Senior Portfolio Associate, Acumen East Africa at Acumen

The Role

The Senior Associate will source and evaluate new investment opportunities, conduct due diligence on high potential opportunities, and assist with structuring deal terms. The Senior Associate will use their investing skills to evaluate the growth and return potential of companies from both a financial and social impact perspective. They will also prepare analysis for presentation to Acumen East Africa’s Investment Committee (“IC”).

The Senior Associate will develop research and analysis related to Acumen East Africa’s investment portfolio and its performance, fundraising and strategic partnership initiatives, and management of portfolio operations. They will contribute to actively building and cultivating Acumen EA networks in the impact investing communities and will contribute to developing insight and communication pieces for external audiences. They will also be responsible for coordinating relationships with select portfolio companies and represent Acumen in boards as a Director or Observer.

The Senior Associate will have the responsibility of coordinating Acumen EA impact assessments, liaising with portfolio companies and the Sixty Decibels Team (“60-db”) as needed.

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Identifying investment opportunities and due diligence

• Identifying, cultivating, and reviewing a pipeline of early-stage investment opportunities providing critical services to communities in East Africa
• Conducting due diligence and investment analysis, including financial modeling, valuation review and structuring
• Preparing and presenting investment documentation for review to the Portfolio team before presenting it to Acumen East Africa Investment Committee

Post Investment Support and Metric Evaluation

• Assess portfolio company needs related to post-investment support; design and implement post-investment interventions in coordination with senior team members.
• Design and evaluate key metrics to measure the social and financial returns on investments.
• Develop a network of advisors including funders, thought leaders, sector and functional experts to help with post investment support.
• Represent Acumen, on the boards of certain portfolio companies, in coordination with senior team members.

Portfolio Operations

• Work with the Acumen EA team to: (i) Analyze and document data-driven explanations for portfolio decisions; (ii) Extract and document investment-specific and general insights; (iii) Analyze metrics data to identify patterns; and (iv) Channel that data to outputs for marketing and fundraising efforts.

Impact Assessments

• Work as coordinator of relevant impact assessments undertaken by Acumen EA, liaising as needed, with relationship managers, portfolio companies and the 60-db team.  
• Coordinate the production of Social Impact reports, in coordination with senior team members and the 60-db team.

Qualifications & Skills:

• 6-8 years of experience in venture capital or private equity or investment management, including experience with financial and operational due diligence of early-stage businesses.
• Superior financial and business analysis skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to present arguments and analysis to Acumen management, partners, and investees.
• Ability to take initiative with research and analysis and produce valuable results in conditions of uncertainty.
• Operational skills including problem solving and project management skills, including ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and under pressure.
• Familiarity with the social enterprise and impact investing sectors; demonstrated commitment to tackling challenges of poverty is preferred.
• Bachelor's Degree in actuarial science, business administration, economics, or any related field
• Self -reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
• Permanently authorized to work in Kenya.