Background / General description:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group is a global investor and advisor, and a leader in sustainable private sector investments in emerging markets. In this role, IFC has completed more than 160 microfinance transactions in 50 countries.
The Corporation is today one of the industry s largest investors and indirectly supports financial services to 8.0 million low-income entrepreneurs.
IFC's global microfinance strategy focuses on areas where it can leverage its strengths and boost development impact:
(1) mobilize local and international financial resources by promoting collective investment vehicles (structured finance, debt and equity funds); and
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group is a global investor and advisor, and a leader in sustainable private sector investments in emerging markets. In this role, IFC has completed more than 160 microfinance transactions in 50 countries.
The Corporation is today one of the industry s largest investors and indirectly supports financial services to 8.0 million low-income entrepreneurs.
IFC's global microfinance strategy focuses on areas where it can leverage its strengths and boost development impact:
(1) mobilize local and international financial resources by promoting collective investment vehicles (structured finance, debt and equity funds); and
(2) build capacity of financial institutions to serve the bottom of the pyramid by supporting the expansion of microfinance network sponsors and by supporting individual financial institutions through strategic partnerships with other likeminded microfinance investors.
In addition, IFC seeks to selectively address binding constraints at the financial infrastructure and policy levels. A central piece of IFC s strategy for Africa involves the creation of microfinance capacity in countries where there is little or no supply of microfinance services.
To this end, IFC has set up a program to provide investment resources and advisory services to support the creation and expansion of early stage specialized microfinance institutions throughout the region.
It will also support the transformation of microfinance institutions into banks and the efforts of commercial banks to develop microfinance product lines. IFC s microfinance work in Sub-Saharan Africa is grounded in the fact that there are few commercially run microfinance institutions in the region.
An inventory compiled in 2005 by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor shows only 181 MFIs for the whole region, representing less than 2% of the approximate 10,000 MFIs worldwide. Of the 181 total, only 22 institutions had a loan portfolio greater than US$10 million equivalent; 103 had portfolios smaller than US$1 million equivalent.
Title: Associate/Operations Officer - Microfinance
Job Stream: Technical Assistance & Advisory Services
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Close Date: 19-Apr-2010
Duties and Accountabilities:
IFC is looking for an associate/operations officer to support its microfinance program in Africa. The operations officer will be part of IFC s microfinance team in the region, which today consists of four staff, and will be responsible for originating, appraising, structuring and supervising individual microfinance projects.
The projects typically include both advisory services and investment, so the recruited person should ideally be comfortable with both dimensions.
As part of his/her responsibilities, the operations officer will:
- Proactively identify microfinance project opportunities that combine financial return and development impact
- Appraise and structure the advisory services aspect of microfinance projects
- Monitor and supervise the advisory services aspect of microfinance projects
- Provide market intelligence and knowledge that improve the quality of IFC projects
- Build and maintain collaborative relationship with clients, investors and multilateral partners to facilitate microfinance projects
- Participate in program support, strategy formulation and research
Selection Criteria:
- Strong financial, analytical and project design skills
- Demonstrated judgment in evaluating microfinance business opportunities
- Good knowledge of international and African microfinance
- Experience in advisory services project design, management and supervision
- A Masters degree in economics, finance, international affairs or business
- Min 4 years relevant work experience (project work and microfinance) with a proven ability to work in teams and deliver high quality work within deadlines.
- Excellent spoken and written skills in English, French is a plus but not required
- Motivated and enthusiastic about the opportunities and challenges of working in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve sustainable development.
