Programme Manager at Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)

The Role

• The Programme Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for the energy portfolio across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia - covering portfolio construction, investment management, financial performance, technical assistance, risk management, donor reporting, and stakeholder engagement. The role leads and develops the Senior Portfolio Officer and Portfolio Officers ensuring consistent delivery standards and programme impact across all three countries.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Programme Management

• Lead programme strategy, workplans, budgets, forecasts, and performance targets across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
• Ensure alignment with donor agreements, investment principles, impact targets, and AECF policies throughout the programme cycle.
• Identify emerging opportunities, risks, and implementation challenges and recommend management responses.
• Support resource mobilisation and positioning for additional funding for the energy portfolio.

Portfolio Construction and Investment Selection

• Oversee competition design, market outreach, pipeline development, eligibility criteria, due diligence, and investment appraisal.
• Provide quality assurance for application assessments, financial analysis, risk reviews, and investment recommendations.
• Lead preparation and presentation of investment memoranda to internal and external investment committees.
• Ensure investments are evidence-based, commercially sound, and aligned with impact, additionality, and inclusion objectives.

Team Leadership

• Provide strategic direction, technical guidance, and quality assurance to the Senior Portfolio Officer and Portfolio Officers across all programme countries.
• Convene regular portfolio performance reviews; agree and track corrective actions.
• Build team capacity through coaching, mentoring, structured feedback, and professional development.
• Promote collaboration, accountability, and consistent portfolio-management practices across countries.

Investment Management, Financial Oversight, and M&E

• Direct investee management across the full investment lifecycle - contracting, onboarding, implementation, and exit.
• Oversee disbursements, milestone verification, compliance with grant agreements, and resolution of investee-level performance issues.
• Provide financial oversight of programme budgets, burn rates, commitments, and forecasts; address variances promptly.
• Oversee monitoring of programme and portfolio performance against financial, operational, and impact targets; ensure corrective actions are implemented and tracked.

Technical Assistance, Risk, Compliance, and Reporting

• Support identification and coordination of bespoke technical assistance for investees, including investment readiness and follow-on investor facilitation.
• Maintain oversight of portfolio-level financial, operational, legal, and reputational risks; ensure compliance with AECF's environmental, social, gender, safeguarding, and fiduciary requirements.
• Lead preparation of high-quality donor, governance, management, and investment-committee reports.
• Serve as senior focal point for donor and stakeholder engagement; represent AECF at sector events and strategic forums.
• Promote cross-country learning, knowledge sharing, and dissemination of lessons and impact evidence across the portfolio.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Academic and Professional Qualifications

• Master's degree in finance, economics, business administration, development studies, renewable energy, engineering, environmental studies, or a related field.
• Professional project management, finance, renewable energy, or climate finance is an added advantage.

Experience

• Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in investment management, challenge funds, private-sector development, renewable energy, climate finance, development finance, or programme management.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country or regional programmes and portfolios in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Strong experience in portfolio construction: competition design, pipeline development, due diligence, investment appraisal, and investment-committee presentations.
• Experience managing grants, results-based financing, milestone-based financing, blended finance, or other catalytic instruments.
• Proven experience overseeing investee performance, disbursements, compliance, risk management, technical assistance, and reporting across the investment lifecycle.
• Demonstrated experience managing, supervising, or providing technical leadership to portfolio teams.
• Experience in renewable energy, productive use of energy, e-mobility, circular economy, or related sectors is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of the commercial, regulatory, and operational challenges affecting clean energy businesses in African markets.

Technical and Leadership Skills

• Strong strategic leadership, portfolio management, investment analysis, financial analysis, due diligence, and risk-assessment capabilities.
• Ability to interpret financial statements, business models, budgets, cash-flow forecasts, and investment performance data.
• Strong programme planning, budgeting, forecasting, monitoring, and reporting skills.
• High standards of integrity, accountability, coaching, and team development; ability to manage competing priorities across countries and deliver within tight timelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to present complex investment and programme information to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Commitment to gender equality, inclusion, environmental sustainability, and responsible investment.