Aceli Africa (Aceli) is a market incentive facility to mobilize over $1.5 billion in private sector lending for agricultural SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2029. To achieve this goal, Aceli offers incentives to share in the risk and boost the returns for loans ranging from USD $25K-$1.75M to high-impact agricultural SMEs. Financial incentives are:

• Data-driven based on an original dataset of 22k loans totaling $4.4B that Aceli has gathered and analyzed in collaboration with Dalberg Advisors.
• Impact-aligned to reward capital additionality and impact objectives related to improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers and enterprise employees, economic opportunities for women and youth, food security & nutrition for African consumers, and climate and environment.
• Market-level to engage a mix of commercial banks, impact investors, and alternative lenders that collectively offer a range of financial products in a competitive financial market.

Alongside financial incentives and capacity building for lenders on the capital supply side, Aceli also expands addressable demand by partnering with technical assistance providers to prepare high-potential SMEs to qualify for and manage financing. Aceli is designed as a demonstration model with two-fold objectives: 1) catalyze a more competitive lending market for agricultural SMEs with incentive levels reducing over time; and 2) build an evidence base and influence adoption of enabling policies by African governments to promote investment in agricultural SMEs.

Aceli launched in September 2020 and is partnering with 30 lenders, including many of the leading banks and non-bank lenders in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. To date, Aceli has secured $62M from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IKEA Foundation, Swiss Development Corporation, UK FCDO, and USAID. Additional funding partnerships are in process, and donor funds have mobilized private sector capital at a leverage ratio of 12X.

The Associate will report to Senior Manager, Technical Assistance and work closely with the (1) Impact & Learning Team to support monitoring and evaluation activities related to the TA (Technical Assistance) program and (2) Financial Sector & Country Team to support engagement with in-country SME referral partners and TA (Technical Assistance) Providers. Specific responsibilities include:

Administrative (40%)

• Prepare MoUs with industry alliances, development organizations, and value chain actors that partner with Aceli on SME referrals or other strategic priorities related to the TA program;
• Coordinate with GDI procurement team to ensure that contracts for SME referral partners and TA Providers are prepared according to agreed Terms of Reference; track contract end dates and initiate renewal/ modification where applicable;
• Support the Senior Manager, TA in reviewing invoices from TA partners in a timely and accurate manner;
• Data management; capture SME engagements information in Aceli’s Salesforce data platform and manage the SME database, ensuring that both are up-to-date, accurate and have all the information required by internal stakeholders for strategic analysis and donor reporting;
• Work with the Products & Operations team to prepare TA dashboards for internal and external reporting and to prepare analyses and reports as required;
• Prepare task orders and tripartite agreements with SMEs and TA providers for new TA engagements.

Partner/ SME Management (30%)

• Train new TA Provider partners to manage program information in Salesforce;
• Support the Senior Manager, TA and Aceli’s Country Teams in identifying and engaging with potential Referral Partners and TA Providers;
• Conduct outreach and market the TA program to SMEs that are aligned with Aceli’s target profile;
• Respond to SME queries and pre-qualify ad-hoc applications received via email/ the Aceli website;
• Coordinate between TA Providers/ Referral Partners/ Country teams and GDI communications team regarding any marketing collateral for the TA program.

Product Management (20%)

• Support the Senior Manager, TA in reviewing deliverables from TA Partners and providing feedback on the same; identify trends, connect the dots and promote continuous improvement of deliverables and outcomes;
• Be a thought partner by providing inputs into the strategic design of new programs and enhancement of current TA programs.

Impact & Learning (10%)

• Coordinate with the Impact & Learning team and Aceli’s third party evaluation partners to design and implement evaluation activities for the TA program and review outputs;
• Support the Senior Manager, TA and the Impact & Learning Team in developing knowledge products from the evaluation activities;
• Support the Senior Manager, TA in preparing presentations/ any other communication material for internal and external stakeholders.

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a minimum of four years of full-time project management and/or business consulting experience;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Strong ability to think critically;
• Ability to learn quickly and keen attention to detail;
• Excellent time management with demonstrated ability to meet deadlines;
• Able to move fluidly between collaborative and independent work styles; and
• Personal commitment to having a positive impact on farmer livelihoods and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Global Development Incubator is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter indicating their qualifications for this position along with an updated CV by 5pm East Africa time on 8th February 2023. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.