyan investment opportunities to firms and international investors, raising the profile of investable opportunities among private investors. In order to do this, you will lead, build on and leverage the relationship with KenInvest, as well as regional Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs).
• You will use the above relationships to help HMG in Kenya to lobby for key reforms to the Kenyan business environment by identifying ‘high value investment barriers’ and will promote Kenyan investment opportunities to firms and international investors, raising the profile of investable opportunities among private investor

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

• Undergraduate degree (post-graduate or other relevant professional qualification preferred)
• Relevant work experience in the private sector, or within a private-sector orientated part of Government or International Organisation
• Experience of working in or with government departments, NGOs, and similar institutions
• Proven track record of cross-team collaboration
• Proven client facing experience, for example with an investment promotion agency or professional services firm
• Fluency in the language of business and investment
• Knowledge/experience of international development, or a willingness to learn
• A positive, resilient, flexible and adaptable “can-do” attitude that can see way through challenges.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, ability to work successfully in multicultural teams and across boundaries, to build networks across the region
• Knowledge of, and a keen interest in sustainable development (additional training will be given)
• Excellent drafting skills

Language requirements:  

Required: Fluent English

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

• Experience of the following: business development, understanding issues and pursuing strategies together, investment appraisal, deal pipeline preparation, deal brokering, advisory
• At least five years professional work experience
• Commercial experience, including building deal pipelines
• Experience in managing budgets
• Knowledge of the investment services contract and delivery mechanisms
• Experience of working in organisations with a matrix management structure