Financial Consultant at TechnoServe Kenya

Project activities:

• Using own network, develop contact database of stakeholders with strong expertise in developing financial products for SHFs (e.g., local / regional banks, impact investors, microfinance institutions and other non-bank lending institutions)
• Select and facilitate introductions to ~5-10 stakeholders, to be agreed with the CASA Kenya team. Support preparation of interview guide and participate in discussions in-person
• Using guidance from CASA Kenya’s agronomist consultant on most suitable inputs and services, and discussions with financial institutions, provide recommendations on the design of a financial product (incl. typical loan size, deposit size / collateral requirements, loan tenor, likely range of interest rates to be charged, seasonality constraints)
• Develop a list of key data to accurately credit score and lend to SHFs, including data required for off-balance sheet funding by a financial institution. Together with digital consultant, refine list of key data and develop proxies where required based on limitations of partner agribusiness data collection capabilities
• Outline a high-level credit scoring model that can be used by the partner agribusiness based on data collected

Project deliverables:

• Contact database of 20+ stakeholders that have experience in providing SHF financing through agribusinesses with name, position, company, email address, phone number (full scope of contact database to be aligned with CASA Kenya team)
• Overview of financial product(s) to finance SHFs using the inputs & services package with outline of structure (e.g., loan size, loan tenor)
• Outline of required data collection capabilities (both digital and physical) and existing sources of data to draw on within partner agribusiness
• Outline of credit scoring model including a list of smallholder farmer data that will need to be collected to accurately score farmers to determine whether to lend and/or the interest rate to charge

Ways of working:

• CASA Kenya will outline project objectives and hypotheses in more detail where required. The financial consultant must work collaboratively with the CASA Kenya team during all phases of the project
• A minimum of two check-in sessions is required with the CASA Kenya team to discuss progress and findings The consultant and the CASA Kenya team will further define the timelines and the work plan at the beginning of the project.

Timelines

• Overall, the financial consultant will require 25 working days to complete all deliverables over the course of the entire project design phase (November 2024 to February 2025).
• Five working days will be required to shortlist stakeholders to interview, including to develop the contact database of stakeholders. Once aligned with the CASA Kenya team, start confirming the availability of prioritised stakeholders.
• 5-10 working days to conduct interviews with prioritised stakeholders. The consultant must make themselves available to attend meetings in-person if requested by the CASA Kenya team.
• 10-15 working days to complete recommendations for financial product(s) design and data collection and credit scoring model design.

Skills and Requirements

• Strong network and experience working with (or at) financial institutions, agribusinesses that lend to smallholder farmers
• Strong understanding of finance and credit scoring systems
• Experience working with SHF aggregation businesses, preferably in Kenya
• Ability to work collaboratively with multiple consultants across different disciplines (e.g., agronomy, digital) to arrive at creative solutions
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Ability to work independently and deliver high-quality reports
• Fluent level of spoken and written English